Virginia Tech blanks Pitt, sets up showdown with rival Virginia for ACC Coastal title

And then there were two.

Entering Week 13, there were three teams still alive in the ACC Coastal. Below is how the division looked with two weeks left in the regular season.

Virginia (5-2) currently holds the lead and can win the division with a Week 14 win over rival Virginia Tech. Two other teams sit at 4-2 with two league games remaining — Pitt and Virginia Tech. Each of those teams can claim the division by winning their last two games AND a Virginia loss. The field of contenders will be whittled down by one this weekend as Pitt and Tech will square off Saturday afternoon.

Leaving Week 13, there was little doubt as to who the better team was in Blacksburg was on the afternoon as Virginia Tech used a 21-point first half to come away with a convincing 28-0 win over Pitt. The Hokies’ defense, appropriately enough in coordinator Bud Foster‘s Lane Stadium swan song, was stifling, limiting the Panthers to just 177 yards of offense.

On its 27 rush attempts, Pitt averaged 2.2 yards per carry; at the start of the fourth quarter, that number was .7 ypc.

With the win, the Hokies and Cavaliers are now tied at 5-2 atop the Coastal Division. Tech will travel to Charlottesville next Saturday to take on UVa., which has lost 15 straight in the rivalry. The Cavaliers’ last win in the series? November of 2003.

The winner of that game will claim the Coastal and face Atlantic winner and third-ranked Clemson in the ACC championship game early next month. The Hokies-Cavaliers winner could also find themselves in the Orange Bowl when it’s all said and done.