Miami Hurricanes (4-2 SU, 4-2 ATS) vs. Virginia Tech Hokies (4-2 SU, 3-3 ATS)
College Football Week 8
Date/Time: Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7PM EST
Where: Lane Stadium, Blacksburg, Virginia
TV: ESPN
By Loot, NCAA Football Handicapper, Lootmeister.com
Betting Odds: MIA +4/VT -4
Over/Under Total: Off
On Thursday, the Miami Hurricanes come into Blacksburg to face the Virginia Tech Hokies in ACC action from Lane Stadium. Neither team heads into this game on a positive note. Miami has basically squandered a positive start following losses to Florida State and North Carolina that came after a 4-0 start. On Saturday, they fell to the Tar Heels, 20-13. They look to get on the winning track against the Hokies, who came up short on the road to Syracuse on Saturday, 31-17. It was quite the letdown for a surging team that entered the game against Syracuse as 23-point favorites. Who comes out ahead this week?
Miami did look good in their first four games, but some questioned the quality of their opposition. Still, only a blocked extra point kept them taking the FSU game to overtime. There was no such issue against North Carolina on Saturday, the same Tar Heels bunch that had been slaughtered the previous week by this very Virginia Tech bunch. On Saturday, they were flat against UNC at home, as QB Brad Kaaya was off his peak form. They ran the ball a lot with Mark Walton and Joseph Yearby, gaining a combined 156, but 13 points on the day was a major letdown in their own stadium.
Virginia Tech had been doing nicely. After a loss to a good Tennessee team, they bounced back with lopsided wins over Boston College and East Carolina, outscoring those teams by a combined score of 103-17. After a 34-3 win over North Carolina, things were really looking up. Granted, Syracuse can be a tough place to play and the Orange have been making big strides, but to miss the spread by 37 points only underlines their lack of dependability. And that applies to both teams, each of whom play with a wide range of form from week to week or even quarter to quarter.
Syracuse opened with a quick TD against Va Tech and the Hokies never really took any kind of command of the game. After allowing just 20 combined points in their last three games, they allowed a robust 570 yards to Syracuse, with big chunks of yardage allowed on the ground and through the air. Still, the offense did manage 474 yards and could only manage 17 points of scoring. VT quarterback Jerod Evans was over 300 yards and they had 161 yards on the ground. Yet they couldn't quite turn the corner, as drives just died in what was a really bad performance.
The Virginia Tech "D" was even less-clutch, with Syracuse seemingly converting in almost every big spot. They sacked Eric Dungey only once and were not able to make much of an imprint on the game. And that was upsetting considering how stout and balanced they had looked up until that point. They had shown a robust resistance against both the run and the pass, while forcing turnovers. Against Syracuse, however, it was almost like they weren't there. Still, with new head coach Justin Fuente, there are some things with which to be thankful. It was just that they looked to be building something nice until the bizarre letdown against Syracuse. We'll see what they can do from here.
Some may have been overlooking North Carolina after they got so badly beaten the previous week to Virginia Tech. But that game was played practically in swamp conditions, so maybe we were too hard on the Tar Heels. Miami got a dose of what can happen against a closer to peak version of the Tar Heels. The 'Canes only had one turnover and weren't heavily-penalized, but the offense looked a bit deflated, maybe because of how painful the loss was the week before to FSU. Most troubling was the lack of a playmaking defense. Holding North Carolina to 20 points is no disgrace, but they haven't been the same playmaking unit we saw in the first four games of the season.
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Both teams can still do big things this season, but a turnaround is needed here. Who steps up? While Virginia Tech is coming off the far more-drastic failure from an ATS sense, Miami may have landed in this week 8 spot with more of a thud. To go from 4-0 and having nice thoughts and a good feeling under a new head coach in Mark Richt, to losing two straight is a jarring dichotomy. And the deflation was evident with a general lack of effervescence from a home 'Canes team that really could have gotten their season on the right track on Saturday. It certainly didn't help that they suffered more injuries to their defense during the game. By the end of the game, they were using players three-deep on the rotation.
After allowing just 660 passing yards through five games, the Hokies gave up over 400 to Syracuse. With the inspired Syracuse effort, combined with it just not being a good day for the Hokies, perhaps it was a result that we shouldn't let guide us for the purposes of this matchup. They're at home and the loss should sharpen them up for this game. I just think they're in a better position to bounce back from adversity than Miami. I like the Hokies.
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