LOUISVILLE, KY - OCTOBER 05: TaQuon Marshall #16 of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets runs for a 33-yard touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Louisville Cardinals at Cardinal Stadium on October 05, 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

One of the biggest factors in any college football game is the turnover battle. If a team wins the game, there is a solid chance that team also won the turnover battle. For Georgia Tech, this game, will ultimately be dictated by their ability to hold onto the ball.

Georgia Tech is 20-4 when turnover battle is won and 6-17 when turnover battle is lost. For Duke, it’s much of the same story. Since 2014, they are 21-3 when winning the turnover battle and 4-15 when losing the turnover battle.

While there are some anomalies thrown in there for both teams, it’s pretty certain that the winner of the turnover battle will be the winner of the game. Just last week, we saw how important turnovers are with Georgia Tech forcing 3 turnovers and scoring on each one.

Although Tech hasn’t lost a fumble in two games, they have put the ball on the ground every game since Duke in 2017. That’s a steak of 7 straight games with a fumble, which is unacceptable by any standard. In fact, Georgia Tech has fumbled in 23 of the last 24 games (Counting fumbles that were recovered by the offense).

That’s certainly not a winning formula even if the ball isn’t recovered by the other team. It wastes a down and usually loses yardage and long yardage situations are deadly to the flow of an offense, especially a triple option offense.

Keeping the ball off the ground and out of the opponent’s hand when on offense is the key to any win but with these two team’s records with turnovers, the ball will be especially important. With a win Saturday, Tech would move to 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the ACC with 3 consecutive wins. Tech also has a chance to continue some other streaks.

With a double-digit win, they would move their winning streak of double digits up to 3 and if they score 30 or more points, it would be their third straight week with an offensive explosion.

If Tech’s defense can force a turnover tomorrow, it would be their 7th straight game with a turnover. That would equal the longest turnover streak in almost 10 years. With 300 rushing yards, they would also have 6 games with 300 yards rushing already this year which is something Tech hasn’t done since 2014.

Duke has been a bogey team recently for Georgia Tech so a win Saturday would be critical for the season. With a win, Georgia Tech would most likely move into the top 3/4 of the ACC Coastal but with a loss, would be last in the ACC coastal. This is the biggest game so far this season and could ultimately determine this season’s fate.