In a year where unbridled optimism has disintegrated like something out of a Wile E. Coyote cartoon, the football team has watched its hopes get dashed by half a dozen teams in a half-dozen different ways.
Last week's overtime loss to N.C. State, an NCAA-high second overtime loss of the season, snuffed whatever small hopes the Blue Devils (1-6, 1-3 in the ACC) might have had for a winning season, and with suddenly-dangerous Maryland (5-2, 2-2) next on the schedule, coach Carl Franks and his team partook in what has become a weekly tradition-readjusting their goals.
"We have to reset our goals and look at the next four games as an opportunity to build this program back to where it needs to be," linebacker Ryan Stallmeyer said. "N.C. State was a game we could have won, and we had our chances to win, but we have another game this Saturday, and we don't have much time to think about much of anything else."
Maybe that will keep the Blue Devils from worrying too much about having won just twice in College Park since the Eisenhower administration. And maybe it will keep Duke from thinking too much about the 45-7 thumping these same Terrapins administered to North Carolina a week ago.
And ignorance, of course, is bliss for the Blue Devils, who don't want to listen to reports of their demise just yet.
"A lot of people would find this a good time to lay down and let their season be over," quarterback Spencer Romine said. "We're just going to change our goals and, instead of a bowl game, try to win these last four games. Basically, we're going to try to win back some respect."
But in the X's and O's of college football, only wins matter.
Wins mean bowls, and wins mean success and respect, something Duke has had little of this season and Maryland has had in excess.
Of course, this was not the way it was supposed to be.
At season's start, it was the Blue Devils who were whispered about in preseason meetings, and it was Duke thatappeared in sports columns after the phrase, 'Don't be surprised if....'
And Maryland was, well, Maryland.
Picked to finish dead last in the league, three slots behind the Blue Devils, Maryland has taken advantage of an unexpectedly weak ACC and an All-ACC caliber campaign from senior tailback Lamont Jordan, who is second in the league in rushing yardage (855) and tops in yards per carry (5.41).
Yet third-year head coach Steven Vanderlinden isn't counting his Terrapins before they hatch.
"Duke has the best defense that our offense has faced this season," he said. "They have 20 starters returning overall, including their entire defense alone."
And Vanderlinden is just a little worried that all the Blue Devils' near misses are about to turn into a bullseye in College Park.
"We have our hands full this week," he said. "If you watch Duke's games, you can see how easily they could have had a winning record."
If Duke is going to take any steps towards winning this weekend, it likely will be with a now-healthy B.J. Hill, who recovered from a nagging thigh bruise to post the first 100-yard rushing game of the season for Franks.
"B.J. showed the quickness and speed and acceleration we saw in him back in the spring," Franks said. "He was a big factor is us playing well offensively."
And it seems likely that for the first time this season, Franks will start the same backfield in back to back weeks.
Still, the Blue Devils' second ACC victory will be an uphill battle, as Duke continues to grow into its offensive scheme.
"Learning this offense is a little like learning to drive a stick shift," Romine said. "We've got our offense up to third or fourth gear. We need to get it into fifth."
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