Tech Tidbits: Some UNC Shade, and Breaking Down a (Highly Unlikely) Fuente Buyout

The more I keep taking a peek at the Hokies' schedule (and their slow, but steady rise in the polls), the more I come back to the same sort of conclusion.

Fundamentally, the Hokies don't really have a signature win to speak of, beyond the season opener against West Virginia. Consider this: the road win against Boston College is probably the second best victory of the whole year, if for no other reason than the Hokies managed to contain Steve Addazio's offense that has (unbelievably) scored 40 points in two straight games.

Tech's biggest moment in the spotlight was the home game against Clemson, which the Hokies not only lost, but never came particularly close to winning. And yet they find themselves at 13th in the country, all the same.

To me, it comes down to the way in which they've beaten their (relatively unimpressive) opponents so far. With just a few exceptions, Frank Beamer's squads didn't have the offensive firepower, and in many cases the consistent focus, to really blow out inferior opponents.

But when you beat a division rival by 52 points at home, regardless of the team's struggles or injuries, that's gonna send a message. Ditto for hanging 64 points on ECU on the road after giving up a few quick scores.

That's the sort of stuff that's going to appeal to the national media types voting in these polls, and it's as good a measure we have right now of what this team is capable of.

We're still a week away from entering the one-month stretch that will decide this squad's season. In many ways, we still haven't gotten a true read on what this year's team is truly capable of, so we have to settle for seeing what they can do against teams they should beat.

Accordingly, with a night game (for some reason) on tap against another division rival who has given the Hokies fits in recent years, Tech will need to replicate the sort of dominance it showed off last week against UNC.

National observers of all stripes are waiting on that VT-Miami game on Nov. 4, and if the Hokies are to live up to those expectations, they need to keep taking care of business with authority.

It's what the best teams in the country do, and too often it's been in short supply in Blacksburg. Personally, I'm excited to find out if they can do it.

Enough of all that. Let's get Tidbit-ing.

UNC Shade, the Best Shade

I wrote at length last week about the implications of delivering an impressive win against the Tar Heels for recruiting, but plainly I underrated just how much the Hokies wanted to obliterate "but-the-hurricane" excuses from UNC fans.

Cam Phillips surely ruffled a few feathers with his comments about the importance about beating UNC after the game — Justin Fuente went to great pains on Monday to stress that "Cam does not speak for me" and that he wants "to win every game we play," as you might expect such a controversy-averse coach to do.

But one need only examine just how long Bud Foster left in the starters on defense to get a sense for how much this game mattered to the coaching staff, and Foster was more than willing to throw a little additional shade UNC's way on Tuesday.

#Hokies Bud Foster on Duke: "This will be a much better football team than we faced last week, in all facets of the game." Played UNC last.— Mike Barber (@RTD_MikeBarber) October 24, 2017

Hoo boy. I suppose when you allow just 10 points in two games to a team that prides itself on offense, you've earned the right to brag, even if it's in a subtle way like this.

At first glance, the Blue Devils don't look appreciably better than the Heels, considering they've dropped four straight games, and they rank 73rd overall in total offense.

But Foster is certainly correct that Duke will offer a stiffer challenge on defense (they're allowing about 334 yards per game, good for 27th in the country), and Fuente had plenty of nice things to say about them Monday. Same goes for Foster, who continued to heap praise on QB Daniel Jones and noted that Duke has lost three straight by just seven points.

"They're a lot better team than their record indicates," Foster told reporters Tuesday. "They've lost some really tight football games against some really good people. I think you can't compare stats, it's who they're playing and who they're competing against and that type of thing. But I know this: (David Cutcliffe)'s a little disappointed in the outcome of some games, I've heard through the grapevine. I think this game will probably be a statement game mindset."

In any case, all that should show you the obvious respect that has long existed between the Hokies (particularly when Beamer was still in charge) and Cutcliffe's Blue Devils. It's clear that, outside of some backpedaling this week, the same cannot be said for how they feel about Larry Fedora's bunch.

