Third and goal: Duke football must force Virginia Tech into turnovers

This week marks the beginning of ACC play for the Blue Devils as they travel to take on Virginia Tech at Lane Stadium. The Blue Zone gives you three keys for Duke to focus on Friday night:

Create Turnovers

In Virginia Tech’s first three games, they have shown some serious sloppiness on the field, and the Hokies have struggled with taking care of the football. Their quarterback, senior Ryan Willis, has thrown four interceptions on the season through just three games. In addition to the four interceptions, the Hokies have surrendered five fumbles. Virginia Tech does not have a high-caliber offense by any means, so the Blue Devils should look to deal devastating blows early on by taking the ball away. The Duke secondary will be hungrier than ever to add to Willis' interception total as the Blue Devils have yet to pick off a pass this year.

Score Early and Often

With the Duke defense showing no signs of stinginess against the run game, peak performance will be demanded from the Blue Devils' offensive standouts. Virginia Tech flexed their run game against Furman as Keyshawn King delivered a stellar performance of 119 yards on 12 carries. With Virginia Tech having a solid two-man duo in King and Deshawn McClease, Duke should expect to have to score at least 28 points to combat those two Hokies. As long as Quentin Harris continues to find Jalon Calhoun and Noah Gray, and Deon Jackson capitalizes on his carries, the Blue Devils will be well on their way to their first conference win of the year. The Blue Devils have already shown that their offense is more than capable of putting up major points, topping the 40 point mark in each of their last two contests.

Get The Hokies in 3rd & Long

Early on this season, Willis has already shown a knack for finding receivers in the wrong jersey color, and the Duke defense has to force the Hokie quarterback to beat them with his arm. Expect the Blue Devils to stack the box on first and second down and send an extra linebacker on a blitz. As long as co-defensive coordinators Matt Guerrieri and Ben Albert have a scheme to put the Hokies in third and long, the Blue Devils will find success. Willis has had inconsistency throughout his career and has not shown that his arm can be relied on to carry his team to a win... except for Virginia Tech's blowout win against the Blue Devils in 2018.