Virginia Tech Football: 3 takeaways from win over Duke in Week 9

Virginia Tech football made easy work on Duke on Saturday night as the Hokies improved to 7-1 on the season. What did we learn?

It wasn’t pretty, but wins are wins. Virginia Tech took care of business against Duke on Saturday evening and improved to 7-1 on the season. The rain-soaked contest was not the best game of the week, but it proved that Virginia Tech can win under most circumstances and also that its freshman quarterback is a star.

The Hokies’ victory sets up a big ACC Coastal matchup with division-leading Miami next week on the road as they will look to take down the unbeaten Hurricanes. Miami continues to sneak right by opponents and Virginia Tech will capitalize on that type of play.

Virginia Tech didn’t need style points to put the Blue Devils away, but it doesn’t hurt to add beat inferior teams by wide margins. Either way, the Hokies are starting to look the part of a top conference-contending team.

Here’s what we learned from Virginia Tech’s victory over Duke.

3. Virginia Tech’s defense is the real deal

Granted, the rain was drenching the field and that didn’t make things easier for Duke’s offense, but the Hokies’ defense was suffocating from the opening kickoff.

Prior to the game against Duke, the Hokies ranked 12th in the country in total defense with just about 299 yards per game surrendered, but they only improved on that ranking with Saturday’s showing. They allowed just 183 total yards and just 82 of those came through the air.

Virginia Tech was 25th in college football in passing defense, but that’s only getting better with each passing week. They will get a true test against Miami next week, but the fact that they held Daniel Jones to just 82 yards and an interception on 10-of-24 passing says a lot about this team.

Moreover, the run defense stepped up, holding the Blue Devils to just 2.9 yards per carry with 101 total yards.