PITTSBURGH -- Nearly two months into the season, the ACC Coastal Division is still searching for clarity.Virginia Tech and Pitt will have a chance to provide some when the 25th-ranked Hokies (5-2, 3-1) face the Panthers (5-2, 2-1) on Thursday night. The winner will exit no worse than tied for first in the loss column by the end of the weekend. The loser will need to win out -- and probably get more than a little help -- to earn a spot in the ACC title game.Its going to be a game of kind of were in the mix in this division and its going to be a championship-caliber football game, said Virginia Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster. If they want to stay in the hunt, theyve got to win it. If we want to stay in the hunt, we need to win it.Something that doesnt tend to happen when the Panthers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. The Hokies have never won at Heinz Field and dropped six of their last seven overall to Pitt, including a 17-13 loss in Blacksburg last year.Im not really sure about the historical struggles, but what were trying to do is forget all of that, Hokies defensive end Woody Barron said. Forget anything thats going on after the game, whatever thats happened before the game, and were just trying our best to prepare.Virginia Tech bounced back from a baffling pratfall at Syracuse by handling Miami last Thursday to climb back into the Top 25. Now the Hokies face a different kind of test in the Panthers, who are averaging 38 points behind one of the most inventive offenses in the country.In a pass-happy world, the offense designed by coordinator Matt Canada is a throwback. The Panthers can plow ahead with James Conner and Chawntez Moss or get out on the edges on jet sweeps by Quadree Henderson and dual threat Jordan Whitehead. Seven players have at least 20 rushing attempts, a testament Pitts depth and also the numerous ways Canada tries to get them the ball.Its not like he walked up during the summer and said, `Hey, lets run this, lets try this, Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi said. Hes a very creative guy and its power football. Its zone football. Youve seen a lot of two backs, a lot of movement around, maybe a lot of three backs if you count that guy in motion. So its what I thought we would get when we hired Matt.CARDIAC CATS: Best to not leave early when the Panthers are playing. Five of Pitts first seven games havent been decided until the last minute, though the Panthers may have taken a significant step forward against Virginia two weeks ago, holding the Cavaliers to a field goal after halftime while pulling away for a 45-31 win.ROAD WARRIORS: The Hokies have had mixed results on the road this season, winning in impressive fashion in monsoon-like conditions at North Carolina, but then laying an egg and losing the following week at Syracuse. Their history at Heinz Field and loss to the Orange are things sure to get their attention this week, but the Panthers are coming off a bye week and are likely to have some surprises Virginia Tech didnt see on film.MR. VERSATILITY: Conner won the ACC Player of the Year Award in 2014 while scoring a school record 24 touchdowns but went back to his roots a bit against the Cavaliers. Conner -- who moonlighted at defensive end as a freshman in 2013 -- saw his first action on defense in three years against the Cavaliers and was credited with a quarterback hurry, the latest remarkable step in his return from a bout with cancer diagnosed last fall that threatened his career.PASSING FANCY: Jerod Evans leads the ACC in passing efficiency with 19 touchdowns and just two interceptions, but he also fumbled three times early in the season. The Panthers share the sack lead in the conference with 25 and could cause Evans to make a mistake if they can get enough pressure in the backfield. When Pitt has been unable to get to the quarterback, however, the secondary hasnt put up much of a fight. The Panthers are 122nd in the country in passing yards allowed (298.9).---AP Sports Writer Hank Kurz in Richmond, Virginia, contributed to this report. Air Max Outlet Sale . Speaking to the Chicago Tribune at baseballs Winter Meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, Boras called the former home of the Expos a "tremendous environment" for baseball. Cheap Nike Air Max China Wholesale . The judges scored it 48-47, 48-47, 49-46 for Jones (19-1). It was the champions closest call. Despite the loss, it was a remarkable show by the confident Swedish challenger, who had the best of the early rounds and then hung on in the fourth and fifth. http://www.airmaxoutletcheap.com/ . PETERSBURG, Fla. Clearance Air Max Outlet . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Cheap Nike Air Max Clearance . