Virginia Tech @ Georgia Tech--The Pick!

Thursday Night ESPN

For the second straight week, the Hokies of Virginia Tech will be featured on ESPN’s weekly Thursday telecast. If we learned anything by watching last week’s 14-10 loss to Boston College, it’s that playing 58 minutes of quality football won’t get it done. Especially against a rested and favored conference foe that comes in off back-to-back wins and is playing at home. That foe happens to be Georgia Tech, who looks to hand the Hokies its second consecutive Thursday defeat. The big question here is how will Virginia Tech respond after such a crushing defeat?





The answer from the oddsmakers is “not very well,” as the Hokies were installed as a 1.5 point dog. The public seems to agree, having bet the home team up to -2.5 in the first College Football game of November. By now, you know the story. Up 10-0, the Virginia Tech defense completely collapsed last week, allowing 2nd ranked Boston College to score twice in the game’s final two minutes to steal a game the Eagles had no business winning. The loss dropped Frank Beamer’s squad to 15-3 all-time on Thursday Nights. Interestingly, all three losses have come at the hands of BC. After BC scored the first time with 2:11 to play, the Eagles recovered an onside kick and won the game on Matt Ryan's 24-yard TD pass to Andre Callender with 11 seconds to go, stunning the Hokies. Sean Glennon threw an eight-yard pass to Eddie Royal for the lone - and controversial - TD for Virginia Tech (6-2, 3-1 ACC Coastal), which had won five consecutive contests since getting crushed at Louisiana State on September 8, 48-7. Glennon, who started for the first time since the loss to LSU because freshman Tyrod Taylor was injured, completed 15-of-25 passes for 149 yards without an interception. One bright spot for Virginia Tech here is that they are 7-3 in their last 10 November road games. They are also on a 12-2 run against the number in ACC road games. Last year, Virginia Tech lost to Georgia Tech, 38-27, despite 14 more first downs, running 28 more plays and pair of 100-yard games from its receiving corps.








These teams have met three times since VT joined the ACC, with the Hokies winning the first two meetings. None of the games have been close with the average margin of victory at 23 PPG. Georgia Tech (5-3, 2-3 Coastal) has not played since a 34-10 home victory over Army on October 20. In the win, the Yellow Jackets ran up 292 rushing yards. The Yellow Jackets, who have won back-to-back games since dropping three of their previous four, lost star tailback Tashard Choice to a right knee injury in the contest. He is unlikely to play Thursday. Both squads rank in the top 15 in the nation in rushing defense, so this one figures to come down to the passing games. The total is currently at 40.5.








Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech, 7:45 EST ESPN


Virginia Tech: 10-2 ATS in road games


Georgia Tech: 2-11 ATS off an ATS win

PICK: VT +2.5

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