Potential Short-Term Fixes For Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech
Justin Fuente must quickly figure out how to motivate his team for the final two games. (Ivan Morozov)

This feels like Liberty pt. 2, so I’m stepping away from the video again and looking ahead…just not as far ahead as some members of the fanbase right now.Crop featured image

For me, a realistic “positive” end to the regular season would be a gritty showing against Clemson followed by any kind of win over UVA. If the Hokies don’t turn things around in the next three weeks, this will be the season that lives in infamy the same way some of those post-Dooley seasons do. Looking over the Fuente oeuvre, 2018 at least had a win over UVA, and 2019 had a good year marred by the last two games. There’s almost no redemption to what happened on the field this year if the Hokies don’t win at least one more. That’s even if you’re all-in on the idea that the pandemic wrecked this season for the Hokies, or if whoever is the Hokies’ head coach in 2021 wins the national title and sticks around in Blacksburg for a few decades to grab a few more. Even fans hoping for more losses that’ll expedite a coaching change will feel the sting.

Obviously, that kind of positive ending will take a lot of work. I’m not going to say anyone on the staff or in pads has “quit” on the team if they’re on the practice field this week coaching and repping. They are demoralized, angry, frustrated, and morose. They are listless on the sidelines, numb to misfortune, and losing their ability to concentrate. But if they show up, they haven’t quit. And if they’re motivated and give good effort, then they have a shot at ending on a high note. (As for the internet chatter out there about the team being a cutlass and a few boarding pikes short of a mutiny, there is (as always) counter chatter.)

For Tech to hit my goal, the Hokies realistically have to “win” the bye week by getting healthy and rested; they have to at least “win” a moral victory against Clemson; and they have to beat UVA however they can. I don’t care if Tech wins because Cavman accidentally hamstrings the UVA QB in warmups and the Hokies benefit from the worst sequence of blown referee calls in the history of modern football—style points just don’t matter to me.

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