BLACKSBURG – The Virginia Tech football team left Friday afternoon for another conference road game, busing three-plus hours south to Durham, North Carolina to take on Duke in a Saturday night affair.
Tech is coming off a surprising poor performance at Old Dominion on Saturday, and righting the ship against Duke won't be easy. Winners of seven straight dating back to last season, the Blue Devils enter the game with a perfect 4-0 mark, which includes two road wins over Power 5 opponents, and they also come in ranked No. 22 nationally – their first national ranking in nearly three years.
The Hokies have fared well against schools from the state of North Carolina since joining the ACC and especially under head coach Justin Fuente, who is 6-0 in such games. Overall, Tech is 31-7 combined against Duke, North Carolina, Wake and NC State since joining the league.
To continue that streak, Tech needs to play solid football – no turnovers, few penalties, solid execution.
That said, here are some things to watch:
Forgetting the past – Last Saturday represented one of the bigger disappointments in program history. Tech lost to ODU by two touchdowns and got out-played in every phase of the game. In the second half, particularly the fourth quarter, the Hokies had no answer for ODU's offense.
Yet there is nothing to be done now except to learn from it and come out totally focused against Duke. Tech features a young roster. The younger players need to learn out to bounce back – quickly.
Expect the first quarter to reveal a lot about Tech's mindset.
Preventing the big plays – A week ago against ODU, the Hokies struggled to contain the Monarchs' offense, giving up numerous big plays. In fact, Tech gave up 11 pass plays of 20 yards or more in that game.
So the Hokies and their young secondary need to tighten up the coverage, especially against a Duke squad that thrives on the big play. The Blue Devils already have five pass plays of 35 yards or more this season after totaling just 11 all of last season.
Those pass plays have paved the way for some big scoring games. Duke has scored at least 40 points in each of its past two games and want to make it three in a row for the first time since 1943.
Protecting Willis – ODU sacked Tech quarterbacks Josh Jackson and Ryan Willis four times last weekend, just one of many things that went wrong for the Hokies on the evening. Now they face a Duke team with nine sacks in its first four games.
Willis truly can sling it, but his big arm gives him a lot of confidence – which worries Tech's staff. The coaches want a confident quarterback, but they also want to avoid turnovers, particularly against a Blue Devil team that knows how to make teams pay for mistakes. Duke has scored 31 points this season off turnovers after scoring just 56 off turnovers in 2017.
But if Willis has time, he possesses the potential to take advantage of a banged-up Duke secondary and reduce the risk of turning the ball over.
Win the turnover battle – Tech's defense did not force a turnover against ODU. That needs to change Saturday, but the task figures to be difficult. The Blue Devils have turned the ball over just twice in four games this season and are tied for the third-fewest turnovers nationally.
Even more impressive, none of Duke's three quarterbacks has thrown an interception. Only five teams nationally haven't thrown an interception.
Teams that win the turnover battle greatly enhance their chances of winning. The Hokies need to find a way to do that Saturday night.
Remaining composed – The Hokies and Duke usually play close games, especially since head coach David Cutcliffe arrived at Duke. Five of the past nine meetings between the two teams have been decided by a touchdown or less.
So the Hokies need to be prepared for a close, tough, physical game on the road against a nationally ranked team and need to understand that things may not go their way. They need to just play the next play. This team lost its composure against ODU, committing four unsportsmanlike penalties – part of the reason why the Monarch gradually pulled away.
Fuente addressed that issue this week. Hopefully, this team took note.
The game kicks off at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN2.