When a team wins just three out of its last 22 games, the last thing it should do is underestimate an opponent.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils (0-1), this may have contributed to their 13-0 loss to Division I-AA Richmond. Head coach Ted Roof said multiple times in the preseason that the Spiders, quarterfinalists in last year's I-AA playoffs, should not be taken lightly. His message may not have reached all of his players.
"Some of the players may have eased up a little bit," sophomore linebacker Mike Tauiliili said after Saturday's loss. "We knew they were a good team, but a lot of guys expected to win."
Roof said Monday, however, that his team was prepared for the opener.
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"Our kids knew how good Richmond was going into the football game," Roof said. "We don't take anybody lightly here, and we respect every opponent we play."
After months of optimism and excitement building up to this season, Duke is already up against the ropes as the remainder of its schedule will continue to get more difficult.
The team already feels the fan backlash from losing its first-ever matchup in nine games against a I-AA opponent. With a contest against a relatively weak ACC foe coming up this weekend at Wake Forest, Duke knows the pressure is on.
"It would just turn around the whole outlook of our program and bring along our fans with us," redshirt freshman Vince Oghobaase said. "There's really nobody with us right now. The only people we have is ourselves. Everybody's damning us-'We can't do this and we can't do that.' All we have to do is stick together."
Some players believe the loss can be used to help the team going into its ACC opener at Wake Forest this Saturday.
"You can take something like [the loss] one of two ways," junior guard Zach Maurides said. "You can let it bring you down, or you can let it motivate you. We know we can perform better than that, we know we're better than that. We're using that as fuel for this [upcoming weekend against Wake Forest]."
Duke is trying to escape the shadow of last season's disappointing 1-10 season, and players had noted the past failures as sufficient motivation heading into the season opener. It was not enough, however and Maurides said he believes Saturday's loss was a wake-up call for the team.
When asked what he thought about his players citing the defeat as a wake-up call, the coach was short on words.
"I don't have an answer for that," Roof said. "We don't need wake-up calls."
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