[caption id="attachment_4305" align="aligncenter" width="700"]![Virginia Tech will face Arkansas in the Belk Bowl [Credit: Evan Morrison]](//techlunchpail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/belkbowl.jpg?w=700)
Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas in the Belk Bowl [Credit: Evan Morrison][/caption]The Belk Bowl is only two days away with the Virginia Tech Hokies and Arkansas Razorbacks working through their final practices of the season before Thursday evening's kickoff in Bank of America Stadium. Both teams enter this game looking to finish their season on a positive note with the Hokies looking to get their tenth win and finish in the top 15 of the AP Poll in Justin Fuente's first season while the Razorbacks are looking for a strong win that could push them to a top 25 finish.
While the numbers don't tell the whole story of the game, there is no doubt that numbers can give us a lot of insight into how both teams have been playing and what they do best. The numbers also help give coaches an initial indication to a team's strength sand weaknesses along with which players are being featured in a larger role and whose role has either been growing or shrinking.
Here's our list of some of the most important and interesting numbers.
5.7: Arkansas's top 2 running backs (Rawleigh Williams and Devwah Whaley) have averaged 5.7 yards per carry with both having over 100 carries on the season.
Bret Bielema teams are known for being built upon a strong rushing attack with his teams being known for having a couple talented backs as the Razorbacks have now with Williams and Whaley. For the Hokies, stopping the run and not allowing Arkansas to set up their play action will be critical but that will be a tall challenge against the Razorbacks' pair of talented backs.
-2: Arkansas has a very slight advantage in the turnover margin with the Razorbacks having a -2 in the turnover margin while the Hokies are right behind them at -3.
Turnovers seem to always have a big impact and the Hokies have exemplified that with turnovers consistently being the common thread leading them to defeat in their losses this season. It will be critical for the Hokies to make sure that they protect the football against an Arkansas football team that has recovered 10 fumbles this season which is around mid-pack.
83: Arkansas has lost 83 more yards from sacks despite the fact that an Arkansas QB has been sacked only one more time this season than a Virginia Tech QB.
The mobility of Jerod Evans shows here while Austin Allen has suffered his fair share of sacks this season and is more of a traditional QB that doesn't have the scrambling skills of Evans. Of course, Evans has made some poor decisions taking sacks instead of throwing the ball away or putting his head down too quickly but the fact of the matter is that the Hokies are losing only around 5 yards per sack compared to almost 8 yards per sack for Arkansas.
104: Arkansas is tied for 104th in the nation in red zone efficiency as they have scored on only 78.2% of their red zone opportunities this season. For comparison, Virginia Tech ranks 35th in the nation scoring on 87.3% of their opportunities in the red zone.
Arkansas has not been that good in the red zone this season and faces a Virginia Tech defense that is a little above average in red zone defense ranking 51st in the nation in percentage of red zone opportunities that opponents score on. The Razorbacks have not been good at all in the red zone this season, and the Hokies have the high-powered offense to make Arkansas pay if they fail to take advantage of prime, red zone opportunities.
6: Both Virginia Tech and Arkansas are allowing at least 6 tackles for loss per game.
Virginia Tech and Arkansas both have a couple talented offensive linemen but as a whole, their offensive lines have had their issues with Arkansas and Virginia Tech both giving up at least 28 sacks so far this season. Both teams will need to be ready for some talented front 7s but the Razorbacks are facing a much larger challenge than Virginia Tech.
52: Virginia Tech (103 TFLs) has 52 more tackles for loss than Arkansas (51 TFLs) has this year.
Virginia Tech has done an impressive job getting tackles for loss and shutting down opposing rushing attacks while Arkansas hasn't necessarily gotten the big defensive rush stops. The Arkansas offensive line will have a significant challenge against a Virginia Tech defense that has two players with at least 17 TFLs (Woody Baron, Tremaine Edmunds) with the interior OL in particular having a big challenge in one of our key matchups.
81: Jerod Evans needs 81 rushing yards against Arkansas to break Virginia Tech's single-season record for most rushing yards by a QB which was set by Bob Schwickert in 1963.
