Duke at Virginia Tech

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the No.25 Virginia Tech Hokies will look to continue to their strong play when they host the Duke Blue Devils. The Hokies cruised to their fifth consecutive win last week, as they downed Wake Forest 52-21 at home, while the Blue Devils lost their fifth straight in a 28-13 loss at Miami. The Hokies have won nine straight against he Blue Devils, including all six since Virginia Tech joined the ACC, but the last two contests have been close, including a 34-26 Virginia Tech win on the road last year. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have the Hokies favored by 26-points over the Blue Devils at home.

Duke (1-5, 0-3 ACC): The Blue Devils have not won a game since beating Elon 41-27 in their opening game of the season. Offensively the Blue Devils are really struggling, as they are averaging just 16 points a game over their last four. Last week against the Hurricanes the Blue Devils actually kept it a lot closer than a lot of people might expected, as they lost by just 15 points, but they managed to score just 13 points and turned the ball over seven times. Six of those turnovers came from quarterback Sean Renfree, who threw five interceptions and also fumbled a snap. Renfree, who threw for just 157 yards without a touchdown, now has 14 interceptions to 10 touchdowns on the season.

Defensively the Blue Devils played a pretty good game considering all the mistakes that were made on the offensive side of the football, but it won’t get any easier against the Hokies this Saturday, as Virginia Tech is averaging just over 41 points a game during their current five game winning streak.

Virginia Tech (5-2, 3-0 ACC): The back to back losses to start the season against Boise State and James Madison definitely still sting, but the Hokies have to be pleased with the way they are playing right now. Since starting 0-2 the Hokies have won by an average of 21 points a game, including a 31 point blowout win over Wake Forest last week.

A big reason the Hokies are piling on the points, is the play of quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns and added another touchdown on the ground against Wake Forest. In the last three games, Taylor has thrown for 576 yards with 7 touchdowns, and has added another 279 yards and three scores on the ground.

Duke figures to pose no threat of slowing down the Hokies offense this week, as they come into the game allowing nearly 38 points and 434 yards of total offense. It is not a question of whether or not the Hokies will win, but by how many points.

Looking at the Odds: While I love the Hokies to win this game, I believe you have to take the Blue Devils to cover the 26.5 point spread in this game. There is no question that Virginia Tech is the better football team, but in the last two seasons, the Hokies have only beat Duke by a combined 19 points. For Virginia Tech to cover the spread, I believe they are going to have to score at least 50 points, and I just don’t believe that is a safe bet. My final score prediction is Virginia Tech 42, Duke 20.

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