The last time Duke beat Virginia Tech in consecutive meetings was the first six games played in the series.

That was back between 1937-51.

The former Coastal Division rivals have played some weird and close games over the last couple of decades. Duke and VT played for 19 straight seasons — the Hokies winning 15 of those — until last season, when the dissolution of the ACC’s divisions meant they’re no longer on each other’s schedule every year.

So, the series resumes this season with Duke having won the last meeting, a 24-7 not-so-weird-or-close result in 2022. The Blue Devils are looking to stack up some wins; the Hokies are looking for a win to be bowl eligible.

Here are five things to know about Virginia Tech ahead of Saturday night’s game:

Brent Pry is in his third season as VT’s coach and the Hokies are 15-20 under his leadership.

They are 1-11 in one-score games.

It’s not the best of signs for Pry, who was never a head coach before taking over VT following Justin Fuente’s firing. Fluky things can happen in one-score games; you’d think some fluky things would happen in your favor at a better clip of 8.3%.

This season’s one-score losses were: at Vanderbilt in the coming-out party for Commodores’ quarterback Diego Pavia; at home against Rutgers after the Hokies scored 16 fourth-quarter points to tie the game, losing on a final-minutes field goal; at Miami on an overturned touchdown on the game’s final play; and at Syracuse in OT after VT led 21-3 halfway through the third quarter.

The ACC doesn’t lack premier edge rushers and VT might have the best one in the league.

Antwaun Powell-Ryland leads the ACC and is second in the country in sacks, piling up 13 of them. He was second in the ACC last season with 9½ sacks and he’s upped the ante this year.

“Everybody who’s gone against him this year has had some kind of scheme to try to minimize his impact on the game,” Duke coach Manny Diaz said of the 6-3, 252-pound senior, “and yet, it seems like he finds a way to make plays.”

“You’ve got to know where he is. And then on third down, they’ll stand him up and move him around,” Diaz continued.

Two of VT’s wins — against Old Dominion and Boston College — have seen Powell-Ryland wreck opponents with four sacks in each game. In each of VT’s last two games, he’s had one sack.

Duke has faced running threats at QB in four of its last five games — and that might even be shortchanging Florida State’s QBs.

The Hokies’ Kyron Drones is also a running threat — but in a different way.

He’s a 6-2, 234-pounder who can pick up tough yards in the middle. Pro Football Focus credits Drones with 419 rushing yards and 307 coming after contact. And with 145 yards coming on scrambles and 274 coming on designed runs, the Hokies haven’t shown an aversion to calling his number.

“He’s a physical runner,” Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke said. “He’s a little bit different than the guys we’ve seen in the past few weeks. He’s going to try to run through you, he’s a big guy.”

As good as VT’s rushing offense has been — fourth in the ACC, more about running back Bhayshul Tuten later in the week — its rushing defense has been worse.

The Hokies allow 158.5 rushing yards per game, the second-most in the ACC (Florida State, yikes, allows 192.4). Only one time this season has VT allowed less than 100 rushing yards, and that was Georgia Tech getting 96 yards in Blacksburg at the end of October.

So, a Duke team looking to run the ball better than the 31 yards it had against N.C. State could get back on track in this game.

“Obviously, we’ve got to run the football better,” Duke offensive coordinator Jonathan Brewer said this week. “I’ve got to do a better job of giving us opportunities and formations and situations to do that stuff in.”

Both teams are coming out of an off week. While Duke snapped a two-game slide by winning at N.C. State in its last game, VT lost its last two games — that OT loss at Syracuse and a 24-14 game at home to Clemson — before having last week off.

Per TeamRankings.com, teams coming out of off weeks this season are 125-118. It is not nearly the advantage that some insist it is, usually amounting to a coin flip of whether a team is rested or rusty after having a week off.

VT had a dose of both rested and rusty in its first instance coming out of an off week this year.

The Hokies played Boston College on a Thursday night after their first off week. They jumped all over their former Big East rival, leading BC by four touchdowns at halftime. Three third-quarter touchdowns by the Eagles made a game of it until VT put the game away with a couple of Tuten touchdowns in the fourth quarter.