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel. 10. Silly Brearley Frustrated at Yorkshires unwillingness to engage in a run-chase, Middlesex skipper Mike Brearley once indulged in a game within a game with left-arm spinner Phil Edmonds. Removing the short-leg fielder, they instead placed his helmet at short mid-wicket in the hope of persuading Jim Love or Richard Lumb to play against the spin for the five-run bonus and offer a catch off the leading edge. Childish? Brearley asked in The Art of Captaincy, Probably, but if it were not for the child in us we would never play games at all. His bit of fun led to the ruling that unworn helmets can only be placed immediately behind the keeper.9. The six-delivery dash With yet another rain break having annulled any hopes of a result in the County Championship match between Yorkshire and Sussex at Headingley in 2007, the only game in town for the home side was increasing their over-rate to avoid a points deduction. Wisden reports that the game descended into farce as Yorkshire rushed through 5.2 overs in eight minutes, with overseas player Younus Khan getting through a quickfire four overs - one of them completed in a record 35 seconds. Which, rather surprisingly, makes Younus Khan the fastest bowler in the history of cricket.8. The hit parade As fellow young guns, then icons in the Somerset team of the 70s and 80s, Viv Richards and Ian Botham struck up a friendship that could occasionally spill over into on-field rivalry. Simon Wilde, Bothams biographer, reports that their captains understood that it was best if they were kept apart so that Botham did not start trying to out-hit Richards. Peter Roebucks tendency to play long innings was said to be a result of this theory.7. Guinness goal So confident was then-England coach David Lloyd that vintage tailender Alan Mullally was incapable of serious runmaking that, during the Oval Test against Pakistan in 1996, he promised the left-armer 30 pints of Guinness if he made it to 30 against the mighty wiles of Wasim and Waqar. Mullally got to within one hit of his black stuff bounty and signalled to Bumble to start readying the iron-rich goods, only to be done by a slowie from Wasim on 24. It was his best Test score but still left a bitter taste in the mouth. Which, of course, is what had been motivating him in the first place.6. Two of a kind With heavy rain precluding play during their 2006 Championship clash at the Rose Bowl, Hampshire skipper Shane Warne and his Kent counterpart Rob Key passed the time by playing poker. We started playing when the rain started and played into the night, Key tells AOC. What began as a sideshow became the main event, with players from both sides joining the table whenever the teams played each other. Wed end up with eight, nine, 10 of us. Wed just play poker at every opportunity, says Key, who - much to Warnes frustration - was no gambler when it came to setting up a run chase. Warnie always thought I was far too reserved in my declarations, and I was probably the same in poker. He would be a lot more aggressive and bluff a bit more, but I was very safe. That used to wind him up.dddddddddddd5. Flick off Wristy Essex pair Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence use county matches as a battleground for deciding whos most adept at hitting the ball through the leg-side. Whenever impetuous 19-year-old Lawrence arrives at the crease to join his No.3, the former invariably suggests a flick off before both proceed to pepper the mid-wicket boundary. Judging by their 2016 run records, the game hasnt either any harm.4. Freddies readies There was always more to the game than there appeared with Reverend Lord Frederick Beauclerk: aristocrat, punter and renowned piece-of-work. The MCCs second president raked in an almighty fortune betting on and playing in single-wicket games and challenge matches - and rarely by altogether overhand means. Once drawing himself in a lottery for top runscorer in a match, he duly refused to run his partners runs - instead shuttling between middle and scorers to check whose total was higher and ensure he secured the jackpot for himself.3. Numbers game That tailender Bill Johnston topped Australias batting averages on their 1953 Ashes tour owed a little to a sense of fun in his own skipper and his opponents. Johnston, who never made a first-class fifty, was on a tour aggregate of 70 runs for only once out when his captain Lindsay Hassett realised the possibility of a bizarre stat, thereafter sending his bowler out to bat with a note asking the opposing team to play along and avoid dismissing him. In the last game of the tour against TN Pearces XI at Scarborough, Alec Bedser bowled deliberately wide of the stumps so as to preserve Johnstons record: 17 innings, 102 runs, one dismissal. Average: 102.2. Failing in Philadelphia Famously haughty former England captain Archie Maclaren was never known to suffer from a lack of self-confidence. On tour in Philadelphia in 1902, arch Arch was told that a six by Aussie hitter George Bonnor had once broken a tile on a faraway roof, with the spot marked by a single blue tile amongst the red. Modest Maclaren bet that he could break the one next to it. Telling the story to Denzil Batchelor years later he admitted his attempt had failed, his aim was awry and that he had missed by several tiles. Pawn in their game While England batted in a Test at Johannesburg during their tour of South Africa in 1965, dashing left-hander Bob Barber and young 12th man Mike Brearley were in the middle of a game of changing-room chess. Their battle on the board was interrupted, however, when Barber was required to go out and bat. While compiling a half-century, Barber summoned Brearley to the field, ostensibly for a fresh pair of gloves. In fact, Brearley recounts, his purpose was to inform me that his next move was Queens pawn to QB4.This article features in the current issue of All Out Cricket magazine. 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