(19) Nebraska at (13) Virginia Tech

Editors note, this blog was written by contributing Fanspeak writer Geoff Nelowet. Sorry for not attributing it earlier.

The 19^th ranked Cornhuskers travel to Lane stadium this Saturday to take on the 13^th ranked Hokies, and you can expect a decisive victory by the home team. Tech owns a 31-game non-conference home winning streak, so at this point it’s hard to bet against the maroon and orange at Lane. That, and the fact that ‘Huskers QB Zac Lee is a first-year starter under a second-year coach, and when you couple that with Virginia Tech’s dominant defense, you can expect that Nebraska will have a tough time executing their offensive game plan. Lee, though, has been successful this season, but against lesser opponents. He has completed nearly 74 percent of his passes, but he hasn’t faced a defense like Tech’s, and he simply does not have the firepower to overcome such a consistently dominant unit.

Nebraska is looking to avenge a home loss to Virginia Tech last season in which they lost by the score of 35-30. It wasn’t nearly as close as the score would imply, as Nebraska rallied for two touchdowns in the waning minutes. Tech dominated in yards from scrimmage a year ago, but don’t expect either offense to seriously dominate this Saturday, and you should probably not expect as many points.

Tech QB Tyrod Taylor has not shown any development in the passing game. The Hokies are a run-first team, and they are becoming more ostensibly one-dimensional as the season has progressed. The Hokies may shut down the Cornhusker attack, but they will in all likelihood struggle themselves. The Huskers are fairly talented up front, and they are lead by all-Big 12 senior defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. In short, Nebraska has the ability to stop Tech’s run game – their only viable offensive threat. Expect a low-scoring game in which turnovers could be the deciding factor.

Virginia Tech and Nebraska are an exciting match-up, and they are two fairly even teams in talent and execution, but Tech has the edge, and when factoring in Lane Stadium, Tech has an even larger edge. The Hokie defense will force Lee into his first major mistakes of the season, and those mistakes will loom large as Virginia Tech walks away with a 24-14 victory.