Slept On It: Hokies Trounce East Carolina in Complete Win

We've seen it before. Fresh off of a resounding victory, the Hokies waltz into their next game, play disjointed, and get abruptly knocked back down to earth. You only need to look back at September 2015 and '14 for examples of these let down games, both of which occurred at the hands of East Carolina.

The Pirates have made a living plundering the aspirations of Hokie Nation when fans are most vulnerable; derailing program momentum and exposing Virginia Tech's flaws on the field. However, unlike in years past, this time around the Hokies swiftly and violently flicked ECU off of their perch like a gnat from a shoulder.

Through four games, the Hokies have a sloppy win, sloppy loss, dominating win, and complete win. ECU head coach Scottie Montgomery stated post-game, "That was clearly the best football team we have played. The most physical. The biggest. The fastest. The strongest. The smartest. I thought they competed well in their scheme. They played great emotional football. They leaned on their crowd. They played a complete football game...as complete as it gets."

The term, "complete game," gets tossed around a lot by head coaches and pundits alike, but rarely does it so accurately summarize a beatdown like the one laid on ECU. By the time the Pirates were able to make noise with two long touchdown strikes, they already trailed by 38 points.

Typically, one extraordinary special teams play would help meet most people's standard for a "complete game". Against the Pirates, the Hokies had a punt return touchdown; a blocked field goal; a blocked punt; and a punt fumble recovery.

Jerod Evans accounted for 379 total yards and four touchdowns in just three quarters of action. His big day included a highlight reel touchdown run that saw him evade virtually the entire ECU defense.

When in doubt, just let @VT_Football's Jerod Evans (@rodfor6_) do his thing.#WednesdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/prpXGgm3ax— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) September 28, 2016

Isaiah Ford had another 100-yard receiving day **yawn**.

Bud Foster's defense surrendered by far their most yards to date, but they also had six sacks; sixteen tackles for loss; four passes defended; and a safety.

It's no wonder that the Hokies now rank 14th nationally in S&P+, thanks in large part to having the No. 7 defense. It was understood that the hiring of Justin Fuente would include an electric offense, but the improvement on the defensive side is palpable.

Maybe it is a result of having defended a high-octane offense all off-season, or Forster's unit is relieved to no longer feel pressure to keep the game within reach. Whatever the reason(s), Tech's defense has steadily improved this season, and has a noticeable swagger heading into the meat of the ACC schedule.

Since the Bristol debacle, the Hokies have outscored their last two opponents 103-17. Those two games included a ridiculous six-quarter stretch that saw them reel off 87 unanswered points. No one is going to confuse Boston College and East Carolina with Clemson and Alabama, but it's not as though the Hokies spent the last two weeks clubbing baby seals from the FCS.

For all intents and purposes, the Hokies did exactly what they needed to do in their last two contests. There were a lot of questions coming out of the Battle at Bristol, and the Hokies put those issues to bed early against a physical Boston College team. They followed that up by reasserting themselves as the alpha against ECU, proving that the BC win was hardly a fluke and reinforcing many fans' thoughts that the Tennessee performance was an aberration.

This team is flying high heading into their toughest stretch of the season. To some fans, the bye week could not have come at a worse time. Justin Fuente ascribes to a different approach.

"I don't believe that previous performance is an indication of future performance," Fuente said. "I don't believe in momentum from week-to-week. I believe in 12 one-game seasons. But I also do believe that there is something else there that does carry over from week-to-week in terms of confidence and belief in what we're doing, understanding the process, those sorts of things."

We have seen past Tech teams come out of the gates slow after a bye week. Can Fuente's Hokies continue to produce at a high level after a week off? And what happens if Tech starts slow against a dangerously potent North Carolina offense that racked up 538 yards in a road upset of Florida State?

The Hokies are in a fantastic position heading into next weekend's game in Chapel Hill. Tech enjoyed an extra week of preparation, self-scouting, and good-on-good work, while the Heels pivoted from a hard fought win over Pittsburgh to a battle in Tallahassee.

It has been a surprising start to the year for the Fuente-led Hokies, and one of the more enjoyable Septembers in recent memory. The hope of long-term growth has been eclipsed by the (very real) prospect of near-term success. With four road games in five weeks looming, Hokie Nation will learn an awful lot about this team over a 28-day span.