It has felt like an eternity since Hokie Nation was welcomed back in full to Lane Stadium in many ways. On Friday night, that changes. And fittingly, it’s a big one.
Virginia Tech will welcome the No. 10 North Carolina Tar Heels to Blacksburg headlined by preseason Heisman-favorite quarterback Sam Howell. The Hokies have a tangible opportunity to shape the perception of their program with a victory in a matchup that has become a bit of a rivalry game over the past several years.
Although the Tar Heels lost a considerable amount of skill-position talent to the NFL Draft, expectations are as high as ever in Chapel Hill. The Hokies hope to temper these expectations across the college football landscape in, what would be, the biggest win of Justin Fuente’s tenure at Virginia Tech.
To lead off his game week press conference, Fuente said, “Everybody’s looking forward to Friday night. We finished up our mock weekend, and it went well. We gave our guys a little bit of break to get their legs back. We had a really good workout on Saturday morning, and then we were off the rest of the day and Sunday. We were back on the field today as we turn our attention to Friday night. Looking forward to being back in Lane Stadium and opening it up at home against a really good opponent.”
A trend that bodes well for Virginia Tech is that Fuente is 4-1 in season openers as Hokies coach despite only one of those matchups being a true home game with fans in attendance. However, none of the teams they faced have the firepower and high talent level that this UNC squad features. Conversely, Fuente is 5-12 facing ranked teams during his time in Blacksburg.
There’s no doubt that Lane Stadium will be rocking and ready to go for the matchup. It will be imperative for the Hokies to get off to a fast start and force the inexperience at some key positions for the Tar Heels to manifest itself. The Hokies’ secondary will need to pressure the young Carolina receivers and allow the pass rushers to pressure Howell. If the offensive line can keep their Heisman candidate upright in the pocket, he is more than capable of discovering any mismatches for the Tar Heels.
Commenting on Howell’s impact on the game, Fuente stated, “There’s a lot to unwrap with him and their offense. First of all, they can run the football. It’s not just a situation where they’re dropping back and throwing it all the time. They will push the ball down the field, but it starts with the run game and the RPOs off of the run game.
Fuente elaborated, “He is really good at seeing the field. They do some things that you have to have a special guy back there at quarterback to pull off. He’s a really savvy football player that allows them to do some things in the RPO game because he sees the field so well. And that’s before you get into the dropback passing game or the play-action game. He’s a really accomplished, intelligent football player.”
Virginia Tech’s secondary will play a key role for the Hokies. Jermaine Waller, Dorian Strong, Keonta Jenkins, and the rest of the defensive back contingent will have their hands full. However, they bring a dynamic blend of talented youth and experience.
Prediction
Ultimately, I think Sam Howell will simply be too good and too much for the Hokies to overcome. I predict North Carolina will win 35-31 and in the words of Lee Corso, it’ll be “closer than the experts think.” It will be paramount for Mack Brown’s team to have successfully drowned out the outside noise regarding the potential of their program for this year. If not, the Hokies could seize the opportunity and earn a much needed win against a top ten team.
