2011 Virginia Tech Hokies Football: Va. Tech @ Duke

Slowly but surely, yet another band of gridiron brothers from Blacksburg, Virginia, is beginning to play up to its capabilities. It must be late October, and it must be time for a dash to a division championship.

Virginia Tech fans, after a disastrous outing against Clemson where they Hokies scored only three points, which followed four underwhelming out of conference wins, were probably right to be worried about losing the Hokies’ grip on the ACC Coastal. They looked completely out of sorts on offense in the Clemson game, and not their normal dominant defensive selves. Nearly a month later, Virginia Tech again looks to be the class of the Coastal after Georgia Tech’s once fearsome offense has fizzled out. After dispatching Miami in one of the most exciting games of the year and pounding Wake Forest and Boston College, Virginia Tech brings its top 10 scoring defense to Durham with only Coastal Division games remaining in the regular season.

Virginia Tech’s defensive stats may be a bit inflated due to a lighter-than-normal schedule thus far, but the Hokies can still bring the heat with defensive end J.R. Collins, cornerback Jayron Hosley, and safety Antone Exum having distinguished themselves as among the best in the conference at their positions. The Miami game marked the Hokies’ only poor defensive performance – Tech gave up over 500 yards to the Hurricanes, with 236 coming on the ground. Even Clemson, which has proven itself to have one of the best offensive units in the nation, gained only 23 points and 323 yards on Bud Foster’s defense, by far the Tigers’ worst output of the season.

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Duke brings a different challenge, with Sean Renfree preferring to move the ball with a series of short passes to his outstanding corps of wide receivers. Due in part to head coach David Cutcliffe’s offensive scheme, which encourages short passes in the flat more so than stretching the field, Renfree is completing over two thirds of his attempts, yet only manages a 6.5 yards per attempt average. However, he also has 1,800 passing yards, demonstrating the sheer number of passes he attempts, in part because the Blue Devils barely even attempt to run the ball. Conner Vernon leads the team with 652 yards on 47 attempts, but Renfree spreads around the ball, having eight different receivers with double-digit catches on the year and seven different receivers with over 100 receiving yards. Vernon, Donovan Varner, Cooper Helfet, and Brandon Baxton each have at least 24 catches and at least 174 yards each.

Virginia Tech’s offense has been a little less consistent, though it looks like Logan Thomas is finally figuring things out at quarterback after his horrible performance against Clemson, where he was 15-27 for 125 yards, an interception, and only 8 rushing yards on 12 carries. He followed that performance with a career game against Miami, when he connected on 23 of 35 passes for 310 yards, three scores, no picks, and two rushing TDs, including the game winner with under a minute to go. In the two games that followed Miami, Thomas has distinguished himself, throwing for 280 and 268 yards, rushing for 90 yards in the two games, and accounting for six touchdowns (three rushing, three passing) while avoiding a single interception since the Clemson game.

If Thomas plays like he has since the Miami game, Duke will have a tough time beating Virginia Tech. Hokie running back David Wilson should have all sorts of room to run against a Duke rush defense that is weak, to say the least. Wilson already has 1,000 yards on the season and averages 6.3 yards per carry. Danny Coale has 40 receptions for 565 yards, while Jarrett Boykin has 32 receptions for 418 yards. Marcus Davis and D.J. Coles have also provided Thomas with big targets. Tech should win handily barring a boatload of turnovers; Duke doesn’t have the horses on defense to stop the newly-high powered Virginia Tech offense.

Virginia Tech Hokies @ Duke Blue Devils Football Preview