Jerod Evans has been the focal point of Virginia Tech's rushing attack this year and while that may not be seen as ideal, it's still impressive how productive Evans has been on the ground. Even though a guy like Michael Vick played a shorter season, the fact that Evans is close to having this record just shows how he's been a significant piece in a VT rushing attack that has in games been built around Evans.
20: Virginia Tech only needs 20 points against Arkansas to break Virginia Tech's single-season record for the most points scored by Virginia Tech in a single season.
The Hokies' offensive revolution hasn't taken long with the Hokies averaging 35 points per game this season and seeming well on their way to breaking their single-season scoring record in year 1. This record, set in 2010, seemed certain to fall in only a matter of time under Justin Fuente's leadership, but it hasn't even taken a season for the Hokies to be this close to breaking that record. Of course, it does help playing a 14th game, but the Hokies also played 14 games in 2010 when they set that record.
76: Isaiah Ford only needs 3 more receptions to surpass his Virginia Tech single-season receptions record while Cam Phillips only needs 6 to get to 76 receptions and surpass the single-season record.
Ford seemed well on his way to breaking his single-season receptions record at the mid-point of the season, but Phillips has been quite effective in the second half of the season. Now, both Ford and Phillips have the potential to break this single-season record that Ford set last year while Ford has a chance at also breaking his single-season receiving yards record as Ford needs 127 to do that in addition to needing at least 6 receptions.
10: A win on Thursday would give Virginia Tech 10 wins for the first time since 2011.
10 wins used to be the standard in Blacksburg with the previous four years being down compared to the standard that Virginia Tech had set in their first 8 years of being in the ACC. Justin Fuente has a chance to get the Hokies back to 10 wins in year 1 in what has been an impressive debut season that has surpassed all expectations with the Hokies having a chance to get a tenth win and jump into the top 15 of the final AP Poll with a win over underdog Arkansas.
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![Virginia Tech will face Arkansas in the Belk Bowl [Credit: Evan Morrison]](http://techlunchpail.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/belkbowl.jpg)
Virginia Tech vs. Arkansas in the Belk Bowl [Credit: Evan Morrison][/caption]The Belk Bowl is only two days away with the Virginia Tech Hokies and Arkansas Razorbacks working through their final practices of the season before Thursday evening's kickoff in Bank of America Stadium. Both teams enter this game looking to finish their season on a positive note with the Hokies looking to get their tenth win and finish in the top 15 of the AP Poll in Justin Fuente's first season while the Razorbacks are looking for a strong win that could push them to a top 25 finish.
While the numbers don't tell the whole story of the game, there is no doubt that numbers can give us a lot of insight into how both teams have been playing and what they do best. The numbers also help give coaches an initial indication to a team's strength sand weaknesses along with which players are being featured in a larger role and whose role has either been growing or shrinking.
Here's our list of some of the most important and interesting numbers.
5.7: Arkansas's top 2 running backs (Rawleigh Williams and Devwah Whaley) have averaged 5.7 yards per carry with both having over 100 carries on the season.
Bret Bielema teams are known for being built upon a strong rushing attack with his teams being known for having a couple talented backs as the Razorbacks have now with Williams and Whaley. For the Hokies, stopping the run and not allowing Arkansas to set up their play action will be critical but that will be a tall challenge against the Razorbacks' pair of talented backs.
-2: Arkansas has a very slight advantage in the turnover margin with the Razorbacks having a -2 in the turnover margin while the Hokies are right behind them at -3.
Turnovers seem to always have a big impact and the Hokies have exemplified that with turnovers consistently being the common thread leading them to defeat in their losses this season. It will be critical for the Hokies to make sure that they protect the football against an Arkansas football team that has recovered 10 fumbles this season which is around mid-pack.
83: Arkansas has lost 83 more yards from sacks despite the fact that an Arkansas QB has been sacked only one more time this season than a Virginia Tech QB.
