College Football Game of the Week - #12 Miami Hurricanes vs. #13 Virginia Tech Hokies
Game-day: 9/26/2009
Kick-off: 3:30 pm EST
Two top 15 ranked teams, the #12 Virginia Tech Hokies, duke it out for the inside track to the ACC Championship this Saturday with the Hurricanes, surprisingly, with the upper hand.
This will be the third straight time this year that Miami has faced a ranked opponent. They beat the Florida State Seminoles, who took out BYU on the road this past Saturday, 38 to 34. Then, they beat up on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 33 to 17. Should the Hurricanes beat the Hokies in Blacksburg, then Miami would have to be considered if not a Top 5 team, then a Top 10 team.
Virginia Tech needed a brilliant play from quarterback Tyrod Taylor to beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers at home this past Saturday. The Hokies didn’t look that good against the ‘Huskers and will be trying to regain some of that steam that made them a top 10 ranked team in the pre-season.
Here is the NCAA football betting line in the BetUS online sportsbook for this game.
Miami Hurricanes -2 ½ -110
Virginia Tech Hokies +2 ½ -110
Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.
The Miami Hurricanes are 7 and 2 ATS in their last 9 games on the road.
The Miami Hurricanes are 1 and 4 against the spread in the last 5 meetings between these two teams at Virginia Tech.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are 6 and 1 against the spread in their last 7 games as an underdog at home.
The Virginia Tech Hokies are 13 and 5 ATS in their last 18 games as the underdog.
This game is going to come down to which team wants it more. The Hurricanes are flying high with quarterback Jacory Harris throwing to three talented wide-outs in the speedster Travis Benjamin, the 6’ 4” LaRon Byrd, and the 6’ 3” Leonard Hankerson. Miami’s offense has just been fantastic so far in 2009.
But they haven’t faced a hardened defense like Virginia Tech’s. Tech did get lucky last week, sneaking away with the victory against Nebraska. Nebraska was ranked and it appears that the Hokies took the Cornhuskers lightly. That won’t happen this Saturday.
Virginia Tech blew a game against one of the best teams in college football, the Alabama Crimson Tide, in their first game of the season. Then, they escaped against Nebraska. On Saturday, facing an ACC opponent, Tech will get down to business. I see Tyrod Taylor having a huge game and the Hokie’s defense shutting down that Miami offense.
