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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 1, 2017

Justin Fuente

Greensboro, North Carolina

JUSTIN FUENTE: We were happy to get the win last week in some adverse weather conditions. Looking forward to the game this week. Another challenge, another Coastal Division team on the road against a very talented, well-coached Miami team.

Q. You and Coach Richt took over programs at the same time and programs that had been prominent and were less than prominent, and now both are back where they once were, or you hope they were, anyway. So what have you seen that he did in Miami to get the Hurricanes back to being what the Hurricanes were known for?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, the only thing I would say, just as a caveat to that question is I'm not real well versed in Miami before he got there.

So I can tell you what I have seen from them in my short time here at Virginia Tech preparing for us to play them a second time and that's a well-coached, talented football team.

They obviously have a huge emphasis on creating turnovers defensively and lead the ACC in turnover margin. They have great athletes in the skill positions offensively. They love to push the ball down the field and still run the football.

So what I've seen from them is there's a reason they are undefeated. There's a reason they have this winning streak dating back to last year is because they are a very well-coached and very talented football team.

Q. How does that compare to what you felt like needed to be done when you got to Virginia Tech?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, I mean, I didn't come into Virginia Tech with any preconceived notion of what we were or weren't. I just knew the way that I wanted to do things.

So, I don't know, like I didn't really research the way that things had gone all that much in the past. I knew we had a tradition and a level of competition that we needed to live up to, but you know, I didn't -- I didn't specify things that I thought weren't being done that I thought now needed to be done. I just had the plan of what I wanted it to look like and that's the direction we went.

Q. Where has Josh Jackson made the biggest strides this year?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, I just -- first of all, he's done a great job, knock-on-wood, of taking care of the football. He's really been judicious with his decision making. I think he's playing at a little faster tempo than maybe he did to start the season in terms of some anticipation and those sorts of things.

You know, I know that he's earned the respect of his teammates. We have a very old and veteran defensive unit and a red-shirt freshman quarterback, and it's really been fun for me to see that defensive unit grow to appreciate and respect Josh. I think he's earned some respect from them through his toughness and work ethic, and obviously he's made some plays to help us win games.

You know, the last thing I would say is he's done a great job with the younger players. Often I forget that he is a red-shirt freshman, as well. But a couple weeks ago at Boston College, he played 6-2 freshmen on the offensive side of the ball alone. Josh has done a great job with those guys, kind of living with some of the things that come with that many young players, and also helping them and encouraging them to continue to get better.

Q. How much has he helped along the development of a Sean Savoy who has emerged for you in the pass game?
JUSTIN FUENTE: I think the biggest thing is Sean now has somebody that he respects when they speak. And I don't mean that they didn't respect Josh. I just mean, Josh has earned that right now. He's earned that monicker and Josh's words now carry more weight than they did a couple months ago. I think that's always good for particularly young skill players to have someone in the huddle or running the offense that's words have weight behind them.

Q. Statistically, your defense and their defense, two of the top three in the league, given those circumstances, do you go into this thinking that this is likely to be a fairly low-scoring game with defenses dominating, or do you approach games like that?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, just in general terms, I think it's going to be like that every week for us. Just where we're at in terms of how well we've played on defense and special teams, and how young and inexperienced we are offensively.

I mean, that's kind of my mindset going into every game. I do not -- I know a couple weeks ago we had a game that got out of hand, but I think that's going to be the exception rather than the norm.

I think in general, this entire league is maybe better on defense than it was a year ago and maybe not as good on offense as it was a year ago. And I think there are going to be a lot of games that are relatively low-scoring that are one-possession football games that are really well played.

Q. They have won four consecutive games by single digits. The ability to win close games like that, what does that tell you about an opponent?
JUSTIN FUENTE: Well, they have certainly been through the fire and found a way to make the plays at the end of the game to win the game, whether it's on offense or on defense.

I mean, we have tremendous respect for that ability. We feel like that we have done a good job in those close games, as well; that last year we won several games that were, you know, three-point victories and we feel like we have that same ability as Miami.

Q. Just talk about last week when you played against Duke in the rain in the second half. Will that help you guys going down to Miami? I know sometimes a thunderstorm might pop up during the game.
JUSTIN FUENTE: Yeah, we loved it. It was awesome. It absolutely poured in the second half. I was really proud of our team and our mindset in terms of, I really felt like the worst weather got, the more we embraced it. I think we've been like that in a couple games, whether it's cold and windy or pouring down rain. I don't know how that affects us moving to Miami.

I know that there's always a chance of rain playing at Miami. Having taken care of the football and playing in a wet weather game, I'm sure that's something we can draw on in the future, but I don't know if that has any direct effect on this week's game.

Q. With Travis Homer in for Walton who is out for the season with an injury. What type of running back is he and what do you guys have to do to stop him?
JUSTIN FUENTE: He's a fantastic football player. You watch him on special teams and the plays he makes on special teams, he runs with power and speed. He's just an all-around, really, really good football player that can both catch the ball and like I said, he's made just as many plays on special teams. He's a great example to guys on our team -- a guy that's starting at tailback and still making plays on special teams.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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