The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets meet the Virginia Tech Hokies Saturday in week 9 ACC college football action from Bobby Dodd Stadium. The Hokies are coming off a game versus Syracuse. In that one, Virginia Tech lost by five in a tough game. As for the Yellow Jackets, they played Virginia their last time out. Georgia Tech ended up taking a tough eight-point loss there. Check back all season long for free college football picks at Sports Chat Place.
Virginia Tech won three of their first four games, falling 27-21 to West Virginia while otherwise taking out North Carolina 17-10, Middle Tennessee 35-14 and Richmond 21-10. After that came two losses to Notre Dame 32-29 and Pitt 28-7.
Last weekend versus Syracuse, Virginia Tech coughed up 21 points in the fourth quarter on the way to a tough 41-36 defeat. QB Braxton Burmeister put up 177 yards and a TD, while Malachi Thomas did most of the work on 21 carries for 151 yards and three scores.
Over on the Jackets’ side, they went 3-3 over their first six games. The losses came to Northern Illinois, Clemson and Pittsburgh. The wins were 45-17 over Kennesaw State, 45-22 over North Carolina and 31-27 against Duke.
In the Virginia game, Georgia Tech scored in every quarter but couldn’t keep up in an eventual 48-40 loss. QB Jeff Sims put up 300 yards with three TDs and one interception, while Jahmyr Gibbs had 132 yards with one TD on 13 carries.
The Hokies are 2-5 ATS in their last seven conference games and 1-4 ATS in their last five in October. Virginia Tech is 0-4 ATS in their last four on grass as well.
Meanwhile, the Jackets are 10-21 ATS in their last 31 overall and 6-13 ATS in their last 19 home games. Georgia Tech is also 1-4 ATS in their last five in October.
PICK: I’m probably going to try Georgia Tech here. The Yellow Jackets gave up a lot of offense to Virginia (636 yards; 8.7-yard average; 32 first downs), but also notched some solid numbers themselves. The Jackets had 570 total yards with 28 first downs, three penalties and just one turnover against a good Cavaliers team.
As for Virginia Tech, they gave up a ton of offense (550 total yards) to Syracuse in their last outing, but still had a six-point edge heading into the fourth quarter. The good news is that the Hokies were disciplined on one penalty and zero turnovers; the bad news is that Virginia Tech gave up 314 rushing yards, 6.9 yards per play and 26 first downs to the Orange.