CHAPEL HILL -- 13 years, 676 weeks and 4,745 days after then-head coach Steve Spurrier's team posed in front of a scoreboard that read "Duke 41, North Carolina 0", the football team finally laid to rest the most lopsided streak in the Duke-UNC football rivalry with a 30-22 win over the Tar Heels.
You won't see similar documentation of the 2003 win, however, as the Tar Heel athletic department pulled the cord on the scoreboard seconds after the game ended.
While it sounds like a joke that the Victory Bell was handed out to the winner of a game that decided which team finished last in the ACC, this game truly was a victory for everyone associated with Duke football. For once the football team had granted its few but committed followers a gift that made it forget the last 13 years of pain and embarrassment. The post game celebration was immediate and triumphant, with every player seemingly tattooed with a permanent smile.
While he may have suppressed his outward joy somewhat because of his humble personality, no one was more proud of the Blue Devils than interim head coach Ted Roof.
"I'm so happy for our players," Roof said. "I think it's a true test of their character. I'm so happy for our seniors to get a chance to experience this."
No one should enjoy this victory more than the seniors. Arguably the most talented crop of players to share the same matriculation date since the Spurrier days, the players' skills did not translate to victories before Roof took over the reigns. Only those close to the team have even an inkling of an idea of their abilities, as the group went 0-22 as freshmen and sophomores and turned what could have been an optimistic junior season into one of ten losses, five by less than five points.
Their senior season was, if anything, more depressing than their dreary first three years, as their experience brought nothing but losses at a rapid pace. The bottom fell out Oct. 18 against Wake Forest, when the Blue Devils walked into the locker room at halftime with a 42-point deficit. But the top went fell off as well, as a day after the game Duke fired its head coach, Carl Franks, who had an 0-4 record against North Carolina, and named Roof interim head coach.
The tracks were thus laid for the emotional win against the Tar Heels, as Duke's improvement was immediately apparent. Duke was a play or two away from downing bowl-bound N.C. State and No. 7 Tennessee, then defeated Georgia Tech
41-17. A week later the Blue Devils fell to the superior Clemson Tigers 40-7, and many felt Roof's honeymoon was over.
But unlike any optimism that has surrounded the Blue Devil football team in its recent history, Roof's hype was real. This is a man who was supposed to be Notre Dame's defensive coordinator before it was discovered that George O'Leary lied on his resume.
Roof showed he has the talent for the big time by re-igniting the fire in his troops after the Clemson loss, blasting Duke off to a 23-0 lead in the first half against UNC. The Tar Heels gained only 39 yards and converted just one first down in the first half.
The second half saw the North Carolina team most expected to compete Saturday, as the respected Tar Heel offense made the score 23-15 with 14:55 remaining in the game. But this was not the same Duke team that lost so many close games a season ago--including the 23-21 heartbreaking, last-second setback to North Carolina. This was not the same team that lost thirty straight ACC games over the past five seasons. This was not the same team that had lost thirteen straight contests to the Tar Heels.
This was Ted Roof's squad, and it was determined not to play close with teams, but to defeat their opponents. Led by a thirty-yard bootleg pass from quarterback Chris Dapolito to tight end Andy Roland, a fifteen-yard pass interference penalty on the Tar Heels, another 22-yard Dapolito-Roland connection, and a one-yard Douglas touchdown run, the score was 30-15 just 2:23 later.
North Carolina would score again, but it became apparent that the day belonged to the Blue Devils when senior Matt Zielinski sacked quarterback Darian Durant on the Tar Heels' last possession of the game.
The Blue Devils will lose most of their playmakers and begin play in a very improved ACC, but for now the Duke fans, players and coaches deserve to celebrate. A loss to Duke after 13 years won't be the end of the world for UNC football, but the win might be the beginning of a far more desirable equilibrium for the Blue Devils.
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