DURHAM – Take yourself back to the summer news that Duke had added seven grad transfers and compare what you thought then to what you know now.

Three Ivy Leaguers, another from the FCS level, a pair of offensive linemen and a Power-5 cornerback with starting experience.

That’s one way to look at it. Here’s another:

- Darius Joiner (Western Illinois) is Duke’s leading tackler (70) and the safety has played more snaps than any other Blue Devils defender.

- Cam Dillon (Columbia) is sixth on the team in tackles despite playing the 15th-most snaps on the defense as a backup linebacker.

- Datrone Young (Iowa State) has been the most-consistent cornerback on the roster and has started all but one game, which he missed with an injury.

- Anthony Nelson (Harvard) was Duke’s highest-graded defensive player against Virginia (86.7, per Pro Football Focus), but was injured and missed the next three games. He returned to his role as a backup defensive end last weekend.

- Chance Lytle (Colorado) has played the third-most snaps among Blue Devils offensive linemen, starting eight games and proving to be more than a good singer.

- Andre Harris Jr. (Arkansas State) has played 20 fewer snaps than Lytle (476 to 456) and hasn’t allowed a sack this season, starting seven games at right tackle.

- Jack Burns (Cornell) is right behind Harris with 441 snaps and has started the last three games at center, with coach Mike Elko saying he was the offensive player of the game for his performance against BC.

The Blue Devils went 7-for-7 on quality additions over the summer when most teams are looking to fill one or two holes for depth concerns, and it’s a partial explainer on why they’re in the position they’re in.

“One of the mysteries of the transfer portal is chemistry, right?” Elko said. “Everybody who thinks this is just like, you go to the yard sale, you buy whatever you want and it just fits in your house and it’s all good, that’s not really how the transfer portal works.

“We tried to be very selective from a character standpoint and a performance standpoint.”

Duke is 6-3 and headed to a bowl, destination TBD, because of the buy-in level for Elko, he explains. That’s where the joy in how the season has played out stems from for the first-time coach.

“They’re the ones who have put in the work and they deserve all of the accolades,” Elko said. “What I get is just the little bit of joy in the fact that they’re buying into what we’re doing. And the fact that they believe in what we’re doing and that they believe in the direction that this program is going.”

It’s one thing to get that level of commitment and dedication from players who came to his introductory press conference and went through spring practices, with the chance to leave through the portal after the spring.

It’s another to also get such a smooth meshing of those players along with the incoming transfers, allowing players from lower levels or without as much starting experience to become difference-makers.

“We brought in seven kids and all seven of them have been productive players, for sure,” Elko said. “But great kids in our locker room. They’ve brought leadership value, they’ve brought experience.

“You don’t see patches. Like, ‘There’s our transfers and there’s our team.’ They all fit in together. And so that part of it has been great.”

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Here’s a primer on what you need to know for Saturday’s game:

Time: Noon.

Location: Wallace Wade Stadium.

TV: Regional sports networks (Bally Sports South if you’re in N.C.).

Announcers: Evan Lepler (play-by-play), Dave Archer (analyst), Rebecca Fiorentino (sidelines).

Forecast: Low-70s, partly cloudy, winds around 6-8 mph.

Series; last meeting: Virginia Tech leads 19-10; Virginia Tech won 48-17 in 2021.

Records: Virginia Tech 2-7, 1-5 ACC; Duke 6-3, 3-2.

Stat to watch: Plus-14 | Minus-8.

It’s hard to get a larger differential in turnover margin among ACC teams — which helps explain why Duke is exceeding expectations in Year One under Elko, while Virginia Tech is struggling to get going in Year One under Brent Pry.

Duke’s six turnovers are the fewest in the ACC. The Blue Devils committed two at Miami, which is easier to stomach when you force eight. Duke’s win at Boston College last week was only the second game that Duke hasn’t forced a turnover (Georgia Tech being the other).

Virginia Tech hasn’t committed too many giveaways, at least comparatively, with 14. That’s tied for the eighth most in the conference.

