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Saturday, November 22nd, 2008, 5:30

TV: ESPNU

Forecast (from WeatherBug.com):
Click the "Blacksburg Weather" link to the right.
Game time forecast, as of 3:00 pm Wednesday: Partly cloudy, temperature in the low 30s. Winds 2 mph, chance of rain 10%.

Click here for TechSideline.com's VT/Duke roster card

Game Preview: Virginia Tech (6-4, 3-3 ACC) vs. Duke (4-6, 1-5)
by Chris Coleman, TechSideline.com

Virginia Tech returns home to face Duke in the second and final night game of the year in Lane Stadium. The Hokies need a win to get back on track before facing in-state rival Virginia. Meanwhile, Duke needs two wins to become bowl eligible, so VT will get the Devils' best shot.

Duke's offense has improved under new head coach David Cutliffe, who brought a more sophisticated system with him from Tennessee. The offense emphasizes the passing game and getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly. Before this year, Duke was known as one of the worst pass blocking teams in the nation, but under Cutcliffe's system, that has gotten a lot better.

So far this year, with just two games remaining, Duke has allowed less than half the number of sacks that they allowed in each of the past two seasons.

Here is a look at how Duke's offense ranks overall.

The Duke offense goes as quarterback Thad Lewis (6-2, 200, Jr.) goes. Lewis is one of the most underrated quarterbacks in the nation. For the season, he has completed 60.9% of his passes for 1,893 yards, with 14 touchdowns and just five interceptions. Over the last two seasons combined, he has 35 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions.

Lewis is an accurate passer who produces, despite the lack of a good offensive line and effective running game. However, he is questionable for the Virginia Tech game because of an ankle injury. If he can't go, that will open the door for Zack Asack (6-4, 205, Jr.). Asack was a part-time starter for Duke in 2005. However, he isn't as accurate or as productive as Lewis.

Whoever is playing quarterback for Duke will be looking to get the ball to Eron Riley (6-3, 205, Sr.). Riley is a big-play receiver. This year he is only averaging 11.3 yards per catch, but in his first three seasons in Durham he averaged over 20 yards per catch. For the season, Riley has 56 catches for 630 yards and seven touchdowns. He is by far Duke's best playmaker on offense.

Johnny Williams (5-10, 190, Fr.) is having a solid year at receiver for Duke, with 27 catches for 301 yards. However, 11 of his catches for 135 yards came in one game against Northwestern. He has just three catches over the last three games.

Raphael Chestnut (6-2, 190, Sr.) has added 15 catches for 149 yards and a touchdown, while Austin Kelly (6-3, 195, So.) has 13 catches for 142 yards. The Blue Devils also like to spread the ball to their tight ends and fullbacks.

The passing game is solid, and it would be even better with an effective running game. However, the Blue Devils still don't have a lot of talent on the offensive line. The Blue Devils are much better pass blocking with Cutliffe as the head coach, but they don’t have the size to drive block against decent defenses.

That might be the smallest offensive line in 1-A football. Tech's defensive line should have no trouble shutting down the run. Cordarrow Thompson and John Graves in particular should be able to dominate the interior offensive line of the Blue Devils.

Duke's tailbacks are solid. The leading rusher is Clifford Harris (5-10, 220, Sr.), who has 345 yards on 98 carries this year. However, Harris is banged up and will not play Saturday against Virginia Tech.

Open House This Saturday at Kent Square Condominiums!
From 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Jay Hollingsworth (5-11, 185, Fr.) and Tony Jackson (5-10, 185, So.) will get the carries against the Hokies. They have combined for 570 yards on the season, but they both average less than four yards per carry. The size and talent of the offensive line is the main problem with Duke's running game.

Duke's defense has also improved this year. They still don't have the depth or speed to matchup to most other ACC teams, but they have gotten better over the past year. They are a tough group in the trenches, and the Hokies struggled to block them last season.

Duke is near the bottom of the ACC in most statistical categories. However, thanks to the ACC's high number of bad offenses, they are middle-of-the-pack nationally in total defense.

Duke's defensive line is solid, but not particularly deep. The most well-known player is defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase (6-6, 300, Jr.). He is a very talented player who chose Duke over scholarships from some of the nation's top programs. He is a wide body who can stop up the middle of the offensive line.

However, from a statistical standpoint, defensive end Greg Akinbiyi (6-2, 235, Sr.) has been the most productive player on Duke's defensive line this year. Akinbiyi has 44 tackles, 12.5 TFL and four sacks on the season. He has been a very disruptive player for Duke's defense, which ranks 29th nationally in tackles for loss. The Blue Devils are capable of getting penetration.

The other starters up front are nose guard Clifford Respress (6-4, 280, Sr.) and defensive end Ayanga Okpokowuruk (6-4, 255, Jr.). They are solid players with toughness, but they aren't as productive as Oghobaase and Akinbiyi.