Jackson's Got an Arm

Josh Jackson may not be perfect, but it is worth stepping back every once in a while to appreciate just how good he's been.

Statistics help on that front, so sit back for a moment and marvel at just how good he's been getting the ball down field, courtesy of ESPN's David Hale.

VT's Josh Jackson on throws of 10+ yards downfield: 59% completions, 11 TD, 0 INT, 226.9 passer rating. All among best in Power 5.— #DaHale (@DavidHaleESPN) October 24, 2017

Hale found that Jackson is tops in the ACC in downfield completion percentage, and only Lamar Jackson (ever heard of him?) has more yards or touchdowns on completions of 10 or more yards. His passer efficiency rating is also far ahead of any other ACC QB, with Georgia Tech's TaQuon Marshall a distant second. These aren't the be-all-end-all of quarterback statistics, but they certainly provide a window into how Jackson has made this offense so explosive so far.

Suffice it to say, Jackson has far surpassed expectations for a redshirt freshman quarterback, and I wanted to highlight this particular part of his game because I didn't especially think it would be where he'd excel this year. After all, Jackson doesn't have the biggest arm and the Hokies don't have much in the way of playmakers who can stretch the field; Phillips is as close as it comes, and even then, speed isn't his primary strength.

Jackson is surely going to be tested by a tough Duke defense (and a similarly tough Miami unit) but he has shown time and again that he's up to the challenge. It doesn't hurt, either, that James Clark and Phil Patterson seem to be healthy and ready to add a little depth to the receiving corps.

Fuente and company have done a good job of creating situations for Jackson to be successful, but he deserves an immense amount of credit as well. No matter how this season turns out, the Hokies have every reason to be excited about the future at quarterback.

Believe It or Not, Buyout Talk is a Thing

When Whit Babcock pulled the trigger on hiring Fuente away from Memphis, it was the rare coaching hire to earn nearly unanimous praise from across the college football universe.

The one minor gripe I remember hearing from Hokies fans went a bit like this: he's a young guy, with big ambitions and no obvious personal connection to Virginia Tech. What's the guarantee he sticks around if he's successful?

Certainly that falls into the category of "good problems to have," and after just a season and a half in Blacksburg, we've been blessed with our first article musing about the prospect of Fuente's departure.

Zach Barnett over at Football Scoop does some musing that Fuente "may be more attainable" than Matt Campbell over at Iowa State, another recent hiring attracting some buzz after the Cyclones re-entered the top 25 this week after a lengthy absence.

But Barnett also notes quite astutely that Babcock saw this coming when he crafted Fuente's contract; if anybody wants him, they'll have to pay $6 million for the privilege or "only" $5 million if they hire Fuente after Dec. 15 of this year.

That definitely sounds like a hefty chunk of change at first blush, and Barnett points out that it's considerably higher than buyouts for many of Fuente's peers.

Fuente's buyout tops the highest recent buyout on record by close to 45 percent, and when it drops by $1 million on Dec. 15 it's still almost $1.7 million ahead of the record-breaking buyout.

Sure, Fuente's ransom falls to a digestible $3 million on Dec. 16, 2018, but, as long as he keeps winning at this rate, Virginia Tech will give him a new contract before then and the calendar will start all over again.

I, for one, was not particularly worried about Fuente going anywhere anytime soon. Oklahoma is the program that would most concern me, should things not work out with Lincoln Reilly. They've got history with Fuente, and the money to help him wriggle out of just about any contract situation.

But, aside from a misstep against Campbell's Clones, the Sooners seem set with Reilly for the moment. There are always other programs with big bank accounts that could take a look at Fuente, but this article is a good reminder that it would probably take quite the overture indeed to pry him out of Blacksburg.

Again, it's a good problem to have, all things considered. But not one it would seem Hokies fans need to worry about in the near future.

Finally, I 'll close things out with a quick reminder that we are all very old, and Tech's players are all very young.

DT Jarrod Hewitt called "Enter Sandman" a song that's very "historical." I'm oooooooold. #Hokies— Andy Bitter (@AndyBitterVT) October 24, 2017