The Blue Devils have faced off against the high and low of college football from the commonwealth of Virginia.
Against underdog, Division I-AA Richmond, Duke (0-4, 0-2 in the ACC) lost 13-0 in the season opener and two weeks later, was shutout again versus No. 11 Virginia Tech.
The school that bears the state's name of Virginia, however, falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of Virginia football and poses a new challenge for Duke-overcoming an opponent that is on relatively equal-footing with the Blue Devils.
Virginia (1-3, 0-1), like Duke, has already dropped three games-the Cavaliers did post one win by escaping against Wyoming, 13-12, in overtime.
Also like Duke, Virginia has used more than one quarterback, shuffling around with three compared to the Blue Devils' two.
Even with these similarities and Duke's lack of success against schools from Virginia, Duke believes it has one thing going for it-confidence.
"You watch their communication in practice-how they talk to one another," head coach Ted Roof said. "Communication is confidence. All these guys have to do is focus on execution and being loose and aggressive, and that's all you can control."
Looking back to the Wake Forest game three weeks ago-before the loss in Blacksburg, Va.-the Blue Devils do have plenty to be confident about. They held the Demon Deacons to 57 yards rushing, and starting quarterback Thaddeus Lewis completed 21-of-32 passes for 305 yards.
Although the late comeback by Wake Forest and the two other losses have left the team winless, Duke has continued to work hard with an eye on the Virginia game.
"Regardless of what people might think, our kids have busted their hump, and they really, really want this thing," Roof said. "They've invested in this with their heart and soul, and it's important to them. They need to see a return on the investment."
After a bye week, in which Roof broke down the strong and weak points of his team and gave his players time to rest aches and pains, the players returned to practice feeling crisp and poised for the upcoming matchup.
"We gave them a couple days off at the beginning of the [bye] week," Roof said. "They were able to kind of recharge their battery a little bit and get a fresh start."
Virginia will not have the same advantage. The Cavaliers are still recovering from their anemic offensive performance against Georgia Tech, losing 24-7 and managing only 166 yards of total offense. Without a full week off, Virginia has not had the benefit of rest and reevaluation.
The Blue Devils still have concerns with how to generate a running game, with running back Ronnie Drummer only 50-50, and how to shore up a pass defense prone to giving up big plays.
"On third-and-long situations, we need to get some more pressure on the quarterback to help out the defensive backs," senior defensive end Eli Nichols said. "Our run defense has been a little better than our pass defense."
But Virginia's inexperienced passing game-the Cavaliers will start redshirt freshman quarterback Jameel Sewell-may mask the Blue Devils' apparent weakness in the pass defense.
Duke hopes to exploit Virginia and build up its newfound confidence en route to the Blue Devils' first win of the season.
"You play with them, you see their ups and downs and how they approach the game," Lewis said of his teammates. "You can tell how they are feeling. When guys are trying to be perfect, that means they are confident."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.