BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech football plays its seventh and final home game of the 2021 season when Duke comes to town for a 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff Saturday on ACC Network.
The Hokies (4-5, 2-3 ACC) beat the Blue Devils (3-6, 0-5 ACC) by a 38-31 margin last season at Wallace Wade Stadium. QB Braxton Burmeister guided the Hokies to the win with three total touchdowns (two rushing and one passing), while RB Khalil Herbert rushed for 207 yards and two TDs. DEs Amaré Barno and Emmanuel Belmar combined for 5.0 sacks (-35.0 yards) in the win. For more on the series history with Duke.
Last week's top performers:
- RB Malachi Thomas led the Hokies in rushing for the third straight week, recording 13 carries for 70 yards.
- WR Tayvion Robinson led all Tech receivers with four receptions for 44 yards to move into 13th place on Tech's career receptions list with 104.
- LB Dax Hollifield and S Tae Daley tied for the team lead in tackles with 10. Both defenders also had 1.0 TFL in the game.
- P Peter Moore had a career-long 68-yard punt as part of a 343 punting yard performance, which included three punts of 50-plus yards.
- K John Parker Romo wore the No. 25 jersey for the first time in his career and made a 47-yard field goal.
- Duke QB Gunnar Holmberg completed 16 of 23 passes for 174 yards with a 32-yard TD before exiting the game in the second quarter due to injury.
- Duke RB Mataeo Durant carried the ball 24 times for 89 yards and recorded four receptions for 39 yards with a five-yard TD reception.
- Duke WR Jalon Calhoun led the team in receiving yards with 78 and WR Jake Bobo led the team in receptions with seven.
- Duke LB Shaka Heyward led the Blue Devils defensively, racking up nine tackles with 2.5 TFL including 1.0 sack.
What to watch for Saturday:
- The Hokies can move to 5-1 against the Blue Devils under head coach Justin Fuente and 19-10 all-time.
- WR Tré Turner can move into the top five in both receptions and receiving yards with at least a five reception, 53-yard performance to pass Bucky Hodges (133) in receptions and Ricky Scales (2,272) in receiving yards.
- WR Tayvion Robinson is currently 13th on Tech's career receptions list with 104 and needs two more to pass Marcus Davis (105) for 12th.
- Robinson also holds a 13.5-yard punt return average, which is good enough for fourth in the country, and his 256 punt return yards lead the ACC, are fourth among Power Five players and sixth in the FBS.
- RB Malachi Thomas owns a 108.0 rushing yards per game average over the last three games on 59 carries for 324 yards with three TDs. The true freshman has the third-most rushing yards in the ACC during that span.
- P Peter Moore ranks third in the ACC with 16 punts inside the 20-yard line and 13 punts of 50-plus yards.
- K John Parker Romo has made 11 of his last 12 field goals and is five of six from 40-plus yards this season.
- Duke RB Mataeo Durant ranks second in the ACC with a 118.0 rushing yards per game average. He's one of two ACC running backs (Syracuse's Sean Tucker) to total at least 1,000 rushing yards this season.
- Duke WR Jake Bobo is tied for second in the conference with 59 receptions this season. He's also racked up 628 receiving yards with one TD reception.
- Duke LB Shaka Heyward leads the Blue Devils with 75 tackles, which is tied for fifth in the ACC.