Virginia Tech Hokies football head coach Justin Fuente answered questions from media members in a virtual press conference following a 45-24 win over NC State Saturday.

The Wolfpack (1-1, 1-1 ACC) allowed the Hokies (1-0, 1-0 ACC) to gain 495 yards of offense including 314 rushing yards.

Here were Coach Fuente's thoughts about NC State following his team's win:

"First thing I want to talk about. Khalid Martin, our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. It was obviously a serious event that nobody likes to see. On behalf of everybody with Virginia Tech football, Khalid and his family are in our thoughts and prayers.

"I'm just really proud of our group. To say that we've been through a lot before we played our first game would be an understatement. Between guys being out and making it back the day before the game or the day of the game, guys coming back on Wednesday coaches not making it, guys having to step into roles, people from our recruiting staff having to fill coaching roles, to our trainer and our doctor, helping this team through this has been really a remarkable team effort and I'm really appreciative to be a part of it. I'm just awfully proud of what happened out there and we got off to a good start.

"I felt like we kind of lost our wind, which was what I was worried about. We hadn't played and practice had been limited for the last several weeks, I was really worried about our conditioning. It was pretty evident we got out there and got rolling pretty quick and then it was like we were out of breath on both sides of the ball. But we kind of regained our footing a little bit and found a way to finish it off."

"Not only was he playing his first game in some time but he was matched up against a really good football player. How he graded out and all that, I don't know, but I know that he takes those challenges personally. It doesn't take much needling of him during the week to get him ready to go. He accepted that challenge and I thought as a group our offensive line did a good job.

"We were playing a talented defensive line that can make life hard for you by playing head up techniques and make it hard to move line of scrimmage. We got it moving horizontally. At times, horizontally and vertically, which certainly helped."

"I don't know, I think we were excited to play. It's been a long time since we've been on the field and I know they're tired of practice, I can tell you that much. They came out and executed pretty well early on and we kind of lost our breath there and kind of sputtered around. We were excited and ready to play."

"I was really happy. We were down several guys and I knew if we could run the ball then it was going to come down to can we win versus stack coverage. Between James [Mitchell] and Tayvion [Robinson], I guess those guys probably made the most catches there in tight coverage. That was really the difference.

"We were able to run the ball and create favorable matchups outside versus tight coverage. You're going to have to go win those or you'll be miserable. [Former defensive coordinator] Bud Foster stopped a lot of people doing just exactly that, putting everybody down in the box and then beating up on the perimeter. When we got those opportunities, we made those plays and that kind of set the support."

"It's weird. We didn't go into the postgame locker room that we usually go intoto right there under the stadium, which is usually pretty cool because it's so instant. Instead, we made the trek back to our locker room in our practice facility.

"By then, everybody is happy but mostly just tired. It was a very happy locker room. We had J-Ham [new defensive coordinator Justin Hamilton] up on Facetime and held him up for everyone to see. Heck of a way to get your first win as a coordinator, from your couch.

"It was joyous but I think everyone's just ready for a good night's sleep. Maybe that's just me talking, I know I am."

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