Virginia travels to tiny Wallace Wade Stadium Saturday to face Duke at 12:00. The game will be webcast by ESPN3. The Blue Devils are winless in the ACC so far in 2010, but they have beaten the Wahoos twice in a row. Virginia leads the series all-time 32-29.
Duke (2-6, 0-4) is led by their talented signal caller Sean Renfree, who is coming off a nearly perfect game versus Navy last weekend. Renfree completed 28 of 30 passes for 314 yards and one touchdown, and he also rushed for two scores as well. Renfree set a couple of school records in that game, consecutive completions (16), and highest single-game completion percentage (.933).
Duke’s head coach David Cutcliffe is widely considered to be one of the finest quarterback coaches in the profession today. He helped to improve the careers of both Peyton (Tennessee), and Eli Manning (Mississippi), Tee Martin (Tennessee), and Duke’s QB the past several years, Thaddeus Lewis.
Sophomore wide-out Conner Vernon is a favorite target of Renfree, and on the season he has 48 receptions for 715 yards and 4 scores. Duke runs the West Coast offense, and likes to dink and dump the ball around to several different receivers and backs.
Defensively, Duke’s Abraham Kromah has been credited with an outstanding number of tackles (81). Duke’s defense does not sack the quarterback very often (seven times), but they have caused 10 turnovers this season.
Duke is all about the offense, and their defense has really struggled so far this season. They have given up 3,473 yards total on the defensive side of the ball for an average of 434.1 yards per game.
Virginia (4-4, 1-3) is coming off their first ACC win of the year last week against Miami. Other than an horrendous fourth quarter, the Hoos picked off the ‘Canes five times and both the offensive and defensive fronts had their best game of the season Saturday.
Keith Payne should expect to carry the load in Durham Saturday for the Hoos. Payne is tied for the ACC lead in scoring with 12 touchdowns on the season. Perry Jones got the bulk of the carries last week against Miami, but I bet Payne gets more touches Saturday.
Marc Verica, who has been plagued by red-zone turnovers this season, played an outstanding game last time out in the win. If he can manage the game wisely, and limit the mental mistakes, Virginia could win this game by a couple of touchdowns.
Look for Virginia’s defensive front to have a big game. Both Cam Johnson, and Matt Conrath should be huge for the Hoos.
Prediction? Hoos 35 Duke 23. Go Hoos!