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• Date: Saturday, October 3rd, 2009
• Time: noon
• TV: ESPN360.com (what's this?)

For weather information and a roster card link, see the Info Center to the right.

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After escaping the most challenging month in Tech football history with a 3-1 record, the Hokies will play their first true road game of the season at Duke. This is a classic trap game. After going through emotional roller coasters in their last two games against Nebraska and Miami, Tech now faces a perennial ACC cellar dweller. How the Hokies respond could tell us a lot about this team.

Duke is 2-2 on the season. They have losses to Richmond and Kansas, and wins over Army and North Carolina Central. The 2-2 start is a bit disappointing. The Blue Devils should be 3-1 and still be in the mix to qualify for a bowl. However, that doesn't look like it's going to happen now.

The Blue Devils won four games in 2008, and played Virginia Tech tough in Lane Stadium, losing 14-3. As the team to beat in the ACC, the Hokies will have a target on their backs.

In five games against Virginia Tech, Duke has scored more than three points just twice. The Hokies have dominated this series, winning by an average of 29 points per game.

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is known for his offensive ability, and the Blue Devil passing game has improved a lot since his arrival in Durham. Here's a quick look at Duke's offensive stats.

The Duke offense is led by senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis (6-1, 215, Sr.). Lewis is a four-year starter at Duke, and probably the most underrated quarterback in the country. If he put up these numbers for a winning team, he would be a highly regarded quarterback.

Those are impressive numbers, and they've improved year after year. David Cutcliffe, with his knowledge of the passing game, has made Lewis a better player.

The Hokies don't have much experience playing against Lewis. He missed the Tech game in 2008 with an injury (maybe Duke wins that game with Lewis; they lost just 14-3 without him), and he was knocked out of the game early in 2006. In 2007, he was 13-of-24 for 119 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. He also had a rushing touchdown in that game.

Make no mistake, Lewis is a good quarterback. He's sharing some time this year with talented r-freshman Sean Renfree (6-3, 210, r-Fr.). Renfree is the quarterback of the future, and Cutcliffe has decided to get him some quality reps this year so that he's prepared to start in 2010. Renfree has performed very well so far, going 29-of-43 (67.4%) for 286 yards, with four touchdowns and one interception.

Renfree was a Parade All-American as a senior in high school, and ranked the #10 quarterback in the country by Scout.com. He was selected to the prestigious Elite 11 quarterback camp. He's the perfect example of David Cutcliffe's ability to bring better players to Durham than previous coaching staffs.

Another example is tailback Desmond Scott (5-10, 185, Fr.). Scott's redshirt was burned last week, because of injuries at the tailback position and the lack of production from the running game. He was the #1 running back in the state of North Carolina coming out of high school, and a national Top 150 recruit. He had scholarship offers from the likes of Georgia, UNC, Rutgers, West Virginia, Tennessee and Clemson.

Scott ran for 100 yards on 16 carries in the first game of his career against North Carolina Central. He is battling a slight hamstring injury right now, but he should play against Virginia Tech.

Patrick Kurunwane (5-9, 210, r-Fr.) has 22 carries for 121 yards and one touchdown on the season. He was pressed into action against North Carolina Central as well, because of injuries, and he ran for 94 yards.

The top two tailbacks are questionable. Re'quan Boyette (5-10, 205, r-Sr.) is the regular starter, but he is suffering from a leg injury and he is questionable for this game. Boyette is a solid back, but he's never been able to get into a groove at Duke. The offensive line has always been bad, and the Blue Devils pass the ball a lot since they frequently play from behind.

Averaging over four yards per carry behind Duke's offensive line is an accomplishment. Boyette missed the 2008 season with a knee injury and redshirted.

The final running back is Jay Hollingsworth (5-10, 195, So.). Hollingworth started most of last season, but he has been limited with an ankle injury in 2009. He is also a threat catching the football out of the backfield.

Duke's wide receivers have plenty of opportunities to catch the football. Johnny Williams (5-10, 185, So.) is the top receiver on the team, with 20 catches for 236 yards (11.8 ypc) and a touchdown on the season. Williams is blessed with very high top-end speed. The Tech defensive backs need to keep Williams in front of them, because he's capable of hitting big plays.

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Austin Kelly (6-2, 200, Jr.) is an experienced receiver who had made nine career starts heading into this season. He is more of a possession receiver. Kelly's first career catch came against Virginia Tech in 2007. He has 19 catches for 256 yards (13.5 ypc) and one touchdown this year.

Donovan Varner (5-9, 170, So.) caught 21 passes last season as a true freshman, and he'll easily exceed that number in 2009. So far he has 16 catches for 186 yards (11.6 ypc) and a team-high four touchdown receptions. Conner Vernon (6-0, 185, Fr.) has 12 receptions for 143 yards (11.9 ypc) and one touchdown. Varner and Vernon are both from Gulliver Prep in Miami, so they are pretty advanced in the passing game for young receivers.