It’s creating turnovers that tells the story of the Hokies’ minus-8.

VT has forced six turnovers, the fewest in the ACC. Two of those takeaways came in a season-opening loss to old Dominion. The only team in the country that’s forced fewer than six turnovers is New Mexico State.

Matchup to watch: Duke’s offensive line vs. Virginia Tech’s front-7.

The Blue Devils’ rushing attack keeps churning along and while Riley Leonard and the running backs rack up yardage, it’s the offensive line that gets the credit here.

And the spotlight, now that Duke will be without two starters (at least) against Virginia Tech.

Monday’s news that Jacob Monk is out means Duke is down its starting right guard, and comes a few weeks after the Blue Devils lost Maurice McIntyre for the season. Additionally, John Gellotte started the third and fourth games of the year and hasn’t played since the fifth (against Virginia).

The impressive part — and the part that matters going into Saturday — is that Duke’s rushing game has clicked in just about every game this season. The Blue Devils’ 208.1 yard average is second-best in the ACC (21st nationally) but more importantly, Duke has rushed for at least 135 yards in every game (i.e. there isn’t an outlier buoying the average).

For as bad as the overall record is, VT’s defense hasn’t been terrible. The Hokies’ rush defense is seventh in the ACC, allowing 134.1 yards per game.

It’s been a feast-or-famine exercise for VT’s run defense. After giving up 326 yards on the ground to Pittsburgh, the Hokies held Miami to 107 and N.C. State to 60 in the next two games; and then gave up 210 rushing yards to Georgia Tech last weekend.

Quote of the week: “We keep wanting to find the time that this group’s not going to show up and until they prove me wrong, they keep showing up.” – Mike Elko

Opposing offensive player to watch: Running back Keshawn King (No. 23).

When King has been healthy, he’s been the Hokies’ best offensive skill player.

One of the issues, though, is that hasn’t been the case too often this season.

The 5-11, 180-pounder only played seven snaps against Miami and missed the game against N.C. State two weeks ago. He returned last week and had 90 yards of offense (79 rushing, 11 receiving) along with a touchdown.

King is VT’s leading rusher with 338 yards on 57 carries (5.9 yards/carry). The other running back with as many carries as King is Jalen Holston, who has 187 yards.

Opposing defensive player to watch: Linebacker Dax Hollifield (No. 4).

The Shelby native has been a mainstay for VT’s defense since 2018, as the fifth-year linebacker is closing in on 3,000 career snaps.

Hollifield is VT’s leading tackler with 67 and is tied for the team lead in passes broken-up. His 332 career tackles are the seventh most in program history.

If VT has any kind of success in slowing down Duke’s rushing attack, the 6-1, 245-pounder in the middle will have to play a critical role.

Young Blue Devil to watch: Running back Jaquez Moore (No. 20).

Sure feels like it’s been a while since Moore didn’t play at Kansas and only logged three snaps against Virginia.

The depth of Duke’s backfield was apparent in fall camp and it’s played out that way during the season. Without Jaylen Coleman for the last four games, Moore has filled in admirably alongside Jordan Waters, rushing for 240 yards and three touchdowns in that span. The second-year running back has added 45 receiving yards on four catches, too.

Moore is coming off of a career-best 82 yards at BC, in which he doubled his career total for touchdowns with a pair of second-half scores.

Coleman’s status still hangs in the air, but Moore’s production has meant Duke’s rushing attack has continued clicking in his absence.

Prediction: While the trajectory of these programs couldn’t seem more different, there still should be some uneasiness to this matchup.

Virginia Tech coming close in each of the last two games, including one of those against one of the league’s better teams (N.C. State), means one of two things: The Hokies are close to turning things around and just need one final push to learn how to finish games.

Or the last two games have broken their spirit and Duke will cruise to a seventh win, guaranteeing a winning season.

For the Blue Devils, this becomes a matter of continuing to build off of last week. Duke looked rusty — pass offense and pass defense, to name a couple — in a few areas coming out of its off week; quelling that aspect of things would go a long way in securing the first home win against VT since 1981.