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Virginia Tech Football: Can Hokies bounce back at Duke?

By Justin Heisey

TALLAHASSEE, FL - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Justin Fuente of the Virginia Tech Hokies looks on in the second quarter of the game against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium on September 3, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
TALLAHASSEE, FL - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Justin Fuente of the Virginia Tech Hokies looks on in the second quarter of the game against the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium on September 3, 2018 in Tallahassee, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Virginia Tech football looks to bounce back in Durham, N.C., in an ACC divisional matchup against the 22nd-ranked Duke Blue Devils.

Appalachian State travels to Michigan on September 1, 2007, and upsets the No. 5 Wolverines to open up the most absurd season in college football history. Stanford entered the Los Angeles Colosseum in October of 2007 under new head coach Jim Harbaugh as a 41-point underdog to the No. 2 ranked USC Trojans and forced five turnovers to defeat the Trojans coming off of their fifth consecutive Pac 10 championship season.

And now, Virginia Tech traveled to Norfolk, Va., on Sept. 22 as a 28.5-point favorite over 0-3 Old Dominion. Monarch quarterback Blake LaRussa would come off of the bench to throw for 495 yards and four touchdowns as he led Old Dominion to a 14-point win over the Hokies for their first win of the season.

Yikes, The Hokies are coming off of one of the most embarrassing losses in program history and have effectively been eliminated from any college football playoff contention that they could’ve had going into the season.

Unfortunately, Virginia Tech is going to have to lean on Kansas native Ryan Willis going forward after an unfortunate fracture to Josh Jackson’s fibula has likely sidelined him for the entirety of the season. The question for Virginia Tech’s offense is how well this unit runs under Willis’ command. Willis’ history consists of a short tenure at Kansas where the quarterback room was so depleted that they had to burn his redshirt and force him into a trial by fire.

While at Kansas, he went 236-for-432 as a passer with 2,530 yards with an 11:17 touchdown-to-interception ratio. When he stepped in for Josh Jackson, Willis went 9-for-18 with 131 yards and a score while tying the game at 35-points and had it not been for a bad drop from Damon Hazleton he might have tied it up at 42.

The offense wasn’t the problem in the ODU game however, it was the defense. Bud Foster is one of the best defensive minds in college football, yet couldn’t stop a team that has averaged 18.3 points per game leading into this matchup. LaRussa had over 400 passing yards, Jeremy Cox rushed for 130 yards, and two receivers went for more than 140 receiving yards against a defensive unit that averaged 232 passing yards per game leading into the game. Can Bud Foster fix these problems before more damage is done?

Duke faced adversity early on with the injury to quarterback Daniel Jones but seem to have found an answer in Quentin Harris. Jones underwent surgery on his left clavicle after taking a blindside hit in week two against Northwestern.

Quentin Harris had thrown a total of 13 passes leading into this season and is currently throwing for 49 percent which isn’t the greatest. However, he’s thrown for 388 yards at 6.6 yards per attempt and six touchdowns. Harris has also scampered for 141 yards an a score while averaging over five yards per carry. Jones is actually healthy now and could very well play this week against Virginia Tech if he’s cleared in time.

Can Virginia Tech pull it together this week and go 2-0 in the ACC? Or will Duke continue to pile it on the Hokies?

Date: Saturday, Sept. 29
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Durham, N.C.
Venue: Wallace Wade Stadium
TV: ESPN 2
Live Stream: WatchESPN or FuboTV

Players to Watch

Virginia Tech

  • QB, Ryan Willis
  • RBs, Deshawn McClease and Steven Peoples
  • LB, Rayshard Ashby
  • DE, Trevon Hill
  • WR, Damon Hazelton Jr.

Duke

Keys to Victory

Virginia Tech needs to clean up on defense and put Ryan Willis in a position to succeed. The defense last week was an absolute travesty for the Hokies. Duke’s offense has looked far and away better than Old Dominions for most of the season and Bud Foster has to get his ducks in a row going into this game and prepare for either Duke quarterback. Ryan Willis looked fine against Old Dominion, but the Monarchs don’t have the stiffest off defenses. The Hokies must utilize the ground game an open up some easy passing lanes so they aren’t depending on him solely to win the game.

Duke has to get the ball going in the air and make Ryan Willis beat them. The Duke defensive front has looked great all season long and even held army to 168 total yards in their opener. If Willis throws then he will make mistakes and mistakes from Willis turn into points for Duke. Also, Virginia Tech gave up 400-plus yards last week through the air and clearly this isn’t the type of Tech secondaries that we are used to seeing. Whether it’s Jones or Harris that takes the field in this game they have to take advantage of this subpar secondary.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of OddsShark

Point Spread: Duke -4
Over/Under: 49.5

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Prediction

This one won’t be very high scoring and even though the final score will seem close, this is Duke’s game to win. Assuming that Harris plays, the Duke offense will play just good enough to stay ahead while the defensive front makes Willis uncomfortable in the pocket all game long. A late touchdown makes the score look respectable.

Final Score: Duke 24, Virginia Tech 16

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