10 catches. 165 yards. Two touchdowns. But following Saturday's loss to N.C. State, only one number stood out in the mind of senior tight end Mike Hart: 21.
Twenty-one consecutive losses for the Duke football team, a number that eats away at the Sayville, N.Y. native more now than ever before. Despite his personal accomplishments, Hart left Wallace Wade Stadium for the final time looking at the scoreboard and seeing his team's 24-point defeat through the tears in his eyes.
"It's nice to put up big numbers, but when we lose, it's inconsequential," Hart said. "You want to put big numbers up in a big game and you win. It's great that I had a good day today, but I'd trade it all--I'd have zero catches and I'd break my leg--for a win."
Hart is not alone in his agony; all of Duke's seniors need to look back to their sophomore seasons to remember the team's last victory. Duke coach Carl Franks, however, singled out Hart as having left everything on the field after Saturday's game.
"Mike Hart probably had one of the most courageous games that I have ever personally witnessed," Franks said. "We played a lot of plays. We ran about 98 plays on offense, and we only took him out to catch his breath at times. He made some big, big plays for us.
"If that wasn't an All-ACC performance by Mike Hart today, I don't know what is."
Hart was instrumental in keeping the Blue Devils from utter humiliation following the team's 49-7 halftime deficit. He came out of the locker room fired up, determined to break through the Wolfpack defense in his final 30 minutes of home action. He caught seven passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns in the second half, but in the end, Hart still had to deal with the reality of the streak reaching 21 games.
"It's just a feeling deep inside," Hart said. "It's like a hole, just keeps eating stuff up. You want to win so badly, and you put your heart and soul out there on the field; then when you come out losing, it really hurts you."
As bad as Hart feels for himself, he feels even worse for some of his teammates. While he and the other seniors know their time at Duke is limited, Hart insists that he feels even worse for those who have yet to experience a Blue Devil victory.
"You want to do anything you can, especially for the young guys," he said. "I want to do anything I can to win for these guys because some of these guys, since they've been here, they have not won. I want to give them a win more than anything in the world."
As badly as they want to emerge victorious, week after week, the Blue Devils lose. But between those losses, Hart says, things don't let up. Just his weekly class schedule is enough to remind him of the glories of victory that his team can never seem to realize.
"I'm in class with Jason Williams, Carlos [Boozer] and Chris Duhon," Hart said. "They respect us and they know that we try hard, but they're the best team in the country and you want to bring your team to that level. You see them, how successful they are, and how much fun they're having, and you get a little envious. Why can't we do that all the time?"
Hart knows that his time at Duke is running out. He has two games left, at UNC and Clemson, to try and break the streak before he moves on. While many think Duke's chances for a win are slim at best, Hart insists that on any given day, the Blue Devils could emerge victorious.
"I think that we can compete with anybody--Carolina and Clemson--and I'm looking forward to going out and playing against those guys," he said. "Hopefully we'll get a win out of one of the two, or hopefully both."
But regardless of the outcomes, Hart says he'll be around next year to see his younger teammates achieve the success that Hart knows is just around the corner.
"I think our team's going to be good in the future, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they are going to do," he said. "I'm going to be their biggest fan."
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