The Duke offensive line has been poor in recent years, and they lost three starters off last year's team. They appear to be improved in pass blocking, but run blocking is still an issue.

This is an inexperienced and small Duke offensive line. No player has more than one full year of starting experience. The best player is probably left tackle Kyle Hill, who started every game at left guard as a r-freshman in 2008.

The interior line for Duke is very small. Bryan Morgan is an undersized center, and right guard Brian Moore is also small, and he's only a r-fresman. The Tech defensive tackles should have a very good game on Saturday.

Duke's defense is beatable on the ground or through the air. They will likely load the box to try and stop the Tech running game and force Tyrod Taylor and the wide receivers to beat them. Here are Duke's defensive statistics through four games.

The Blue Devils haven't played good competition, with the exception of Kansas. They lost to 1-AA Richmond, beat Army despite being outgained 385-236, got blown out at Kansas and then knocked off North Carolina Central. The only good offensive team (by 1-A standards) that they have faced was Kansas, and the Jayhawks beat them 44-16.

For the last two weeks, the Blue Devils have missed the services of talented defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase (6-5, 305, r-Sr.). Oghobaase is the most highly recruited football player at Duke in recent memory. The Hokies have faced some excellent defensive tackles this season, and Oghobaase is very good in his own right. He is arguably the best defensive tackle in the ACC, and he could be drafted as early as the second round next April.

Oghobaase has missed the last two games with a leg injury, and it's not certain that he'll play against the Hokies. If he does, he might not be 100%. His loss would seriously weaken the Duke defensive line. He is tied for the team lead in tackles for loss with 2.5, despite only playing in the first two games of the season.

The biggest playmaker at defensive end is Ayanga Okpokowuruk (6-3, 250, r-Sr.). He has 2.5 tackles for loss and 0.5 sacks in four games this year. He has been in and out of the starting lineup since he was a freshman. The other defensive end is Patrick Egboh (6-5, 245, r-Jr.). Egboh has one of Duke's three sacks on the season.

Duke is not good at getting to the quarterback. They have just three sacks in four games, despite their level of competition. That ranks 110th nationally, and their 18 tackles for loss ranks 96th nationally. This isn't a defense that will play is the offensive backfield very often.

Middle linebacker Vincent Rey (6-0, 245, Sr.) is the most productive player on the defensive side of the ball. He leads the team with 37 tackles, and he has also posted two tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. Rey has 269 career tackles. In 2008, he had an All-ACC type year by posting 109 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

With Rey and Oghobaase manning the inside of the Duke defense, the Blue Devils have some major toughness. Fortunately for opposing teams, the rest of the front seven isn't nearly as talented.

The other starting linebackers are strongside backer Abraham Kromah (6-1, 225, r-Jr.) and weakside backer Damian Thornton (6-2, 240, Jr.). Both of these players are new starters, and they need to play at a higher level for the Blue Devils to be successful defensively.

Duke has just two interceptions through the first four games of the season, and they both came from left cornerback Leon Wright (5-9, 175, Sr.). He has seven career interceptions, and none were bigger than the two picks he had against Army in the second game of the season. Wright returned two interceptions for touchdowns during that game, as Duke escaped with a 35-19 win despite being outgained 385-236.

Wright is the biggest playmaker in the secondary for Duke, though there are other experienced players. Left safety Catron Gainey (6-2, 205, Sr.) is a quality player who had an interception and a sack against Virginia Tech last season. Right cornerback Lee Butler (5-10, 185, So.) got a lot of action last year as a backup cornerback and punt returner.

The starting right safety is Matt Daniels (6-1, 200, So.). He got plenty of playing time as a true freshman in 2008, and he recorded his first career interception against Virginia Tech.

Since joining the ACC, the Hokies have consistently put up yards on Duke.

Historically, Virginia Tech has never had much trouble with the Duke defense, though the Hokies have lacked the balanced performances that you'd like to see from the offense. More on that later.

The Blue Devils will have to play very well on special teams to have a chance to beat Virginia Tech. So far this season, their special teams haven't been good, with the exception of the kickoff team.

Kevin Jones (6-2, 200, r-Jr.) handles the punting for Duke. He is averaging 40.1 yards per punt on the year, a solid number, but he has had one punt blocked. We saw Virginia Tech block a punt last week, and Duke's longsnapper, Jackson Anderson (6-4, 260, r-Fr.), is a young freshman who will face the toughest challenge of his short college career on Saturday.

Duke is better off going for it on fourth down than kicking field goals. Duke kickers Nick Maggio (6-4, 200, Jr.) and Will Snyderwine (5-11, 185, Jr.) have combined to go 1-of-4 on their field goal attempts this season. Every miss has been from inside 40 yards. If this somehow turns into a battle of field goals, Virginia Tech will have a distinct advantage.

Seven different players have returned kickoffs for Duke this year. Johnny Williams has been a fixture there because of his speed, and he is averaging 23.4 yards per return. We could see Desmond Scott, Conner Vernon or Leon Wright returning kicks as well. Kick returns haven't been Duke's strength thus far, so the Hokies shouldn't have any trouble limiting the Blue Devils.

