In some ways, Fred Goldsmith is not all that different from many of the college football experts in the country. They all know that Duke is in a tough situation and that it desperately needs more than a few wins this year to keep pushing its program in the right direction and further away from a winless 1996.
Of course the pressure isn't on the experts to produce results. And many of them do not expect the Blue Devils to drastically improve on the field. Just don't count Duke's head coach in that group.
"The pressure to me is always the same," Goldsmith said. "I put pressure on myself to try and win. I know we have a better football team. As I look at our football team, we don't have a lot of seniors, but we have a lot of guys with a lot of experience. Where that goes record-wise is relative to your opponents.
"We've got to win some more games this year-that'll keep it going."
The Blue Devils are not in need of an eight-win season and subsequent bowl appearance. That is always Goldsmith's ultimate goal, but to expect a team that finished 2-9 a year ago to accomplish that is asking a lot.
Expecting four or five wins is not an insurmountable task. Turn one play around in three different games last year and the Blue Devils are instead coming off a 5-6
Offensively, both of the possible starters at quarterback, Spencer Romine and Bobby Campbell, have a full season behind them. Increased familiarity with the college game has allowed running back Letavious Wilks to take what Goldsmith called an "enormous step" in the spring.
Receivers Richmond Flowers and Reco Owens are healthy again, and the list goes on and on. Throw in new offensive coordinator Les Koenning, direct from the Miami Dolphins, and Duke is looking to have the ability to mount consistent drives.
"Our inexperience at quarterback last year turns into a blessing this year," Goldsmith said. "Now our top quarterbacks have a year behind them. That's exciting. Letavious moved it up another level this spring. That is a big key. We have to balance our offense to open up the passing game.
"If we block for them, they can do some really good things. We're the type of team where we have to be balanced. We're not going to overpower anybody with the running game and we're not going to throw every time."
On defense, the core of six or seven players-Chris Combs, Eric Jones, Darius Clark, Kevin Lewis, etc.-that started out playing as freshmen, is now a unit of juniors who have fought the battles for two years.
That still leaves a question at corner, where Goldsmith hopes veterans such as Lamar Grant and Alonzo Moyer will have gained experience from past lessons on the field.
"We have so many guys on defense who have been playing since they got here," Goldsmith said. "A big factor will be the corners. We've paid a price but they've developed. They've got to come through now for us to be good."
Duke's quest to be good starts Sept. 5 with a home opener against Division I-AA Western Carolina. It certainly appears to be an open invitation to start off the season with a win. The Blue Devils last won an opener in 1994, when they started off the season 7-0.
They need not pull such a streak this fall, but progress is in order and pressure is added to Duke's more-experienced squad.
"The goal of this program is to get where we can be a bowl team each year," Goldsmith said. "That's always my expectation. It's tough. But we won in 1989 and 1994 and Northwestern won for a few years.
"For now, we have to make sure we just start winning. It won't be as good as I want it to be, but that gets you rolling and then we've got virtually all of the same kids coming back the next year."
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