The football team is cannot be having a good week.
A last-second loss to Connecticut and a trip to Blacksburg, Va., to take on powerhouse Virginia Tech bookend what has to be a frustrating time in Ted Roof’s head coaching career.
The Blue Devils will likely take an 0-3 record into their first home game, a Sept. 25 matchup against Maryland. The rough start spoils what could have been an uplifting welcome to Wallace Wade Stadium, and the excitement Roof generated when Duke won two of his last three games as interim coach has dissipated. If Duke does in fact return home 0-3, Roof’s honeymoon period would be over before he even had a chance to show what his team can do in Wallace Wade.
This, however, is not the time to be glum about Duke’s football team or complain about how inevitable it is for the Blue Devils to have yet another losing season. The close loss to UConn reinforced the views of Duke pessimists, but the history of the Blue Devils’ opponents—Navy, Connecticut and Virginia Tech—all show that past failures can be overcome.
At some point in the last 15 years, Navy, Connecticut and Virginia Tech all were thought to be years, if not decades, away from bowl appearances. All are new contenders for their respective conference championships. When one looks at programs like Miami, Florida, Ohio State and Michigan, it seems like college football’s winners are part of an impenetrable, predestined oligarchy of dominance. The power structure of college football, however, is simply too fragile to think in these terms.
For example, Penn State and Notre Dame both failed to qualify for a bowl game a year ago. In addition, from 1993 to 1998 Oklahoma did not have a single winning season, but it turned around in a big way to play in the national championship game in two of the last four seasons.
Navy, Connecticut and Virginia Tech have all followed a similar model, landing on the greener side of the college football field: They’ve given intense, smart coaches the resources to foster conditions for winning. In 1988, Virginia Tech hired Frank Beamer after a successful tenure at Murray State. The Hokie alum went a combined 5-17 in his first two seasons in Blacksburg, but through persistence and smarts, Virginia Tech is one of the most successful programs in the country.
Connecticut’s Randy Edsall and Navy’s Paul Johnson are considered two of the hottest coaches in the country right now. These two, however, still have losing records at their current schools because of the difficulties they encountered in the first years building their programs. Duke fans should learn from the patience that Johnson, Edsall and Beamer received.
Duke University followed a similar formula to Connecticut and Navy when it hired Roof. The Georgia Tech alum truly knows the game of football, and more importantly, has the gusto and drive to motivate his players and turn Duke into a perennial winner. Roof proved he could succeed even with less-than-overwhelming talent when the Blue Devils knocked off Georgia Tech and North Carolina at the end of 2003. More importantly, Roof understands that winning is possible at Duke and will not use the team’s recent history as an excuse for losses.
The reasons why Duke hasn’t pick up a win are simple. The quality of the team’s opponents so far is above average Division I teams. Also, Roof has had difficulty in part because this is a much younger team than last year’s squad.
Unlike this group of players, the 2003 squad should have succeeded. Duke featured NFL prospects at several positions but could not put together a cohesive attack. Roof has shown he can maximize his players talents. 2004, however, is a growing year for the Blue Devils, and Roof should get the benefit of the doubt after he turned around the 2003 team.
Even with the likelihood of Duke losing its first three games, the excitement around Roof and the prospects for the program should not decrease yet. As long as the University continues to support Roof, the close losses with which the Blue Devils always seemed to be associated will become a thing of the past.
Even with the daunting schedule Duke must play in the ACC every year, it is important to remember how fragile the power structure is in college football. Duke can win, and if Roof stays in Durham, Duke will win. With 18 conference championships, the Blue Devils are a glaring example, albeit a negative one, of how much the NCAA can change over the years. There is nothing inevitable about Duke football, and if you give him a chance, Roof will prove it.
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