When the Owls and the Falcons had a birds-of-prey battle this weekend, the Blue Devils were anointed with a dubious honor.
Temple's 28-14 upset over Bowling Green was the Owls' first victory in 20 games, leaving Duke's 16-game winless streak as the longest active in the country.
"Good for Temple," offensive tackle Cameron Goldberg said. "Our day is coming soon. As you can see we are really close, and we are working as hard as we can. It's going to come-it's not going to be like this forever."
After last Saturday's failed comeback against Vanderbilt, the Blue Devils hope to win for the first time in over a year when they face Navy this week.
The members of the freshman class, who were used to winning more games in high school, are still without their first collegiate victory. And the team's upperclassmen realize the impact that finishing strong could have on the team in the future.
"It would be a great stepping stone-for recruiting and the attitude of the guys coming back next year," senior defensive tackle Eli Nichols said. "It's not what I want, but it would be a little bright spot on my career on my way out to know that we finished with a few wins and to know that we left the guys coming back next year with a good foundation."
In recent weeks, the Blue Devils have come out flat in the first half, which has contributed to their inability to secure their first victory.
Duke's last two losses to Miami and Vanderbilt have featured lopsided halves, with the Blue Devils falling behind early and then rallying late.
The Hurricanes and Commodores scored a combined 45 points in the first half, while Duke mustered just seven. The Blue Devils outscored these two opponents in the second half, however, 36-20.
Head coach Ted Roof said correcting this growing problem of slow starts has been a major issue addressed in practice, but the team is still sticking with its original game plan.
"We try to tweak things every week," he said. "But to totally change from week to week, we are all creatures of habit.... Players have to go react and do what they have been trained to do. And knowledge and repetition leads to confidence."
Although the hopes of a winning season this year have been extinguished, Nichols said the team remains confident in its ability to grow throughout the remainder of the season and into the next.
"A lot of [the team's errors] come with the youth on our team," he said. "You can already see the improvement on the really young offense from the beginning of the season [with] the mistakes they were making. I think it's moving in the right direction and, with time, as the younger guys get some experience, some of those things will diminish."
This year's senior class will not be able to graduate with a winning season, but Nichols said he expects to see growing success in the Duke football program when he visits the campus as an alumnus.
"I really think it's going to happen," he said. "I really think it can happen."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.