Blue Devils are gaining victories, and confidence

You couldn't find a Duke football player without a smile after the Blue Devils rallied for a 28-17 victory over Virginia on Saturday.

The visiting locker room at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Va., thundered with the cheerful howls of a team that has happy feelings about its current position as one of the ACC's hottest teams.

The smiles also represented an understanding of what this beleaguered program has achieved in rebuilding under second-year coach David Cutcliffe.

"Finally," redshirt sophomore nose guard Charlie Hatcher said. "For the last two years, we put in all this work, and we finally get some results. We're in it at the end of the season. Going into November, we're in the fight."

That's not a misprint. A week before the start of basketball season, Duke football is a topic of conversation, and the Devils have games of import left on their schedule.

By earning three consecutive conference victories for the first time since 1994, the Devils are two wins from possibly securing a bowl bid for the first time since that same 1994-95 season.

The Devils (5-3, 3-1) sit in second place in the ACC's Coastal Division behind Georgia Tech (8-1, 5-1). They have four games to play, with the next in Chapel Hill against rival North Carolina (5-3, 1-3).

The Tar Heels, who are looking to secure their own bowl eligibility, have not lost to the Devils since 2003.

Duke players are viewing the Tar Heels as another impediment to a winning season, something they can see just over the horizon.

"We're going to come out [Saturday] fired up. We have a big rivalry, and that will give us even more reason to come out and practice harder," Duke senior cornerback Leon Wright said. "We feel no one can get in our way. ... Just coming out and playing with energy and the confidence we have."

On Saturday, Wright wore eye black with the words "No Fear" written on them. The Devils are walking on the field thinking they are there to win and capable of overcoming all obstacles.

"We're just bringing confidence into that game," senior quarterback Thaddeus Lewis said of the UNC contest. "Knowing that once we get out there on Saturday we have an opportunity to win."

The Devils say they now carry a "whatever-it-takes" fighting attitude into games, believing they have a savvy passing offense that can score points, a physical defense learning how to shut opponents down and a coaching staff with the requisite knowledge to put them in a winning position.

Cutcliffe said the Blue Devils have many areas to improve and by far have not turned the program completely around. But he said sound practices and gutsy victories over Maryland and Virginia speak to how his players have bought into the system.

"You invest a little more into each other," the coach said. "And once you invest enough in each other, you're going to fight pretty hard not to give it up."