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The Virginia Tech football team (3-2, 1-0 ACC) will hit the road for an ACC contest with the Tar Heels of North Carolina (3-2, 0-1 ACC) Saturday at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill. Kick-off is set for 12:29 p.m. and the game will be televised regionally on the ACC Network. The announcers will be Steve Martin, Mike Archer and Scott Przywansky.

The Series
• Virginia Tech and North Carolina will be meeting on the gridiron for the 35th time in a series that dates back to 1895 with the Hokies leading, 18-10-6, including 7-1 in ACC games after last year’s 24-21 Tech win at home.

Tar Heel State Dominance
• Since joining the league in 2004, Tech is a perfect 13-0 in ACC games played in the state of North Carolina (3-0 at Wake Forest; 2-0 at NC State; 4-0 at Duke; 4-0 at the University of North Carolina). The Hokies are 14-1 if you count the two ACC Championship Games played in Charlotte (win over FSU, loss to Clemson), even though they don’t go down as a league contests.

Success in the Tar Heel State
• Virginia Tech has had pretty good success playing in the state of North Carolina, winning nine of its last 10 games. Since 2000, the Hokies are 17-2 in games played in the Tar Heel State with the lone losses coming at the hands of ECU in Charlotte in 2008 and Clemson last year in Charlotte at the ACC Championship Game. Under head coach Frank Beamer, Tech is 20-5 in games played in North Carolina.

Strong In The ACC
• Virginia Tech is an impressive 54-11 in ACC games (27-5 in ACC road games) since joining the league in 2004.
• Tech has won 23 straight road conference openers, as Saturday’s game at UNC will be. The last time the Hokies lost a road conference opener was in 1962, a 3-0 defeat at William & Mary when the Hokies were in the Southern Conference. Tech won its league road opener in 1963 and ‘64 before going independent from 1965-1990. Tech won all 13 BIG EAST road openers (1991-2003) and have won all eight ACC road openers.

North Carolina Ties
• Three members of the Virginia Tech staff have ties to North Carolina. Assistant to the head coach Billy Hite played at Carolina from 1970-73 and coached running backs in Chapel Hill from 1974-77. Director of Recruiting Jim Cavanaugh served as receivers coach under Mack Brown at UNC from 1988-95. QB coach Mike O’Cain was the Tar Heels’ offensive coordinator in 2000 under Carl Torbush.
• Nine players on Tech’s roster are from the state of North Carolina: Kevin Asante (Charlotte), Nick Becton (Wilmington), Michael Via (McLeansville), Justin Taylor (Norwood), Ethan Keyserling (Chapel Hill), Justus Hoffmann and Chris Mangus (Raleigh), Dahman McKinnon (Hope Mills) and D.J. Ward (Elizabeth City).
• North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner’s father, Bill, was a punter at Virginia Tech (1979-82) before playing in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers. Bill Renner led the Hokies in punting average in 1981 and 1982.

#TweetItOut
A few game notes in 140 characters or less

This will be the 35th meeting on the gridiron between @TarHeelFootball and @VT_Football, with the #Hokies leading 18-10-6. #VTvsUNC

@VT_Football is a perfect 13-0 in regular season #ACC games played in the state of NCarolina since joining the league in 2004.

The #Hokies have not lost to North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1938, a 7-0 loss.

@VT_Football is 27-5 in ACC road games.

The #Hokies have not lost a road conference opener since 1962 when they were members of the Southern Conference.

Three of the last four games between @TarHeelFootball and @VT_Football have been decided by just three points.

For updates on Virginia Tech football, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Football).