On Tuesday, the reporters at Duke's weekly press conference were excited to speak with head coach Ted Roof following the team's first victory in nearly two years over Northwestern.
But when Roof took his seat at the front of the room, he quickly burst everybody's bubble.
"Alright, let's talk about Navy," he said.
Roof drove his point home when one journalist asked if he could address the win over the Wildcats before looking ahead to this weekend's tilt with the Midshipmen.
"That was a long time ago," Roof said. "It was a great win, but it was one football game. We have to put that in the proper perspective."
Among all the impressive catches that had been dropped many times before, the ball security that had been desperately needed and the quarterback protection that had so often been lacking, Duke's biggest improvement last Saturday was its resolve down the stretch. During the now-vanquished 22-game losing streak, the Blue Devils were forced to watch numerous teams celebrate after several close calls.
But after falling short so many times, Duke finally got to bask in its long-awaited postgame merriment because of the players' ability to believe in themselves-even when it seemed nobody else did.
"Regardless of what people have said externally, we try to keep our focus on [ourselves]," Roof said. "Specifically, what we see and what we do, not what we hear. We've lost several close games here, but it was nice to find a way to go win one at the end. Hopefully, we can use that as a springboard to move forward."
Over the course of Roof's career, the Blue Devils have perfected the mantra of approaching the season one game at a time. Even after losing so many contests, Duke still had an air of confidence that seemed undeserved. But without it, the Blue Devils would have crumbled entirely under the weight of the nation's longest losing streak. It may have taken longer than they hoped, but finally, at least for this week, their efforts translated into a victory.
"It is never, ever a situation where a player doesn't want to make a play," offensive coordinator Peter Vaas said. "The effort is always there. It's no different than you studying for a test. Every class you take, you want to get an 'A,' but you don't necessarily do that every time. It's the same thing with our guys. When we make plays and we make an abundance of them, good things happen."
It's been awhile since Duke and good things came together, but now that they have been reacquainted, the Blue Devils are willing to do anything to keep the good times rolling.
"This is a new year and we think we can play with anybody," quarterback Thaddeus Lewis said. "We know we didn't do so well against Connecticut, and we did better against Virginia. We felt like we could just keep getting better.. We came out and played hard, and when you play four tough quarters of football then the outcome will be what it was [Saturday night]."
Now that Lewis and many of his teammates have finally experienced their first win in a Duke uniform, they will undoubtedly concentrate on moving forward in search of the next one.
And soon enough, the Blue Devils hope reporters will not be so surprised when Duke comes out on top.
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