BLACKSBURG, Va. – After the historic loss to Duke on Friday, head coach Justin Fuente stressed the need for the Virginia Tech offense to find its identity. For offensive guard Lecitus Smith, that means playing mean and rugged, two traits that could hopefully help the Hokies win over Miami this Saturday.
"Instead of getting to the second level and fitting hat up on that linebacker, fit hat, latch on, run him outside the play, put him on his back," Smith said. "We want to be known as hard smart tough. We need to get that hard and tough part going."
And the smart part needs to come through, as well, in momentum-swing situations, something defensive coordinator Bud Foster felt tripped up his defense against Duke.
"Whatever it was, took the wind out of us. We have to be mentally tougher than that. There's a lot of football left, a lot of football. We can't let one play affect several," Foster said. "There's going to be adversity, a variety of things over the course of a(n) athletic contest that you're going to have to respond to. We just have to be better. That comes back more to mental toughness than anything else in my mind."
There was also a lot of talk about the matchup with former Hokie Trevon Hill, who is a defensive end for the Canes.
"It's not just like, 'OK, Trevon's in. Let's make sure we get hats on hats, set a good pro.' It's like that with anybody, no matter who's in," Smith said. "We're trying to set a good pro. Like I said, we're trying to play our game no matter who's in. Do what we do and get a good outcome in."
Both teams are heading into the matchup on Saturday 2-2 and looking for their first conference win.