Duke-UNC game not so gloomy

North Carolina has lost two straight football games and Duke four. Yet when the old rivals meet for the 95th time today at Duke, the mood will be generally upbeat for programs that have been marked by misery for most of the past decade.

Such is the infusion of hope that David Cutcliffe has brought to Duke and Butch Davis to Carolina.

Although generally exciting, Carolina-Duke games in recent years have been melancholy ordeals that reflected ongoing coaching exits. Last season, it was Duke's Ted Roof. The year before, it was Carolina's John Bunting and before him, Carl Torbush. Duke's Carl Franks never reached the Carolina game in 2003. His immediate predecessors -- Fred Goldsmith and Barry Wilson -- routinely went into late season amid speculation about their futures.

The 2002 game, in Durham, was widely billed -- actually ridiculed -- as the "Battle at the Bottom." The Tar Heels won, 23-21, to wind up 1-7 in the ACC and 3-9 overall. Duke finished 0-8 and 2-10. Fans on both sides were equally depressed entering and leaving the stadium. There was no sense of pending improvement in either camp.

But even after Carolina's 41-10 loss to N.C. State and Duke's 14-3 loss at Virginia Tech last weekend, there is at least a backdrop of hope this year.

A well-meaning, good-natured coach isn't going to lose his job today. The young families of hard-working assistants will not get displaced with Christmas just days away. Carolina is going to a bowl somewhere, and Duke reached mid-season with hopes of landing one. Primary quarterbacks Thaddeus Lewis of Duke and T.J. Yates of UNC will be back next season and joined in both cases by several promising teammates.

Eron Riley, Duke's standout receiver, said way back in July that "there is a light at the end and we can already see it."

Optimism and hope for the future. It's been a long time since Duke and Carolina went into their final regular-season game with both at once. That, in itself, is a refreshing change. Maybe what was often called the "Doom and Gloom Bowl" will have a more positive theme for a while.