news-record.com

DURHAM -- The Duke Blue Devils could have the No. 6 Virginia Tech Hokies right where they want them.

The Hokies are flying high after their big win over Miami. And the Blue Devils, who quietly are feeling good about themselves after an easy victory over a Football Championship Subdivision team, did play Virginia Tech close last year in Blacksburg.

Possible upset formula? The Blue Devils (2-2) proving to themselves that they can play with the Hokies and a little post-Hurricane hangover for Virginia Tech (3-1, 1-0 ACC).

Hokies coach Frank Beamer has seen it before.

"I think we can look at our game from last year and see how tough these guys played us," Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said. "You talk about those things, there's a lot of examples of guys coming off great wins and then, the very next week, getting beat. I think you talk about it and you look at it. We understand we better get ready to play a heck of a football game against Duke."

Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis says the Hokies will be ready to play.

"It doesn't matter what time or when or where, when you play somebody. ... You still have to play football," Lewis said. "It doesn't matter if they beat Florida and they're coming in here the next week, you know? You just have to play football. Nobody can say we caught Virginia Tech at a good time or a bad time. It's all going to be decided on Saturday, regardless of the situation."

Nonetheless, if there's a team that Tech seemingly could afford to overlook, it's Duke.

The Hokies have changed conferences twice since their last loss to the Blue Devils in 1981, jumping from the independents to the Big East and, finally, to the ACC.

Virginia Tech has won eight straight meetings since then. The closest Duke has come to knocking off Virginia Tech was last year, when the Hokies claimed a 14-3 victory over a Blue Devils team that played without Lewis, who was out with an ankle injury.

He's healthy this time, and both teams are well aware of what happened last week: three top-10 teams were beaten by unranked opponents.

Virginia Tech's traditionally tough defense figures to create a difficult matchup for Lewis and coach David Cutcliffe's pass-based offense.

The Hokies have been criticized for being leaky against the run -- at least, they were before the Miami game -- but those numbers should improve against a Duke ground game that ranks 11th in the ACC. The Blue Devils are throwing for 267 yards per game and nine of their 13 offensive touchdowns have come through the air -- but Tech has allowed only one passing touchdown this season.

Those numbers haven't come against weaklings, either. The only team to beat any of Tech's first four opponents is, well, Tech. That won't be the case after this week -- Duke has already lost to defending FCS champion Richmond and No. 18 Kansas, with victories against some of the worst teams in both subdivisions (Army of the FBS, N.C. Central of the FCS).