I am always wondering this, what is the turning point for this team? A lot of people pointed out that the "after Duke" is the time, and Fuente took blame in front of the players.
My perspective is slightly different. This year is the 4th year of Fuente era, almost finally, he has all the players recruited by him now playing for him. Both offensively and defensively, there are so many of them make big plays in this season. Hendon Hooker, Dax, Dalton Keene, Caleb Farley, Garbutt, Ashby, Tre Turner, Tisdale, Darrisaw, just to name a few.
As everyone witness the transfer portal earlier this year, I think Fuente now has the players buying in his team philosophy, the whole team refreshed its blood. If we look back at 2017 and 2018 recruiting classes. Those are a good amount of 4 stars and high 3 stars, and they are maturing and become solid players for us. Given that they are still relatively young, the future is even brighter.
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It's been pointed out many times, but I think another huge turning point was Jerry Kill. He's so knowledgeable, seemingly easy to get along with, and has aided every single position coach in the way they go about their business. There's obviously much more to it than just him, but sometimes it only takes one solid person in the right position to make things start clicking.
Young, talented players with more experience, players buying into the Fuente program, Hooker adding a run dimension (and a better head for the game), Better OL play, defense coming into it's own (finally), and Jerry Kill. Turns out Corny's plays look really good when they're executed correctly, and the defense is dominant when everyone does their jobs.
I think it's ALL of that.
The good news is that we get almost all of it back next year.
I hear ya....
EDIT: This is meant to be a joke, but all this winning actually has me believing and it's the hope that kills you
...that's my avatar!!! NO JOKE!!
😑
I texted my buddy almost exactly this the other day and I'll be the first to admit that I openly mocked Fuente and Corny to anyone who'd listen to me about Fuente's broken record "the play calling is there, we just need our kids to execute it" statement. I'm happy, but not completely sold, but also hope I eat crow if this good thing keeps going.
Problem is Willis couldn't execute what they were dialing up. I'm definitely no X and O's guy but just a cursory view of those games doesn't look like Willis was getting the same play calling we've been getting over the last 7 games.
This became abundantly clear to me in the UNC game. In that game, it looked like the offensive staff had prepared 3 completely different game plans for the 3 different QBs, and the rest of the team flowed pretty smoothly from Game Plan A to Game Plan B to Game Plan C. That was the first time I began to doubt whether all the Corny hate was deserved.
It's clear to me that we have a different team now than what we had in September.
Offense AND defense.
Also have to keep in mind the situations of each year:
There is almost a reason to say how each period could be the defining part of the Hokies under Fuente. Consistency hasn't been there for a lot of uncontrollable reasons, but it looks like were finally starting to get it, and we're starting to look like Year 1 Fuente again - which was objectively the best VT offense of all time.
This is the one thing that has irked me these past two seasons. No one really came down on Corny in year 1 and 2 but all of a sudden it's his fault the offense was bad when in reality nothing is ever as binary as that--especially in football. At the same time as the Duke game, the Jerry Kill hire were happening, Hooker became starter. It could be all three it could be none of the above.
If I put on my tinfoil hat for a minute and add up some quotes there is an interesting possibility I see...
From that SI article at the beginning of the season:
From the Athletic's Andy Bitter on 13-Nov:
If I try to read between the lines, lines that may not or probably don't exist in real life, it seems like the players expressed some displeasure in hard work outs and Fuente responded to that. After four games of seeing sloppy, soft football I think maybe Fuente responded to that. Here is a quote from Lecitus Smith:
Bottom line I think it really comes down to confidence and Fuente returning to 'his style' coaching. If we don't beat Miami I don't know if the season would have recovered. I have always said that I felt like our ten-win seasons lasted about 1-2 season longer than they should have and it comes down to the fact that there was a culture of winning...it was in our DNA. But that has slowly faded away and this team does not have really anyone who knows what it is like to consistently win. Now they have reeled off five in the last 6 and were one play away from 6 out of 6 and they have a true swagger.
No one on the team, players or coaches, had anything but great things to say about this team and even Tre Turner was saying this team could be scary good. I think we are starting to see that now. And I'm not sure anyone could point to one thing. It is clear it has been a whole program wide effort.
I think you're right on target. Thanks for the good insight.
Just as an aside, what a great damn scene.
Personally I still think the well was poisoned by some of the players who were expected to be team leaders and ended up transferring. Even aside from rumors about personal habits, it seems pretty indisputable that several players acted in a selfish and petulant manner publicly on Twitter after leaving. In the off-season, Fuente wasn't left with any choice but to ease off on his preferred style of coaching to try to stop the bleeding and regain the locker room. And I do think he learned some lessons and made an earnest attempt to listen to the players and try something different.
