September 29, 2017: A crisp Friday night in Durham set the stage for Duke's matchup with Miami, a battle between two undefeated teams.
Blue light-up devil horns filled the student section at Wallace Wade Stadium, only to watch the Blue Devils get waxed.
The Hurricanes needed just more than 10 minutes to grab a 14-0 lead. A pair of quick drives, both lasting less than two minutes and 30 seconds, silenced the home crowd. Duke would go on to lose, 31-6, and it wouldn't win another game until November 18—nearly two months later.
It's been nearly five years since a ranked Blue Devil team secured a home victory, but No. 22 Duke will open its 2018 ACC slate as a favorite, hosting Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. Saturday when the Hokies visit Wallace Wade Stadium. The Blue Devils are off to a 4-0 start for the second time in as many seasons and the third time in five years, with hopes of making it five wins to open a season for the first time since 1994.
The memories of crucial loss after crucial loss in Durham, though, are searing.
"Our program has grown from different points where we had big games that you worried about getting too hyper, too into the moment as opposed to preparing for a ballgame," head coach David Cutcliffe said on the ACC's weekly teleconference when asked to describe his team's vibe. "Right now what I would say is focused. These kind of games should create focus, but that's what I've seen, and hopefully that carries over into Saturday night."
It has been nearly five years since a major home win for Duke (4-0, 0-0 in the ACC), which topped Georgia Tech late in 2017 after six straight defeats and when it beat rival North Carolina on a Thursday night in 2016, the Blue Devils were already 3-6.
Go back even further to 2015, when Duke fell controversially to the Hurricanes on Halloween night, and in 2014, the Blue Devils dropped consecutive home contests to Virginia Tech and the Tar Heels—a pair of wins would've pushed Duke's record to 11-1 and given it a spot in the ACC title game.
The last major home victory for the Blue Devils came Nov. 16, 2013 when they topped Miami, 48-30, to claim the Coastal Division crown.
And although there will be no Gatorade shower for Cutcliffe Saturday night with a win, it could provide an enormous boost. Quarterback Daniel Jones will start Saturday for the first time in three weeks and Duke will most likely be favored in its next three matchups.
The Blue Devils have not beaten the Hokies (2-1, 1-0 in the ACC) at home, however, since 1981, and with plenty of Virginia Tech fans expected to make the relatively short trip from Blacksburg, the challenge for Duke will only be steeper.
"We didn't play our best game last year [against Miami]," linebacker Joe Giles-Harris said. "This is a completely different team, there's a new energy we have around this team and there are a lot of goals we want to accomplish. 4-0 isn't going to get you anywhere."
Drawing parallels to last year's matchup between these teams will be tough. The Blue Devils' 24-3 blowout at Virginia Tech was a slopfest amidst a driving rain that saw the teams combine to carry the ball 31 more times than they attempted a pass.
Saturday should be a different story—temperatures could dip into the high 60s after kickoff, but there is no real threat of rain in the forecast.
That could bode well for Duke as it tries to attack a vulnerable Hokie defense through the air. Virginia Tech surrendered 495 yards and four touchdowns to Old Dominion backup quarterback Blake LaRussa last week, and it appeared the Hokies would have to face another second-stringer this week with Quentin Harris starts under center in place of Jones.
But Saturday morning, the Blue Devils announced that Jones has recovered enough from his fractured clavicle to return to the lineup against Virginia Tech.
The Charlotte native has completed 74.4 percent of his 39 passes on the season, throwing for 389 yards while adding four touchdowns and no interceptions. He left the game against Northwestern at the end of the third quarter after getting driven into the ground on a sack.
If Jones can shake off some rust and the Blue Devil offense can find a groove like in the season's first seven quarters, Duke could make what looked like a lion of a Hokie defense in 2017 appear more like the lamb it was last week.
"This is our biggest test to date and the best team we've played," Cutcliffe said. "This is where you find out what kind of program you've got. Our guys have practiced hard. We'd better, because we're going to be in for a big challenge."
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Twitter: @mpgladstone13
A junior from just outside Philadelphia, Mitchell is probably reminding you how the Eagles won the Super Bowl this year and that the Phillies are definitely on the rebound. Outside of The Chronicle, he majors in Economics, minors in Statistics and is working toward the PJMS certificate, in addition to playing trombone in the Duke University Marching Band. And if you're getting him a sandwich with beef and cheese outside the state of Pennsylvania, you best not call it a "Philly cheesesteak."