Jared Shanker, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Bowl eligibility no longer the goal at Duke

The celebration in the Duke locker room was rather subdued. It was a big ACC win against a Coastal contender for the Blue Devils, but no one in Durham, North Carolina, is satisfied.

Bowl eligibility, even if only 16 FBS team can boast the claim through Week 8, doesn’t provide an overwhelming sense of accomplishment, a stark contrast from just two years ago. For a Duke program in its seventh season under coach David Cutcliffe, bowl eligibility is no longer enough.

"I wasn’t even on my mind [Saturday]," Cutcliffe said. "... We have young people now that expect to compete for an opportunity to play for a championship. They prepare for it."

With its win against Virginia, which several believed to be the Coastal’s best team, the Blue Devils are 6-1 and tied atop the division. They have a bye this weekend before traveling to Pittsburgh, and a win against the Panthers would give Duke a head-to-head advantage over probably the two teams best positioned in terms of remaining schedule -- Pitt and Georgia Tech --- to win the division.

It wasn’t long ago -- 2012 to be exact -- that the Blue Devils were in the midst of an 18-year bowl drought. But then came double-digit wins in 2013, a trip to an ACC title game and bowl game in which Duke nearly ruined Johnny Football’s finale.

Last season was a giant leap for the Blue Devils but a surprising one. Duke was the feel-good story -- a perennial pitied program turned title game participant -- but nationally the perception was of a mediocre team that took advantage of a volatile division widely considered the worst within the Power 5. Even the Blue Devils were built more on hope than belief as it puts it team together that spring.

There still is a sense the Blue Devils aren’t respected nationally or regionally -- they are unranked and were not picked to win the division by ACC media -- but there is a different sense at Duke. Cutcliffe felt that this spring.

"I thought our spring practice was different. I go back to that point: This team prepared different in spring ball," he said. "I told our staff that’s a significant change from what we had to do and what we got out of spring practice [in 2013]."

Duke has been building toward annual ACC success under Cutcliffe. The Blue Devils have lost only one of their past 15 regular-season conference games, and their 22 overall wins since 2012 is fourth in the conference.

Now, with a schedule that sets up nicely in the second half -- only Pitt has a winning conference record among future opponents -- the Blue Devils are moving toward a second consecutive berth in the conference title game.

That is something worth getting excited over at Duke.

Said Cutcliffe: "It’s been a long time coming."

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