Text by Will Stewart, infographics by OXVT (follow him on Twitter here, and view all previous infographics updates on TSL here). Click all infographics for a larger version!
Infographics for this week’s game against Wake Forest
The Hokies are one win away from going to their 22nd straight bowl, the longest streak in college football (caveat: Florida State vacated their 2006 Emerald Bowl appearance, due to an academic scandal).
First, let’s take a look at the streak – as always, click for a larger version of the infographic.
To make a bowl, VT has to beat either Wake Forest or Virginia in their last two games (both would work better). Tech’s prospects are pretty good to make that happen.
Updates after the Duke game: things that got better
The Duke win came after a bye week. Tech historically isn’t very good after a bye week, but the win over Duke boosted VT’s post-bye-week record to 16-11 overall since 2000, 9-5 on the road.
The victory also put Frank Beamer just four wins behind Hayden Fry on the all-time wins list.
Tech’s two interceptions against Duke raised their season total to eight.
Bud Foster’s D notched four sacks vs. Duke to raise their season total to 35 – on pace for highest total since 2007.
Virginia Tech’s 3-1 advantage in Turnover Margin vs Duke creeps them closer to the Mendoza Line for the 2014 Season.
Here’s a look at the Hokies points off turnovers in their last three wins against ranked teams on the road.
VT’s fifth longest active scoring streak extends to 253 games – 11th longest streak all time.
Touchdowns by Bucky Hodges and Isaiah Ford vs. Duke increase Freshman % of Scoring at the Skill Position to 78%. (Is this good or bad, haha?)
3-3 in the Red Zone vs. Duke (2-3 TDs) increases Tech’s season TD% in Red Zone to 55%. In the last two weeks, the Hokies have scored on 8 of 9 red zone trips, including 6 TDs.)
VT had a slim 145-141 rushing advantage vs. Duke, which decreased their Rush Yards Per Game gap … VT has not been outrushed by their opponents since 1987. This stat is probably going to get better against Wake Forest, because the Deac’s running game doesn’t have a pulse.
10 of 16 first downs via the rush increases Tech’s season rushing first down percentage to 38% — still historically low for a Beamer-coached team.
Updates after the Duke game: things that got worse
The Hokies were outgained by Duke 326-293, reducing Tech’s total yardage margin for the season:
Saturday’s one-point margin of victory decreased the season scoring margin to 3.4 points per game.
Virginia Tech’s national defensive ranking improved to 25th after the Duke game, but the offensive ranking (yards per game) took a hit, and now resides at #91.
Third down conversion state of 2 of 15 vs. Duke decreases third down conversion percentage, which was once over 50%, to 39.4% for the season.
Miscellaneous updated infographics
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Thanks, Ox.
That Bowl game graphic really makes me frustrated seeing VT likely should have won in 2006 and 2007, and 2011 too. Plus 2004 I feel should have been a W as well. The Tech’s program perception winning 7 or 8 of the last 10 bowl games is far better than 4 of the last 10. Winning the last games always leaves a better taste in your mouth.
Saying that, I’ll still end up going this year even if it’s a cold, windy day in Annapolis if that’s the destination. It’s not Florida, but it’s a nice little town.
Indeed 🙁
Big fan of Annapolis and Navy’s stadium
Ox: This is an unbelievable amount of really interesting data on VT football during the Beamer era. I am really impressed as usual. This must have taken you many hours to compile and plot. However, I am beginning to think you may need some “professional counseling”. Just kidding! Please continue to be TSL “Data Man”.
Thank you very much for the kind words – I try to have a life, but VT football drags me back in 🙂