Miami's Brad Kaaya is one of the best freshmen quarterbacks in the country - when he's playing at home. On the road, though, the Hurricanes are 0-3 and Kaaya has been picked off twice in each of his road games. The Hurricanes have lost at Louisville, Nebraska and Georgia Tech by an average of 13 points failing to cover any of those matchups.

Blacksburg is as tough a venue as any road matchup the Hurricanes will have. Virginia Tech has covered 10 of the last 13 meetings against Miami. Virginia Tech has defeated Miami the past three times at home, winning by an average of 19 points. The Hurricanes also are 2-8 ATS during their past 10 Atlantic Coast Conference games.

Early money has come against Virginia Tech, which has some injuries on defense and at running back. The Hokies are off a sloppy 21-16 road loss to Pittsburgh last Thursday. But I see a strong bounce back effort from the Hokies following a shake-up on the offensive line.

Virginia Tech's savvy defensive coordinator Bud Foster is a master at coming up with complex schemes to befuddle young quarterbacks such as Kaaya. The Hokies rank No. 2 in the country in sacks and are 23rd in pass defense. So Foster has good chess pieces.

The Hokies have two other factors in their favor. They are used to playing on Thursday covering 69 percent of their last 29 Thursday games. Virginia Tech also is known for exceptionally strong special teams. The Hokies' vaunted special teams help turn around last year's game, which Virginia Tech won, 42-24, in Miami. The Hurricanes are not strong on special teams and are breaking in a new long snapper.