By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

CLEMSON — Virginia Tech head coach Frank Beamer knows his Hokies will be facing two big hurdles right off the bat when they visit No. 13 Clemson this Saturday in Death Valley.

First of all, they will have to deal with an expected sellout crowd of 81,500 fans that has helped the Tigers when 10 straight games in Death Valley. Also, they will face a fresh Clemson team that is coming off a bye week.

“I think it’s big,” Beamer said earlier this week. “I think any time you can get extra rest and get people healthy, you get extra time to prepare. That’s big. To me that’s the two biggest things.”

The rest should help Clemson (5-1, 2-1 ACC). The Tigers used the off week to heal some old wounds, bumps and bruises before hitting the stretch run to what they hope is a repeat trip to the ACC Championship game.

The off week really came at a good time for the Clemson offensive line, which was probably the most banged up unit on the team.

“It was huge for us on the offensive line,” Clemson center Dalton Freeman said. “We really have not been healthy since going into Auburn and even then Gif (Timothy) was beat up so the off week gave him a chance to strengthen his knee back.

“(Tyler) Shatley’s ankle had been tweaked so it got him a little bit healthier, and I had been battling a little bit of a thumb sprain and I got that a little bit better. David Beasley’s knee was messed up.  Brandon Thomas was really the only guy we have had that has not been beat up. It was good for our front, especially to go through last week and not have a physical battle in a game to deal with. That was huge for us.”

Is it basketball season? The next biggest game in the ACC might be this week’s battle in Wallace Wade Stadium. That’s right, Wallace Wade Stadium, the same place where Duke plays football.

The Blue Devils (5-2, 2-1 ACC) are a half-game out of first place in the Coastal Division standings behind Miami (4-3, 3-1), and are tied with Virginia Tech (4-3, 2-1) and their most bitter rival North Carolina (5-2, 2-1). This is the first time in nearly 20 years that the two have both come into a football game with a lot on the line.

Duke is also looking to come bowl eligible for the first time since 1994. There is so much on the line, people living in the Raleigh-Durham area had to check their calendars to make sure it isn’t already February, and this isn’t a basketball game.

“This is a very important game for us,” North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora said. “It’s the 99th meeting and the game for the Victory Bell. It’s something that our players take a lot of pride in and so we are excited for the opportunity to play.

“We know Duke. They are going to get after it. They are one win away from being bowl-eligible, and they would love to do it against us.”

Finally! When No. 10 Florida State invades South Beach Saturday, the ‘Noles and rival Miami will be playing for something that really means something, again.

For years, the Miami-FSU matchup played a big role in who was going to win the national championship. When the Hurricanes joined the ACC in 2004, everyone just expected the two would decide the ACC Championship every year.

That has not been the case. Florida State has won the conference just once since the league expanded to 12 teams in 2005 and that came in that first year. They have only played for the title one other time (2010).

Miami, on the other hand, has never made it to the championship game. Currently, both either lead their respected divisions inside the ACC or control their own destiny. There is a realistic shot they could see each other again in the ACC Championship game in December.

But, the simple fact is, the winner of Saturday’s 8 p.m. showdown at Sun Life Stadium in Miami, will have a better shot than the loser.

“From a Florida State standpoint, we have to catch up to where they are right now,” Miami head coach Al Golden said. “They are ahead of us right now.  And that is what makes this game and this rivalry so good because the other teams have always responded, and if you look at it through the years, it wasn’t really just an every other year they exchanged wins.

“If somebody gets hot, then the other organization has to respond, and then it turns around and then you have to do that. So right now, they are ahead of us, both in years at the institution, but also in the rankings and they were favored to win the ACC and we have to catch up. That’s what we are trying to do here, not only this week, but with recruiting and everything else.”