nd selflessness that goes into holding on to the football that we havent had, he said.The Hokies fumbled 16 times all of last season, but lost just

Justin Fuente doesnt seem to be hitting the panic button just yet after nine Virginia Tech fumbles in the first two games, but the first-year coach of the Hokies knows his teams ball control needs to dramatically improve.The Hokies (1-1) overcame four fumbles in their opening victory against Liberty, but werent able to do the same when they coughed it up five times against 15th-ranked Tennessee last week. The Vols rolled to a 45-24 victory.The Hokies begin Atlantic Coast Conference play at home against Boston College (1-1) on Saturday.I would say were fumbling the ball too much. Thats a fact, Fuente said. We must -- its not an option -- get that fixed. That is a result of several things. We have to do a better job technically.Looking at the last two games, when we talked about it with the team yesterday, theres some technical things there that weve got to get cleaned up, some emphasis that weve got to do a better job. Theres a little bit of toughness and selflessness that goes into holding on to the football that we havent had, he said.The Hokies fumbled 16 times all of last season, but lost just seven.Quarterback Jerod Evans has thrown five touchdown passes in two games, but has also fumbled the ball away three times. A fourth fumble came when center Kyle Chung snapped the ball over Evans head for a 21-yard loss.That fumble, and two others, came inside the Hokies 10 yard-line, setting up short touchdown drives. Another was returned 71 yards for a touchdown by Alpha Jalloh in Virginia Techs season-opening victory against Liberty.Against Tennessee, a botched handoff to C.J. Carroll on a jet sweep led to a recovery for the Vols at the Hokies 5. Virginia Tech led 14-0 at the time, but Tennessee converted with a touchdown, the first of their 31 unanswered points.You do have every once in a while those occasions where you hold on to the ball and no matter what the defensive player just puts his hand in the right place and the ball, Evans said. And then you have those cases where weve been having, where were not thinking about it a lot and were thinking about making extra effort plays that were not actually thinking about protecting that ball.We just have to make a conscious effort to protect the ball more than getting those extra two or three yards, if thats the case. If thats not the case, then get those two or three yards but definitely we have to make a better effort, consciously, to protect the ball.The Hokies have switched to a more up-tempo offense under Fuente, but he doesnt view that as an issue.When I look at it, I see it as kind of what we talked about, he said. Theres some technique involved and ... weve got to be less selfish and more selfless and a little bit tougher. I see this as weve got to do a better job. You could go back to say if you have a better chance to fumble the football if you have 90 plays as opposed to 60 plays. Thats obvious. But I dont see that as a deal. It hasnt been in the past.---Online: The APs college football page: http://collegefootball.ap.org---Follow Hank on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hankkurzjr Wholesale Custom Tigers Shirts .05 million next season unless Graham and the Saints subsequently agree on a long-term deal. The designation was released Monday after the deadline passed for NFL teams to use franchise or transition tags on players becoming free agents. Authentic Custom Tigers Jersey .1 million pounds ($61.2 million) on Saturday, giving the beleaguered English Premier League champions a major lift. http://www.customtigersjersey.com/custom-alan-trammell-jersey-large-75e.html . The formidable trio of Canadian receivers -- individually known as Chris Getzlaf, Rob Bagg and Andy Fantuz -- will share the field at Mosaic Stadium one more time on Sunday. Custom Tigers Jerseys . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. Custom Tigers T-shirts . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby will not play in the teams home opener Thursday night against the Washington Capitals as he continues his recovery from a concussion.Crosby did join his teammates for practice Wednesday after working out vigorously with a trainer and goaltender on an adjacent sheet of ice for more than 30 minutes.Crosby took one line rush wearing a normal jersey and then donned a yellow noncontact jersey, but stayed for the balance of the teams workout and was visibly upbeat during the workout.Im always happy when Im on the ice, Crosby told reporters after the workout. Im always happy. Ive been through this before I dont get too caught up in every little step.Crosby missed the teams preseason game against Columbus on Saturday and it was revealed Monday that he had been diagnosed with a concussion after practice on Friday.Crosby, 29, missed significant time during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons while recovering from post-concussion symptoms. News of his new diagnosis has created a ripple of concern throughout the hockey world.Although he has now skated on consecutive days, Crosby said he knows enough not to try and read too much into it.It can go a lot of different ways, he said. Youre trying to find that range where youre stressing your body and testing it but not putting it in a position where youre going to not feel good. Its a fine line and just trying to make sure I progress.Coach Mike Sullivan was likewise cautiously optimistic about Crosbys appearance with the main group of players on Wednesday. Hes obviously feeling well enough that he wants to jooin the team for practice and get involved in some of the flow drills and thats what we did, Sullivan said.ddddddddddddWell take it step by step and were following the guidance of our medical team and well go from there, but hes certainly making progress and thats encouraging from our standpoint, the coach said.Sullivan did rule Crosby out of the teams first regular-season game Thursday. Before that game the Penguins will raise their 2016 Stanley Cup banner to the rafters of the recently renamed PPG Paints Arena. The coach confirmed that Crosby will have to go through a full-contact practice before he is cleared to play in a regular-season game.Theres obviously a protocol thats mandated that these guys follow, Sullivan said. Part of it is you heighten their heart rates to a certain level, and as they make progress you add the intensity of their workouts and you see how they respond.That makes the most sense, to get him into contact drills and get him back into the intensity of a game-like environment so that when he does go back into the lineup, hes prepared to succeed.Crosby is coming off a superlative 2015-16 season that saw him start slowly with just five points in October but finish with some of the best hockey of his career. He was named playoff MVP in helping the Penguins to a second Stanley Cup during his tenure with the team.Crosby then led Team Canada to an undefeated run at the World Cup of Hockey last month. He led all tournament scorers and was named tournament MVP. ' ' '