Justin Fuente has fixed Virginia Tech, and that is because he came to the school with a new plan to focus on offense. He made Paxton Lynch into a draft pick, and he had a great run at Memphis. He took this job presumably because it would be easy to recruit, and he probably likes living in the hills around Blacksburg. It is a beautiful place if you have never seen it before, and now he has Virginia Tech playing relevant football one again. How can Virginia Tech make their presence known even if they lose to Clemson on Saturday?
The offense
We do not live in a defensive world anymore.
There is not a single team in the country that can point to their defense and say that it will somehow help them win a title. You have to have some kind of innovative offense that will make it hard for people to defend you. Virginia Tech can be defended by Clemson because the Tigers defense is that good, but they will still score no matter what. Fuente has given the Tech offense a reason to shine once again, and they look like they did when Michael Vick was there. It has been that long since the team had an offense that was worth looking at.
His approach
You have to be pretty modern if you plan to compete in a place that is tucked into the hills of Virginia. We see all these people from Virginia who live up by DC, and they make you think that the whole state is suburban.
That is not the case at all. Blacksburg is a rural town that you will not necessarily want to live in if you are a young football player, but Fuente is such a good coach that he helps the players feel comfortable when they come to this school. Fuente has created a program that a lot of kids will fall in love with because they want to have exposure, a quiet place to live and play on a team that can get them to the NFL.
Slow progress
Fuente did not fix Virginia Tech overnight, and we know that Virginia Tech will not fire him for having one bad season. He has spent the past couple of years making sure that he has the right kind of talent on the team, and now they look really good. They will drop in the rankings a little bit when they lose to Clemson, but this is still one of the better teams in the country.
This year could be a very good indication of how much they can compete with a team like FSU or Miami. The ACC could become logjammed with brilliant teams, and that is what might help the conference compete with the SEC.
Virginia Tech has taken the right approach to growth, and Justin Fuente now has a chance to flaunt his offense on national television. We might fall in love with the Hokies this Saturday.
