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Game Preview: Virginia Tech faces surging Duke, looking to snap six-game skid

Roger Gonzalez
virginia tech men's basketball
Photo: Virginia Tech Athletics

The Virginia Tech football team will look to end its six-game losing streak when it travels to Duke on Saturday in ACC action.

The Hokies are 2-7 overall and 1-5 in the ACC, sitting in the cellar of the coastal division. Meanwhile, Duke is 6-3 and 3-2 in the conference, having won two straight games ahead of this matchup. The Blue Devils need to win to stay in contention for a spot in the ACC title game, though it looks tricky with North Carolina running away with it.

Where to watch?

The game kicks off at 12 p.m. and will air on regional sports networks.

What to know about Tech

This team has generally played well for three quarters, but it is the fourth quarter collapses that has doomed it. Blown leads at NC State and against Georgia Tech in back-to-back games hurt, and they are reeling entering this one. The issue has been, there have been slow starts, an improvement in the middle of the game, and then a horrific fourth quarter. If they can play assignment football and avoid all of the avoidable issues they’ve shown, there is no reason why they can’t win this game. But it’s going to take a competent performance that we haven’t seen from them, arguably, at all this season.

What to know about Duke

The Blue Devils have been playing some good ball. After barely using to UNC, they managed to trounce Miami, 45-21, before beat Boston College, 38-31. They’ll be the heavy favorite to win this game and should be considering how good they’ve looked. They beat Virginia by 21 earlier in the season as well and have a nice balance on offense. They turned Miami over eight times back on Oct. 22, and they’ve been able to limit turnovers themselves for the most part. If they create those splash plays here, they’ll be well on their way to victory.

Prediction

Duke 27, Virginia Tech 16

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez

Roger Gonzalez is freelancer for Augusta Free Press. A native of Connecticut that grew up in Charlottesville, he is a graduate of Virginia Tech. He currently is a sportswriter with CBS Sports and has written for The Daily Progress, The Roanoke Times and other newspapers before getting into the digital sports journalism world.