ACC battle in Chapel Hill
On Satruday 13 November in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the no. 20 and first place Virginia Tech Hokies pay a visit to the unranked North Carolina Tar Heels, who could possibly crack the top 25 rankings with a victory this weekend.
Virginia Tech’s season to date
After losing their first two games of the season against Boise State and the lowly James Madison, the Hokies have been on a tear, winning their last seven games over East Carolina, Boston College, North Carolina State, Central Michigan, Wake Forest,
Duke, and defending ACC champions Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. They have been the class of the conference this season after awakening from their 0-2 start.
Virginia Tech could clinch the division. They do need a little help, and that would come in the form of a Miami Hurricanes loss to the Yellow Jackets, coupled with a Hokies win over the Tar Heels.
"Where we started out, where we are right now and we control our own destiny right here, I'm proud of them," Hokies head coach Frank Beamer said to espn.go.com.
North Carolina’s previous games
The Tar Heels started the season much like the Hokies, losing their first two games to Louisiana State University and Georgia Tech. After their loss to the Yellow Jackets, North Carolina came on strong, winning four straight against Rutgers, East
Carolina, Clemson and Virginia. Sitting at 4-2, they battled the Hurricanes and lost, but rebounded with a victory the following week against William and Mary. Last week the team also had an emotional victory over the Florida State Seminoles.
The Tar Heels are currently in third place in the coastal division of the ACC and have a very outside chance of making the ACC championship game.
Keys to victory
The Tar Heels are coming with lots of momentum after their 37-35 victory over the Seminoles. Quarterback T.J. Yates had his second highest completion total of the season last weekend, and will be hoping to continue his accurate throwing against the
stingy Hokies defence, which only allows 20.1 points per game. Tar Heels head coach Butch Davis also recognized the different defensive styles that his offence will be seeing.
"They're not the traditional 3-4, 4-3," the coach said to espn.go.com. "They're eight-man fronts. They've got a lot of pressure packages that they bring. The scheme and style, the way they play, their secondary is totally different than anybody you play against."
As for Virginia Tech, their key to victory will be not to look past the game at hand. Of course they know that if they win this weekend, there is an excellent opportunity for them to be in the ACC championship, but if they let that thought rule how they play,
they will find themselves down on the scoreboard early.
The Hokies' passing game is their true weakness, as they are only averaging 201.8 yards through the air. Their running game, which ranks way up the charts at 18th overall, will be the Hokies main weapon on Saturday.
Virginia Tech’s big runners are quarterback Tyrod Taylor, who has rushed for 584 yards on 94 attempts, and his running back, Darren Evans, 515 yards on 92 attempts. To be successful this weekend, they should keep the ball on the ground until the Tar Heels
can prove they can stop it.
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