I cannot decide whether I should be ecstatic or depressed about the football team's recent success. Sure, I cannot help but feel happy for all the seniors who finally won a conference game in the last home contest of their careers. I rushed the field in euphoric joy just like all of the other students, delaying the writing of my game commentary column to help bring down the goalposts.
But no matter what happens in Duke's next two winnable games against Clemson and North Carolina, the Blue Devils have no shot at going to a bowl game, and are essentially playing to take away the Victory Bell from the Tar Heels. Watching Ted Roof's team play is like listening to a recently unearthed 2Pac song: Yes, you appreciate that you get to hear the poet's brilliance one more time, but you also realize that moments such as these are in short supply. It's only going to happen one or two more times. Roof has given the Blue Devil faithful a glimpse of what this season could have been, but it is too little, too late.
I argued in this column last July that the 2003 Duke football team would make a bowl game, basing my prediction on the 22 starters that returned to a team that won two games and lost five contests by five points or less in 2002. I figured Duke had to lose some close games before it could win some close games, and then win some close games before it could blow teams out. Well, I was wrong.
Duke started the season looking worse than I had ever seen it in my college days, losing to Virginia 27-0. The Blue Devils won their next two games, but still underachieved. Then Franks' squad went on a characteristic four-game losing streak, with the bottom falling out against Wake Forest, limping to a 42-0 halftime deficit.
At the midpoint of that wretched game, I began to realize why I was the only Duke football optimist on the planet--this team was a bunch of losers, a team whose dreams turned into nightmares every season.
But I thought it just couldn't be this way. Duke had too many good players to be this bad.
Then Duke fired head coach Carl Franks, leaving the inspirational Roof in charge. Roof's first two games saw the Blue Devils reach the brink of success before stumbling to more losses.
The team finally reached its potential last Saturday against Georgia Tech, a squad many felt was the ACC's second-best club before running into the Blue Devil buzzsaw. Duke fans must realize that the Georgia Tech win did not involve a fluke performance by either team. Any objective analysis of the game would state that the better team won.
It became clear on Saturday that Franks' only strength was recruiting. Duke had at least seven players that have legitimate shots of playing in the NFL next season--Chris Douglas, Alex Wade, Ryan Fowler, Reggie Love, Matt Zielinski, Terrell Smith and Drew Strojny.
But these players are all seniors, making this the most talented Duke team all of us undergraduates will likely see. This is what is so sad. Duke finally had the athletic ability at enough positions to really compete this season. But it did not win until the season was already lost.
Duke fans will have a viable team to cheer for these next two weeks, but it will only be for two weeks. Enjoy it while you can, if you can.
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