Virginia Tech Football: Duke Q&A Preview

The Hokies return to Lane Stadium on Saturday afternoon to take on No. 23 Duke. Having the benefit of a bye week to get healthy and prepare for Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils head into the matchup with a confident signal caller and a young and stingy defense. Are Cut's kids for real, or are they overachieving thanks to a weak opening schedule? In an effort to get to the bottom of this and much more, I spoke with Laura Keeley of the Raleigh News & Observer.

The Blue Devils sit at 5-1 on the season and snuck into the Top 25 for the first time this week. With that being said, the four FBS teams that they've defeated have a combined record of 9-18 on the year. Are the Blue Devils for real, or are they being propped up by a weak opening schedule?

It's hard to say for sure. Obviously, two weeks ago, the 19-10 loss to Northwestern didn't look bad at all. And at that point, there was still reason to believe maybe Georgia Tech wasn't terrible. I do think the defense is for real, though. All a defense can do is try to shut down the players lined up opposite them, and the Blue Devils have done that exceptionally well, ranking fourth nationally in total defense (252.8 yards per game). But more than anything else, look at the rest of the schedule — outside of UNC and Miami, Duke's opponents boast pretty terrible offenses. So the Blue Devils should be able to ride their defense for several more victories down the stretch.

During the preseason, you discussed the coaching staff's confidence in Thomas Sirk's transition into the starting quarterback role. Through six games, Sirk appears to be living up to the hype. Given the Hokies' struggles against dual-threat quarterbacks in the past, what should Tech expect to see from Sirk on Saturday?

Sirk's performance has depended heavily this year on the level of competition — against non-Power Five teams, Sirk is completing 66 percent of his passes and averaging 7.3 yards per attempt with three touchdowns and zero interceptions. Against Power Five teams: A completion percentage of 59 percent, 4.6 yards per attempt, one touchdown and three interceptions (ESPN's David Hale was the first to crunch those numbers).

When faced with tough defenses, Sirk has a tendency to either quickly dump the ball off in a checkdown to a running back or just tuck it and run straight ahead through the tackles. I'd expect that habit to be hard to break against the Hokies on Saturday.

Along with Sirk, tailbacks Shaquille Powell and Shaun Wilson have been very involved in this offense. Walk us through how Coach Cutcliffe has utilized their skill sets, and how important are they to the offense's success?

The running backs have been far more involved in the passing game this year than in year's past. Part of that might be unintentional, as Cutcliffe has expressed some unhappiness with Sirk's decision making on those checkdowns, But the main offensive goal for Duke is to get the ball in the hands of playmakers in space, and the Blue Devils certainly think Powell and Wilson are the two best playmakers on offense right now.

As far as traditional running goes, no Duke team under Cutcliffe has ever ran this much (currently, 56.7 percent of the Blue Devils' offensive snaps have been running plays). That was the plan going into the year, though, to play to the offense's strengths (strong O-line, experienced running backs, running quarterback) and against its weaknesses (inexperienced wide receivers). Also, don't sleep on Jela Duncan, who missed the first three games with a partially torn pectoral muscle. He is averaging 7.1 yards per carry since he returned.

One of the biggest surprises appears to be the Duke defense, which is giving up a stingy 9.3 points per game and just over 266 yards per contest against FBS squads. What's behind this sudden improvement, and how are they accomplishing it?

This is where you're really seeing the strength of what Cutcliffe has built at Duke. The Blue Devils lost three of their four defensive lineman and both starting linebackers—and they're better at both positions this year. That's thanks to solid recruiting (six redshirt or true freshman are contributing in the front six) and player development (redshirt junior DT A.J. Wolf is among the most improved players, and senior Dwayne Norman's move from safety to linebacker has made a huge difference). Now, suddenly, with the defensive front giving opponents trouble up front and the linebackers making plays, the back end of Duke's defense, which was expected to be the unit's strength, is having a much easier time.

And, oh yeah, it helps to have a high NFL Draft pick in safety Jeremy Cash out there. Cash plays almost as a hybrid linebacker-safety, up closer to the line of scrimmage, and he has the latitude to go make plays in space.

It's still early, but the Coastal is once again a souvenir snow globe with a cloudy landscape. How do you see things settling when all's said and done?

I picked Pitt at the beginning of the year, and if James Conner were still healthy, I'd feel like that was pretty close to a slam dunk. But even without him, I see Pitt, along with UNC and Duke, challenging for the division title. The schedule breaks favorably for all of those teams (no Florida State or Clemson), and none of them have any glaring weaknesses compared to the others.

Time to put you on the spot. Who wins on Saturday and how do they do it?

Much like this series has gone for the past two years, I expect it to be ugly offensively. But Duke is coming in with confidence, whereas I feel like the Hokies are backpedaling after that loss at Miami. Give me Duke in a 13-10 field goal fest.