10/2/2023 football Edit

Despite large spread, FSU aware of challenges Virginia Tech presents

Curt Weiler • TheOsceola

Senior Writer

The Florida State football team enters this week rested, recovered and reloaded coming off a bye week.

Its next opponent, Virginia Tech, will head to Tallahassee this week coming off something that is even better: One of its most impressive wins in recent program history.

While the Hokies (2-3) have struggled through the first 16 games of Brent Pry's tenure atop the program, amassing a 5-11 record, their final tune-up before taking on No. 5 FSU (4-0, 2-0 in ACC) this Saturday was a resounding success.

VT came away with a 38-21 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday. It was just Pry's second ACC win as VT's head coach and the Hokies' 38 points were the most they have scored in any game of his tenure.

"This is a Virginia Tech team that's coming off a great performance. They were dominant against Pitt," FSU head coach Mike Norvell said at his Monday press conference. "Really did an outstanding job of running the football. You saw toughness, you saw physicality."

The once-great Virginia Tech football program has certainly fallen on hard times over the last few years. The Hokies' last winning season came in 2019 and the post-Frank Beamer years have generally been tough with the exception of a strong start by his successor, Justin Fuente.

It would appear the Hokies will be mismatched in their first trip to Tallahassee since ruining Willie Taggart's FSU debut in the 2018 season opener. FSU opened as a 25-point favorite for Saturday's matchup.

But the Seminoles won't be taking them lightly. Especially after what they saw from VT's win Saturday.

For their roles in the win, VT quarterback Kyren Drones and VT running back Bhayshul Tuten each earned ACC Player of the Week honors at their respective positions.

Drones didn't begin the season as the starting quarterback, but replaced Grant Wells when he went down with an injury and has performed well enough that it would appear he has claimed the starting job for himself at this point. He completed 12 of 19 passes for 228 yards and three touchdown passes Saturday night while also carrying the ball 21 times for 41 yards with touchdown runs.

So far this season, Drones has 205 rushing yards and four rushing touchdowns while Tuten has a team-high 301 rushing yards after racking up 109 yards against Pitt.

"He's a big kid. I think he's close to almost 240 pounds there. He's got the right mindset and how to play," Norvell said of Drones. "They did some direct quarterback runs with him. That's going to be a big part of what they do. But the running back, offensive line did a nice job there at the line of scrimmage. You saw toughness. It was put on display and then they showed some of the explosiveness being able to throw the ball down the field."

Drones is not the same type of mobile quarterback as Boston College's Thomas Castellanos, who ran for 95 yards against the Seminoles three weeks ago. However, his athleticism and physical running style will again test the Seminoles' run defense on scrambles and quarterback runs, which has been an occasional problem so far this season.

"I think any time that you play a mobile quarterback, there is the point of emphasis in terms of everybody being able to execute their role and their responsibilities, especially in the designed quarterback run game," FSU defensive ends coach/special teams coordinator John Papuchis said. "Especially in (triple-option looks), everyone has a job, everyone has got to fit their gap, everyone has a role and responsibility especially when the quarterback starts running the ball and it’s critical that we’re disciplined in everything that we do to make sure that we handles our role within the defense.”

On the other side of the ball. the Seminoles will be facing a familiar face in VT defensive coordinator Chris Marve, who was FSU's linebackers coach for the first two years of Norvell's tenure.

Pitt actually averaged more yards per play (5.9) than VT did in that game Saturday night in Blacksburg. However, the Panthers managed just 38 rushing yards and were 2 of 10 on third downs, resulting in them running only 46 offensive plays.

"Defensively it's a very well-coached team. Obviously we know Chris Marve, defensive coordinator. Coach Pry, obviously, that's his background and all that he's done and all the success in his career. Very sound, aggressive attack-style defense in what they do. A lot of movement with their guys up front. They were disruptive last week..." Norvell said. "This is a team that they're going to force a lot of eight-man front. They're going to try to get those hats down. They're always going to try to have plus one in the run game, so you've got to do a good job of making sure that you execute, that you do a good job playing with your eyes, and then obviously quarterback just taking what they're giving you in those situations."

Obviously, it will be much harder for the Hokies to have that same level of defensive success against an FSU offense that could be among the best in the country than against a Pitt offense which could be among the worst.

After all, there are quite a few reasons that have to contribute to a betting spread as large as the one in FSU's favor this week.

While the Seminoles' preparations for the Hokies are well underway, there's also been an emphasis on carrying over FSU's bye-week focus.

"As we go into this week, we're continuing to focus on us and just going to be the best Florida State team that we can be and continuing to grow as we move through the season," Norvell said.