When the results on the field were poor to start this season, he had rebuilt enough rapport with the players that he could be honest, point out that it wasn't working, and essentially convince them to go back to doing things his way.
It's a bizarre situation and took a ton of effort to bring things full circle, but I don't think the team would be playing at the level they are currently if Fuente had dug in his heels or refused to make changes at the appropriate times.
I say this as the guy who staked his claim in Hokie blogdom by criticizing the shit out of Stiney's playcalling:
In 2019, people who blame offensive struggles on playcalling do not understand modern college football.
The advent of the RPO and the emergence of the zone read as the two bread and butter features of the modern offense means that playcalling has a significantly reduced effect on offensive production than it did around the turn of the millennium, when "pro-style" offenses were the flavor du jour. In a lot of ways, the reads required to run an offense have taken us back to something like the era of the wishbone and the triple option, in that having a QB who can quickly, efficiently make the right reads will have a much greater effect on how on offense performs than the individual play calls coming down from the booth to the field. Any given play call can go so many different ways that you could run the same play four times in a row and never know it, because one will be a jet sweep, one a QB keeper, one a pass to the flat, and one a deep post. Outside of screen passes, there really aren't a lot of plays that have a single predetermined outcome anymore.
These days, it's much more important for an OC to adjust the playbook to play to a QB's strengths and mitigate his weaknesses in regards to what reads he has to make. Now we can all argue that Corny did not sufficiently adapt to Josh Jackson's or Ryan Willis's skill sets, but that just as likely could be an instance of trying to force a couple of square pegs in round holes.
I agree.
We've also seen what happened with Josh Jackson at Maryland, and what happened with Ryan Willis when the whole team was on his back.
There was some team development that had to happen. Seems like now there is a lot more trust in the coaches, and also in the teammates. When people are focused on their own jobs, it all just seems to work better.
Funny to think back about all the outrage at Fu when he kept blaming things on the execution and not taking responsibility.
A lot of that was because it was the standard excuse that Stiney and Loeffler had used for years before Fuente was hired. He was punished for the sins of those before him.
He may have been right, but it's still a lazy excuse. If your guys can't execute at a certain level, unless you're in the NFL then it's on the coach to adapt. I'm glad it worked out and both the coaches and players are looking much better right now, but he still went a full season+ doing nothing about the fact that his team couldn't execute and that was annoying.
It was annoying but it should be telling that the 2017 miami game was where Jackson really fell off the edge. His LT got injured and he was in a walking boot on his plant foot. So watching his play while looking not healthy (couldn't plant to throw ball) makes you want the backup, well based on the roster management pre Fuente, we didnt have a great QB room. Next season comes Jackson looks improved and injured, backup is at best no better than frosh year Jackson and defense lost what 8 starters to the NFL. VT cant handle that, we arent bama. So in 2019 we finally get a QB that is a sophomore that can actually execute. So in Fuentes first full recruiting he got his QB, but lots of QBs take time to develop. Unless there wer two more Jerrod Evan's players out there Fuente fixed the roster is about as fast as he could.
I hate to be this guy, but if you get the full context of his comments then he always took a share of the responsibility. I implore you to listen to the full interview or read the transcripts if you honestly believe otherwise.
I get it, just stating what a lot of Hokie fans continuously said.
At the end of the day, it's amazing how winning changes perceptions. Though I have still seen a few folks out there saying he is trash and needs to go, seems the majority is riding high on where we are.
I think too whatever practice things they changed. Fuente said that the team was not emotionally or physically tough and that was his fault. He said he was going back to the way he's used to doing things and running practice. I think in the light of what happened in the offseason and weak sisters complaining about tough practices he lightened up to keep some cohesion. What some of those players didn't get was that he was trying to make them tough. To be hard you gotta live hard...at least some of the time. He also told the players that if they want to join him he'll be on the practice field. Basically telling them you are either in or your out. We're doing it my way now. We did it your way and this is the result.
of course there's a lot of assumptions in there and just how it plays in my head but definitely whatever he changed at practice to start making these guys tough has worked.
Summary: The team is looking tough.
Can't underestimate how nailing evals on Crawford, Kendricks, and Pollard has been critical. Crawford especially doesn't get enough credit for how much of a difference he makes snap in and snap out.
The D line has made the rest of the D better- the push along with the blitzes have changed the course of this defense. I think the confidence of getting sacks on MIami changed the D lines swag. They have looked like a different group.