Open House This Saturday! From 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm

Duke has a couple of playmaking linebackers in Michael Tauiliili (5-11, 235, Sr.) and Vincent Rey (6-0, 240, Jr.). Tauiliili plays the middle linebacker spot, and he leads the ACC in tackles with 111. He is a very instinctive player who always ranks amongst the leaders in tackles in the conference.

Rey plays weakside linebacker spot, and he isn't far behind Tauiliili, with 88 tackles on the season, the fifth best mark in the conference. The strongside linebacker is Marcus Jones (6-3, 225, Sr.). Jones is a former quarterback and perhaps the best athlete out of all of Duke's linebackers. Overall, this is an active group of linebackers and the heart and soul of the Blue Devil defense.

Duke's defensive weakness over the past few seasons has been their secondary. Though they are giving up less yardage through the air this year than in recent years, that's mostly because of the ineptitude of ACC passing attacks, where only two quarterbacks average 200 or more yards passing per game. This secondary has improved, but overall it's not very good.

The most experienced player is left safety Adrian Aye-Darko (6-2, 210, Sr.). Aye-Darko is a solid player, but he can struggle in space, just like the rest of Duke's secondary. The right safety is Catron Gainey (6-2, 205, Jr.), a player similar in size and ability to Aye-Darko.

The cornerbacks are Leon Wright (5-9, 170, Jr.) and Jabari Marshall (5-11, 195, Sr.). They are decent players, but overall this is probably the least talented secondary in the ACC.

Virginia Tech should be able to move the football on this Duke defense. Whether they do or not is another question.

Duke has better special teams than many give them credit for. They are much more efficient at field goals now, and even the rest of their teams are decent, with the exception of punt returns.

Nick Maggio (6-4, 190, So.) is 9-of-12 on his field goal attempts this year, with a long of 46. The Blue Devils have struggled with their field goal and extra point kicking for the past few years, and it arguably cost them a couple of games against in-state rival UNC. However, they appear to have that problem solved this year.

Despite the decent numbers put up by Duke in all categories except punt returns, the Hokies will have superior players on the field on special teams. This should be an area of the game where Virginia Tech can gain an advantage.

How many of you have thought more about the Duke game this week than Bud Foster possibly leaving for Clemson? Me neither. The only thoughts I've had about the Duke game is that it's going to be cold (high of 36 degrees on Saturday, but it will be colder during the game) and I'm not a big fan of the kickoff time. It totally slipped my mind that I didn't even have a ticket for this game until late yesterday.

We don't know yet exactly how important this game is. It's important from a respect standpoint, and the more wins the Hokies can accumulate, the better their bowl standing will be when selections are made. But we won't know until the Georgia Tech-Miami game is decided whether or not this VT-Duke game will have any bearing on the Coastal Division race.

This has been a very distracting week in Blacksburg. Calls are coming from every corner of the fanbase to get rid of Bryan Stinespring. Bud Foster interviewed last week for the Clemson job, and he appears to be a strong candidate. To top things off, senior linebacker Purnell Sturdivant expressed displeasure in the production of the VT offense to the media in Tuesday's press conference. Things aren't exactly going smoothly in the Merryman Center right now.

All that said, I don't think Duke's offense is going to be able to do much against the Hokie defense. I think VT's defensive line will chew up and spit out the smallish Duke offensive line, and a hobbled Thad Lewis is going to have a very tough day in Lane Stadium.

The Tech offense won't have to do a lot in this game, in my opinion. One touchdown might be enough from them. We'd all like to see them play better than that, and I think we'll see a decent performance from them this week. I'm not holding my breath though.

Will Stewart's Take: If VT loses this game, a mushroom cloud is going to appear over Blacksburg, kind of like the one that appeared over Charlottesville after UVa lost to Duke 31-3. Much like a cockroach, Al Groh somehow survived that one, but if something similar unfolds in Lane Stadium Saturday, there won't be many survivors.

Like Chris, though, I can't picture that happening. Eventually it will happen. Even Temple beat Virginia Tech -- seriously, they did, back in 1998. That's not just a story that Hokie parents use to frighten their children at Halloween. So it will happen some day, but not this Saturday.

If there's one element of the Virginia Tech football team that has been playing particularly well, it's the Hokie defensive line. Strip away everything else in and around this game, and it's going to boil down to John Graves, Cordarrow Thompson, Jason Worilds, Orion Martin and company. I sense that Duke is fading, after a strong start to the season, and VT's defensive line is just the unit to close the door in the Devils.

As for the Hokie offense, all bets are off. They've swung to the opposite ends of the spectrum in the last two games, and I have no clue where they're going to settle in for the last couple of games. I'll take a guess, though.