The mobility of Jerod Evans shows here while Austin Allen has suffered his fair share of sacks this season and is more of a traditional QB that doesn't have the scrambling skills of Evans. Of course, Evans has made some poor decisions taking sacks instead of throwing the ball away or putting his head down too quickly but the fact of the matter is that the Hokies are losing only around 5 yards per sack compared to almost 8 yards per sack for Arkansas.
104: Arkansas is tied for 104th in the nation in red zone efficiency as they have scored on only 78.2% of their red zone opportunities this season. For comparison, Virginia Tech ranks 35th in the nation scoring on 87.3% of their opportunities in the red zone.
Arkansas has not been that good in the red zone this season and faces a Virginia Tech defense that is a little above average in red zone defense ranking 51st in the nation in percentage of red zone opportunities that opponents score on. The Razorbacks have not been good at all in the red zone this season, and the Hokies have the high-powered offense to make Arkansas pay if they fail to take advantage of prime, red zone opportunities.
6: Both Virginia Tech and Arkansas are allowing at least 6 tackles for loss per game.
Virginia Tech and Arkansas both have a couple talented offensive linemen but as a whole, their offensive lines have had their issues with Arkansas and Virginia Tech both giving up at least 28 sacks so far this season. Both teams will need to be ready for some talented front 7s but the Razorbacks are facing a much larger challenge than Virginia Tech.
52: Virginia Tech (103 TFLs) has 52 more tackles for loss than Arkansas (51 TFLs) has this year.
Virginia Tech has done an impressive job getting tackles for loss and shutting down opposing rushing attacks while Arkansas hasn't necessarily gotten the big defensive rush stops. The Arkansas offensive line will have a significant challenge against a Virginia Tech defense that has two players with at least 17 TFLs (Woody Baron, Tremaine Edmunds) with the interior OL in particular having a big challenge in one of our key matchups.
81: Jerod Evans needs 81 rushing yards against Arkansas to break Virginia Tech's single-season record for most rushing yards by a QB which was set by Bob Schwickert in 1963.
Jerod Evans has been the focal point of Virginia Tech's rushing attack this year and while that may not be seen as ideal, it's still impressive how productive Evans has been on the ground. Even though a guy like Michael Vick played a shorter season, the fact that Evans is close to having this record just shows how he's been a significant piece in a VT rushing attack that has in games been built around Evans.
20: Virginia Tech only needs 20 points against Arkansas to break Virginia Tech's single-season record for the most points scored by Virginia Tech in a single season.
The Hokies' offensive revolution hasn't taken long with the Hokies averaging 35 points per game this season and seeming well on their way to breaking their single-season scoring record in year 1. This record, set in 2010, seemed certain to fall in only a matter of time under Justin Fuente's leadership, but it hasn't even taken a season for the Hokies to be this close to breaking that record. Of course, it does help playing a 14th game, but the Hokies also played 14 games in 2010 when they set that record.
76: Isaiah Ford only needs 3 more receptions to surpass his Virginia Tech single-season receptions record while Cam Phillips only needs 6 to get to 76 receptions and surpass the single-season record.
Ford seemed well on his way to breaking his single-season receptions record at the mid-point of the season, but Phillips has been quite effective in the second half of the season. Now, both Ford and Phillips have the potential to break this single-season record that Ford set last year while Ford has a chance at also breaking his single-season receiving yards record as Ford needs 127 to do that in addition to needing at least 6 receptions.
10: A win on Thursday would give Virginia Tech 10 wins for the first time since 2011.
10 wins used to be the standard in Blacksburg with the previous four years being down compared to the standard that Virginia Tech had set in their first 8 years of being in the ACC. Justin Fuente has a chance to get the Hokies back to 10 wins in year 1 in what has been an impressive debut season that has surpassed all expectations with the Hokies having a chance to get a tenth win and jump into the top 15 of the final AP Poll with a win over underdog Arkansas.
Stay up with The Tech Lunch Pail for Belk Bowl coverage via Facebook and Twitter plus subscribe to our email updates.
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