Virginia Tech Hokies (6-2, 4-0) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (5-3, 3-2)
Time: 7:30 p.m. EDT
Date: Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010
Place: Lane Stadium/Worsham Field (66,233), Blacksburg, Va.
TV: ESPN
Radio: VT ISP, XM TBA, Sirius TBA
Georgia Tech: The Yellow Jackets are coming off a 27-13 loss at Clemson ... the Jackets and Hokies are two of three teams (Florida State) averaging over five yards per carry in conference games ... after last week's game, Anthony Allen is now GT's leading rusher with 692 yards ... Allen switched to B-back from A-back this season and is averaging 6.0 ypc ... Allen has actually performed better in ACC games, averaging 100.0 ypg to 64.0 ypg in non-conference games ... Joshua Nesbitt leads GT with eight rushing touchdowns ... on defense, the Jackets allow 385.2 ypg and 5.9 ypp in ACC games, ninth in the conference in both categories.
Trends: The winner of this game has gone on to represent in Coastal division in the ACCCG in every year of the ACCCG's existence ... the Hokies are on a six-game winning streak after losing their first two games of the season ... VT has won 16 of its last 18 home games and nine of its last 10 ACC home games ... the Hokies are 19-7 all-time in televised Thursday games and 17-5 in regular-season televised Thursday games ... since joining the ACC, the Hokies are 7-4 in conference Thursday night games, including 4-2 at home ... since joining the ACC, the Hokies are 21-2 in November and December regular season games with both losses coming to Miami ... GT has never lost consecutive games under Paul Johnson and is 7-0 following a loss (9-0 if you count season openers following bowl losses, which I don't) ... the loss to Clemson snapped a streak of five consecutive ACC road wins for the Jackets ... they are 7-4 in ACC road games under Johnson.
History Lesson: The Hokies are 4-3 against Georgia Tech all-time, 4-2 against it since joining the ACC and 2-1 at home ... the last meeting between the two was last year in Atlanta and was won by GT, 28-23 ... the Hokies went into the game on a five-game winning streak and ranked No. 4 in the country ... the Jackets took a 7-3 lead into halftime and dominated time of possession in the second half to hold on to the win ... the previous meeting in Blacksburg was a hard-fought 20-17 win by the Hokies that saw them manage just 247 yards of offense.
What to Expect
- Expect the Hokies to utilize their power run game with Darren Evans and Ryan Williams. Georgia Tech's newly installed 3-4 defense struggled against the run last week against Clemson and for the Hokies to win, they'll have to run the ball.
- Expect the Hokies to try and make the Jackets relatively one-dimensional. The Jackets are best when all three primary ball-carrying positions (QB, B-Back, A-Back) are running effectively. If you can mitigate the effects of two of those, you have a much better chance of winning.
- Expect tackling (or lack thereof) and turnovers (or lack thereof) to be the key to victory for both sides.
- Expect at least one big play from the Hokies' special teams.