I really hope we can add Fuga to that list too. So glad we're able to redshirt him to space them out some.
I think Miami and UNC were the turning point(s) because that's when the team started to develop confidence.
When the offense or defense is returning 8 experienced players, it's relatively easy for (1) the coaches to game plan to lean less on the youth, and (2) for the players to focus on a single task/job/goal. When an entire side of the ball is young, it means the coaches can't conceal that inexperience, and the players can't trust that other players will do their jobs (as the saying goes, it takes time for the right hand to know what the left hand is doing).
I think that in the Miami and UNC games, the team finally got some 'lucky' (for lack of a better term) breaks that helped both the players and coaches build trust in each other.
Hopefully we can keep the good times rolling beat those silly wahoos.
I think this season can actually be broken into three parts, roughly in line with the calendar months.
We've got the first part ending with the asskicking by Duke. We've got the second part where we were building up confidence, ending with the trip to ND. I think that last drive was another kick in the ass for the defense.
Then came the third part starting with the Wake Forest game, where we've had the most entertaining month of Hokie football probably since Fuente's first season.
Honestly I see the 2019 Virginia Tech football season as a "story of three teams", cut exactly along the calendar lines. In September (first four games), we underperformed significantly even compared to somewhat-low expectations coming into the season, culminating in the disaster against Duke. In October, we blew a 28 point lead against Miami but hunkered down and won a close game, then had a very underwhelming win over URI, then the 6-OT thriller against a UNC team that, in hindsight, should have been easier to beat. Then November rolls around, we control the game for 58 minutes against a top-10-caliber Notre Dame squad, and then roll off 3 straight dominant performances against ACC foes, two of which were in contention for "second best in the ACC" at the start of the month.
Now we get one final performance against the one team still standing in our way of claiming that same title.
Fuck UVa.
How is this comment not plaid?!
yah..yah..yah..yah..yah...Let's just focus on the now...we are not college football coaches, there is a lot more that goes into this thing than we realize.
Let's beat UVA and go 1-0
Oh come off it. If we can only focus on the now tf are we supposed to do each week? Relax, this is a forum.
Honestly I don't think it is as much of Fuentes guys as much as rebuilding the roster. (And I think Jerry Kill has had a hand in helping)
The transition class doesn't have to many players still at VT. And 2017 had a mass exodus of incredible defensive talent. It's hard to pin depth issues on Fuente when you have sophomores you didnt recruit leaving for the NFL. So now Fuente has had 3 full classes. Our depth is pretty good at just about every position. Looking to next season RB should have a lot of depth and really only DE is the lacking position. I haven't felt this good about our depth ever. We have 3 DTs that get a lot of time, Kendricks and Fuga are exciting too. Ashby, Dax, Tisdale are great, rivers is sil around and I don't even remember the LB that RSd. Hunter, Deablo, Conner and Ladler at Safety/whip. Farley, Waller, Murray, webb?, Chatman at DB. OLine has 3 true frosh playing!! We have lots of depth now, and have more next year. Its incredible.
This staff should be commended for their recruiting evals and development. Guys like Waller, Farley, Ashby, Crawford, Tenuta, Darrisaw, Dzansi, Lecitus Smith, Pollard, Kendricks, etc. make me far less nervous about the current (2020) class.
Fun Fact: for the 6 games prior to the LOLUVa game last year we were 1-5. This year we are coming in 5-1 over the last 6 games. Whatever we are doing now, let's stick with it.
I think you killed the lead here
I'll be honest. I did not think Fuente would have turned the program around after being blown out by Duke at home. I turned the game off before halftime, declaring this to be a lost season, and went to bed.
Then the Miami game happened. Then VT turned around and won against UNC in the 6th overtime. To me, that was the defining moment. Hooker went down and the team didn't quit. Patterson, whom I have met in person at Sinkland's Farm, put himself in the Virginia Tech's lore by scoring the game-winning touchdown.
I think the UNC game was the defining game. Fuente said to the effect that the UNC game made VT realize their identity: #HardToughSmart, which has been Fuente's mantra since he arrived to replace Beamer. I recall seeing a fan tweeting to Bitter, I think, mocking Fuente's hashtag with #weakdumbsoft after the Duke game.
Benching Ryan Willis and starting Hooker was another key decision Fuente made, and that had to be a hard pill for Fuente and Willis both to swallow but I give credit to Willis for being a good teammate (see him telling Hooker, "Good job," after the touchdown against Pittsburgh). The defense are playing as Foster used to field and that's because the offense are clicking with Hooker behind center, controlling the clock, and scoring.