The Virginia Tech Hokies and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have won every Atlantic Coast Conference Coastal Division championship. They’ll decide another one this Thursday night.
Virginia Tech Hokies @ Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets – Thursday, November 10
Sports betting line: Virginia Tech -1
Why Virginia Tech Will Win
The college football betting experts who have followed the Atlantic Coast Conference through its previous period of expansion – in 2004, not the current period of expansion involving Syracuse and Pittsburgh with the possibility of other schools in the coming months – know that ever since the ACC added Virginia Tech and Miami in 2004, only the Hokies have made good on their potential. Miami, who joined Virginia Tech as a new ACC school after being plucked from the Big East by ACC Commissioner John Swofford, was expected to dominate the league in tandem with old rival Florida State, who joined the ACC in 1991 after playing as a football Independent. However, it was Virginia Tech who took charge in the new-look ACC, winning an 11-team league in 2004 and then remaining a formidable presence when the ACC expanded to 12 teams (by adding Boston College) in 2005. Ever since the ACC went to 12 teams and adopted two six-team divisions in 2005, Virginia Tech has won four Coastal Division titles in six seasons and has claimed three ACC championships. The Hokies have become the standard bearer in the conference and are accustomed to winning. This Virginia Tech team is young at key positions, especially at quarterback with Logan Thomas, but it is a program that expects to win, and that mentality should come in handy when it plays a road game at night under difficult circumstances. One very big advantage for Virginia Tech is that it had a bye week to prepare for Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense. Teams that get an extra week to prepare for this assignment-based challenge generally fare better if they have the defensive horses. Virginia Tech is beat up on defense, but the extra preparation time should give the Hokies just enough of an edge in this game.
Why Georgia Tech Will Win
When you do your homework and assess your best sportsbook on this game, you need to take note of the fact that Virginia Tech’s defense has been battered by injuries this year. Several Hokies have missed extended playing time, and one of their key performers, inside linebacker Bruce Taylor, is out for the season due to injury. It’s true that Virginia Tech has had a bye week to heal up for this game, but with so many players in and out of the lineup, one wonders if the Hokies will have the cohesiveness and continuity they need to play assignment football against Georgia Tech’s triple option, an offense that overwhelmed the Clemson Tigers on Oct. 29 in the game that turned around the Jackets’ season. Georgia Tech had been playing without a bye week until this past weekend. The rested Yellow Jackets will be fresh and reinvigorated – mentally more than physically – and that cannot be discounted when sizing up this matchup.
Who Will Win
The betting line is reflective of a coin-flip matchup, and that’s what this is. The key to the game will actually be Virginia Tech’s offense, not Georgia Tech’s. The Hokies have the ability to control the ball just as much as Georgia Tech can. Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas is an imposing physical specimen who is being asked to play quarterback. If Thomas plays extremely well, Georgia Tech’s defense can and will be gashed. The fact that Thomas has had an extra week of preparation will put him in a good position to succeed, and that’s why Virginia Tech will win a shootout in Atlanta.
College Football Betting Pick: Virginia Tech