Four games into the season, Duke was riding high at 3-1, fans were as excited as they had been since the 1990s and ESPN's college football pregame show actually took time to discuss the Blue Devils' matchup with Georgia Tech last Saturday.
Then Duke was manhandled, 27-0.
But the swelling hype somehow hasn't completely evaporated, the fans haven't jumped ship and the players are still walking around with their heads held high.
And they should, because there are still seven games left in a season that has already exceeded expectations.
"If you'd have asked me, just honestly, when I came in in January, I would've had a hard time believing we could be 3-2 at this juncture," head coach David Cutcliffe said Sunday.
That makes two of us.
So what the Blue Devils were blown out last weekend? After all the beatings Duke has taken over the last few seasons, fans can give the team a break on this one, right?
"We just got whipped. If you go into the arena enough times, it happens," Cutcliffe said. "I don't know if I remember one quite as bad as that one."
Maybe not, but the Blue Devils saw their fair share before Cutcliffe showed up. And that's precisely why people shouldn't be giving up on Duke.
Although the Yellow Jackets' shutout win humbled the Blue Devils, knocking them from the top half of the ACC in several statistical categories to the bottom, the team still has impressive numbers in some of the most important, although less flashy, areas.
Cutcliffe's Blue Devils are third in time of possession, penalties and third-down conversion rate. Cutcliffe's squad has proven it has the ability to win games, so the biggest factor from here on out will be how it responds to this big loss.
"They'll regroup," Cutcliffe said. "I don't think they're frustrated at all."
But the remaining schedule is formidable, to say the least. Duke has to hit the road against ranked opponents Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest, and one more tilt with underachieving but talented Clemson.
There are, however, more winnable games left on this schedule, including Miami, N.C. State and, possibly, North Carolina-all at home.
As the Blue Devils head into the second-half stretch, the most important thing is not to judge them for the 27-0 loss to Georgia Tech-or their 31-3 victory over Virginia, for that matter.
Instead, people should evaluate the first five games as a whole. It says something when even the head coach is surprised how much his team has improved. You just have to take the bad with the good, and realize Duke still has plenty of time to get better.
"You can't measure it, like I said earlier, all in one game," Cutcliffe said. "Overall, we're on a great track. Probably much further down the road than you really thought you could be."
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