Johnny Williams also handles the punt returns for Duke, and he's averaging 13 yards per return. He is the most explosive player on the Blue Devil team, so David Cutcliffe finds ways to get the ball in his hands as often as possible.

Virginia Tech will win this football game. The Blue Devils are too banged up at tailback, and with defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase possibly out as well, I don't see how the Duke defense can hold up against the Tech offense all day long. Virginia Tech has more talent and depth at just about every position on the field, and that will show up in the final score.

That said, there are a few things I want to see in this football game. First of all, I want to see Tech bring their A-game. It's natural to have some drop-offs in performance after playing Nebraska and Miami in back-to-back weeks, but championship teams come to play just about every week. I want Tech to come out, punch Duke in the mouth, and get the backups playing time in the fourth quarter.

Secondly, I want to see the Tech offense continue to improve against the pass rush. Last week was the first time the Hokies didn't surrender a sack in 41 games, all the way back to the Duke game in 2006. The Blue Devils are 110th nationally in sacks this year, and average just 0.75 sacks per game. I don't want to see them getting a lot of pressure on Tyrod Taylor. This is a front seven that the Hokies should be able to handle with relative ease. If Duke gets pressure on Taylor, then we'll know that Tech's woes against the pass rush aren't over.

Finally, I want to see balance out of Virginia Tech's offense. In the past, the Hokies have been able to run the ball on Duke in some years (2004, 2005, 2008) and throw the ball in other years (2005, 2006, 2007). Only in 2005 was Tech able to put together a balanced offensive performance. If they can show good balance on offense this year, then I'll feel a lot better about the rest of the season.

I have a lot of respect for the job David Cutcliffe has done at Duke this far. I like a lot of their players, such as Thad Lewis, Johnny Williams and Vince Oghobaase. But at this point, the only way they can beat the Hokies is if the Hokies beat themselves.

Will Stewart's Take: If not for Miami's tough stretch of four ranked teams to start the season, everyone would have been talking about Virginia Tech's September slate, which was as tough as any team in the nation. Four games into the season, the Hokies boast the kind of statistic few teams in college football, if any, can match: Tech's four opponents are now a combined 12-3, with all three losses coming against the Hokies.

In other words, Tech's opponents have been perfect outside of playing against the Hokies, and Alabama is perfect, including the Hokies.

But that was September. Tomorrow is October.

September was a roller coaster ride, and I came away with one overriding impression, now that it's over: the 2009 Hokies have carried over the mental toughness and team chemistry displayed by the 2008 Hokies.

That mental toughness was tested throughout September, and the team proved itself resilient. They were ready to play against Alabama, they gave it everything they had for four quarters, and they didn't let the loss derail them. They throttled a Marshall team that is now 3-1, including a win at Memphis. They rebounded from a game-long struggle to snatch a hard-fought win from Nebraska. And lastly, they got their backs up when it mattered most and unloaded on Miami.

Some things come and go week to week, but the mental toughness and togetherness should be consistent from game to game.

That resolve will now be tested in a different way. Simply put: don't let up. We knew that a loss to Alabama wouldn't necessarily derail Tech's shot at a national championship, but few imagined that Tech would enter September ranked #7, lose to Alabama, and exit September ranked higher, at #6. That's a pretty sweet setup.

Within the confines of the ACC race, the Hokies have a powerful one-game, head-to-head lead over Miami. VT has cleared the path to both of the team's primary goals, which are a national championship game appearance and an ACC championship. Not only are both goals still attainable, but in the case of the ACC championship the skids have been greased heavily.

Being highly ranked early in the season isn't new ground for the Hokies. Here's a table showing Tech's ranking going into the fifth game of the season over the last eleven seasons.

It has been a while (2005) since the Hokies have been ranked this high after four games, and Tech hasn't camped in the top five in early October much since the 2003 collapse.

You can argue talent levels all you want, but this year's team appears to be mentally tougher and more cohesive than most of the Tech teams on that list. They now have a chance to prove it by finishing out strong over the remainder of the regular season. That's nine more games to go (assuming an ACC Championship Game appearance), and plenty of opportunities to fall down along the way.

Do the Hokies need to work on certain parts of their game in the coming two months? Sure. With special teams and the rushing game well established, Tech's needs to continue polishing those, while improving their passing game and building upon the defense's breakout Miami performance.

But mostly, they need to keep their focus and bring their best effort to every game left on the schedule. That's a tall order for a bunch of college kids, who can go astray mentally all too easily. It's easy for us to see that the team has done too much work in the past month, and positioned themselves too well, to let it slip away with a lackluster effort somewhere along the way. It's not always easy for the players to keep focus.

It's going to be interesting to see what the Hokies bring to the table over their next four games. November has a way of bringing focus on its own, but the middle (October) stretch of the season can be dicey mentally. The Hokies are a tight-knit bunch, from what we can tell, and I think they're mentally able to close strong. It starts Saturday, one game at a time.