The World Is Ending

Duke Football is 2-1! WOOT WOOT!
Actually, the team could easily be 3-0 were it not for an unfortunate holding penalty against Northwestern that wiped out a game-winning touchdown. This team is playing a lot like they did early last season. Duke was putting up points and hanging in games, but fading late. They couldn't close out a game and it cost Ted Roof, unfairly, his job. I think a lot of that had to do with youth. While Duke is still young, they are much older at key positions this year, especially at QB. Thad Lewis is in his third year as a starter and is a true junior.
Duke has to be confident now, very confident. Virginia will be tough two weeks from now, Duke has a bye-week next, but Duke almost beat them last year and they have to believe they can do it now. They are putting up a lot of points, something Virginia has been unable to do. I mean, Virginia only put up 16 against Richmond! If Duke gets confident, the sky's the limit (except when we play teams like Va Tech, Clemson, and Wake, those teams are just more physical than we are). It'll be interesting to see if we can hang with Miami, Vandy, and Ga Tech. Those teams, with the exception of Vandy, are not unquestionably better than Duke this year and are rebuilding. Duke could easily shock one or two of those teams; those teams are not so much better that you can say that Duke cannot compete.
I'm not saying Duke will get into a bowl game or will have seven wins or anything like that. I'm just saying that when a team gets some early wins, gets confident, and starts to believe in itself, there is no telling what can happen. Even better, the core of this team will be back next year and Cutcliffe should be able to do some excellent recruiting if we get close to 6 wins (he's already doing a great job in that respect).
I'm excited about what's going on, but I'm keeping calm, too.