During the ebb and flow of the college football season, a week off can provide a beneficial respite, allowing a team to refocus, recover and relax.
The Blue Devils used their bye week for just those purposes, with the hope that the week off will prove to be the turning point of their 0-3 season.
"We gave them a couple days off at the beginning of the [bye] week," head coach Ted Roof said. "They were able to kind of recharge their battery a little bit and get a fresh start."
After Duke suffered its second shutout loss of the season to Virginia Tech, 38-0, Sept. 16, the team left Blacksburg, Va. full of uncertainties on both sides of the ball.
Yet instead of beginning to prepare right away for Virginia, which Duke plays Saturday at noon, Roof spent the first few days of the bye week evaluating his team's play so far this season, trying to find where his players have excelled and where they need improvement.
"As coaches, we did a lot of self-assessment or self-scouting, looking at exactly what we're doing well and the areas we are performing well and the areas we weren't performing well," Roof said.
Roof said the passing game and run defense were among the more noticeable improvements. In their first three games, the Blue Devils have averaged more than 60 more passing yards per game than they did in 2005. Duke also has held its opponents to 100 fewer yards per game on the ground compared to last season.
The running game and pass defense, however, have not been as stellar, as Duke has averaged a mere 57 yards on the ground and has given up an average of 223 yards per game through the air.
While Roof and the rest of the coaching staff were assessing their team, the players had a couple of days off to recover from the physical grind of the first three weeks.
After the loss to the Hokies, the backfield was battered and bruised. Running back Ronnie Drummer was still recovering from an early-season injury and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis sustained a concussion in the game.
The week off, however, gave Drummer a few days off from practice to continue to heal-Roof said the probability of Drummer playing this weekend is 50 percent-and allowed Duke to evaluate the extent of Lewis' concussion. The medical staff determined it was only minor, and Lewis should be able to play Saturday.
But even the players without specific injuries benefited from the extra rest afforded by the bye week.
"We had a couple days off last week that we wouldn't normally have," senior defensive end Eli Nichols said. "Personally, I feel like some of the aches and pains and the other little things have gone away. It is a definite benefit for us."
Although Roof focused mostly on his team during the bye week, he did not dismiss the upcoming game against Virginia.
And with the day off from playing last Saturday, Roof also benefited from the unusual opportunity to watch other college football teams play on television.
"You remember when you are a young player, and you just watch a game," Roof said. "When you are a coach, you look at the scheme or just the deal of what happened there."
Roof watched and evaluated Virginia in its game against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets won 24-7, but the Cavaliers held the Georgia Tech offense to seven points in the second half.
"Statistically, there are a lot of similarities," Roof said of the matchup between Duke and Virginia. "They had a lot better second half, and they have always been a physical football team."
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