Georgia Tech-Duke: Giving the Devils Another Reason To Be Blue

Georgia Tech heads to Wallace Wade Stadium to try to wrap up the Coastal Division on Saturday.

Georgia Tech is definitely bringing the momentum to this game. Duke was on a three-game conference winning streak before North Carolina's defense shut down Thad Lewis last week.

Georgia Tech is currently leading the Coastal Division and carrying a seven-game winning streak.

Duke ranks in the bottom half of FBS schools in rush defense, and Josh Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer will be looking to exploit that.

The strong suit for Duke has been their pass defense. They rank No. 26 in the country in pass defense right now, and with the paltry number of passes that Georgia Tech attempts, their secondary should be able to keep the passing numbers down.

As usual, the key to defending the Georgia Tech passing game will be defending Demaryius Thomas, who leads the conference with nearly 90 receiving yards per game.

After the Wake Forest game, the Georgia Tech defense looks like they are on the upswing, and they will need to continue that to keep Lewis in check.

Derrick Morgan and Morgan Burnett will be the players to watch as always on this side of the ball. Morgan will need to continue to bring pressure on the quarterback, forcing Lewis to make mistakes. Burnett should be the man taking advantage of those mistakes.

North Carolina forced two interceptions in last week's game against Duke, which only resulted in three points for the Tar Heels but also ended any hope of a comeback.

Lewis ended up sitting out the last Duke play of the game after getting sacked and is listed as having a leg injury on the injury report this week. This may make him gun-shy in the pocket and could play to the advantage of the Yellow Jackets.

North Carolina was also able to hold Duke to just over 20 minutes of possession during the game, which severely limited their ability to pose the comeback they needed in the fourth quarter.

Georgia Tech has been draining the clock to the tune of nearly 35 minutes per game, leading the nation by nearly a minute. This trend should continue as Duke's pass protection will force Georgia Tech to stick to the run game as much or more than usual.

If Georgia Tech is able to jump out to an early lead, this will be key in keeping Lewis and the Blue Devils out of contention by simply keep the ball out of their hands.

Georgia Tech should win this easily and show how their defense has improved. This will be key to the voters come Sunday. A shootout with Duke will not help the Jackets in the national picture, but a blowout might.

One last note: Georgia Tech's current seven game winning streak is its longest since 1978. The Yellow Jackets haven't had a win streak longer than seven since 1966, when they started their season 9-0 but lost to Georgia and Florida to end the season.