Collegiate Times

Image: 2011-10-27 22:13:02

It’s been a tough week leading up to Saturday’s tilt against the Duke Blue Devils.

Performance wise, the Hokies have been on a role the last three games. Thirty-plus point outbursts against Miami, Wake Forest and Boston College would have many fan bases beside themselves with excitement.

Read the rest of today's Extra Point.

The Hokies will have a chance to put a complete game together against the Blue Devils, and there should be no shortage of offense in Wallace Wade Stadium early Saturday afternoon.

However, it’s been anything but an exciting week heading into Saturday’s game.

The buzzword around Hokies practice has been “injuries,” and it’s for a reason. Tech is down three defensive starters from the beginning of the season, and impact players James Gayle, Jayron Hosley and Alonzo Tweedy are all banged up.

So when it comes down to it, how are the Hokies still able to stay competitive and win games, despite all the injuries?

“Well, you know it goes back to recruiting good the last few years; we’ve gotten good players that just haven’t played very much,” said coach Frank Beamer. “The next guy has to be the player when he gets into the game, you’ve got to step it up, that’s what our guys have done.”

One of the season ending injuries came in the Hokies’ Homecoming game against Boston College. Bruce Taylor, the Hokies leading tackler, suffered a mid-foot sprain that will sideline him for the rest of the season.

“Losing Bruce is tough it’s not only the plays he made, but the type of leader he was, what he meant to the whole football program,” Beamer said. “We have several positions on defense this year we’ve had to fill, it’s time to do it again.”

Saturday, the Hokies will travel south to North Carolina to face a Duke team still spinning its wheels in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Duke head coach David Cutcliffe has a resume similar to Beamer’s, just without the wins at his current program to back it up. Cutcliffe is 12-24 since arriving in Durham in 2007.

Last Saturday, Duke fell to Wake Forest 24-23, losing a 17-0 lead in the ball game. It doesn’t get any easier for the Blue Devils this week against No. 12 ranked Virginia Tech.

“I think Virginia Tech is worthy of any high ranking,” Cutcliffe said. “They’re really playing well. I think all of their weapons are coming into play on offense, very difficult to defend. They’re a difficult match-up for us.”

Beamer won’t be taking the challenge lightly either, even though the Hokies haven’t lost to Duke since 1981.

“I think Duke is a really good football team,” Beamer said. “They are a very efficient, extremely well-coached football team and I think we’ve got to get ready to play a football game down there this week.”

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A version of this article appeared in the Oct 28 issue of the Collegiate Times.