The seven maxims were still there after the game, the ones David Cutcliffe had written on the whiteboard in the team meeting room before Saturday's game with James Madison-his first as Duke's head coach.
And after the Blue Devils' 31-7 victory on a rainy Saturday night in Wallace Wade Stadium, they served as easy grading material.
The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win. Check.
Protect our punter, our kicker, our quarterback, our lead and respect the ball. Check.
Play for and make the breaks, and when they come your way, score. Check, check, check.
"They're principles," Cutcliffe said. "We recite them together. We recite them together because we want to believe in them."
And finally, after Duke's first home win since 2005, the 32,571 fans in attendance might start believing in Duke a little more, too.
Following an 87-minute lightning delay, the two teams were deadlocked after trading first quarter touchdowns, but the Blue Devils began to pull away with only five seconds left in the first half. Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis rolled right and found wideout Eron Riley from five yards out to give the Blue Devils a 14-7 lead. The score deflated the spirits of James Madison (0-1), and Duke never looked back.
"We had the momentum," running back Clifford Harris said. "We knew we couldn't let it down and let James Madison come back on us. We knew we had to take care of business. We couldn't stop playing because the game wasn't over."
Unlike the Blue Devil squads of the last several years, Duke came out stronger in the second half. On the Dukes' second play following an impressive kickoff return by Scotty McGee, quarterback Rodney Landers threw a floating pass into the heart of the Blue Devils' secondary. Cornerback Jabari Marshall intercepted it on Duke's 11-yard line, then raced through tackling traffic on his way to a 67-yard return. Just six plays later, Harris received the handoff and dove in for a touchdown from one yard out.
The defense handled the offense again on James Madison's next snap, as Wesley Oglesby forced a fumble that gave Duke the ball back on the Dukes' 34-yard line. Again, six plays later, the Blue Devils made it 28-7 when Lewis delivered a gorgeous pass to Riley as he sprinted up a seam on the right side of the defense.
Suddenly, in 6:15 of gameplay, Duke had scored 21 unanswered points and effectively sprinted away with the victory. The Blue Devils continued to stay tough for the remainder of the contest, all but shutting down what is expected to be one of the best teams in Division I-AA.
The Blue Devils dominated in time of possession, total yardage and third- and fourth-down conversion rates. Duke rushed for over 200 yards for the first time in two years, and Lewis completed 61 percent of his passes for 141 yards. In fact, Lewis, despite having a few misthrows, played with great poise in leading the third different offense of his three-year career.
"Thad's focus and management of the formations, of the offense... Thad's just cool. I mean just absolutely cool," Cutcliffe said. "I haven't seen him rattled yet, whether he had a big test the next day in school or whether things got a little tough. I've never seen him rattled, and that's a great strength that Thad has."
Cutcliffe joked that the team did not seem to know how to react once the final whistle blew-only the senior class had ever won a home game before, and that was against Division I-AA VMI. The huge smiles on the faces of players made one thing evident, though: they could get used to this.
Of course, there are 11 more contests ahead. But given the fact that this was their first test of the season, the Blue Devils certainly earned high marks across the board, including the seventh and final maxim.
Carry the fight to JMU and keep it there for 60 minutes. Check.
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