As the season grinds on, Duke is still seeking to achieve several goals before the end of the year.
One of them is an elusive second victory.
Another, however, is just staying healthy.
With just five games remaining, injuries are starting to pile up for the Blue Devils, as several starters have gone down with various ailments, some more serioius than others.
"We all have bumps and bruises," wideout Eron Riley said. "We've had some guys nicked up with a lot of injuries."
Offensively, senior fullback Tielor Robinson and junior wideout Raphael Chestnut are both sidelined for the remainder of the season. Robinson went down with a broken foot against Northwestern in Duke's only victory while Chestnut was lost against Miami.
Freshman Austin Kelly, however, has done well with seven catches for 118 yards and a touchdown in replacement of Chestnut, who had 12 catches for 188 yards but no touchdowns.
Robinson's absence, meanwhile, has had a much more dramatic effect on the team. Although he only rushed for 52 yards on the season, the senior made a huge impact as a blocker, both at fullback in pass protection and on special teams. In the three games he suited up, opponents averaged three sacks-including zero in Robinson's last game against the Wildcats-and Duke averaged 25.3 kickoff return yards per kick, the longest of which was Jabari Marshall's 94-yard touchdown against Connecticut.
Since Robinson went down, however, the Blue Devils have given up nearly four sacks per game and have averaged just 21.8 yards per return.
As much as the injuries on the offensive side of the ball have hurt, though, those incurred on defense have been even more painful.
At this point, Ryan Radloff, Patrick Bailey, Charles Robinson and Glenn Williams-all starters-have suffered some sort of injury during the season.
Williams did not miss any playing time, although he admitted after the Miami game that his playing style has changed a bit due to a broken left hand.
Linebacker Charles Robinson has been out since the Virginia game due to knee surgery. Marcus Jones has filled in for him since, and with the bye week giving Robinson extra time to rest, it appears he may finally get back out on the field against Florida State, albeit with some caution.
"If you rep a guy who may or may not play it's kind of a dicey situation," head coach Ted Roof said. "I anticipate having Charles in some special teams capacity."
The defensive line has suffered the biggest rash of injuries. After starting the first week, Radloff has not played because of a nagging back injury. He is still trying to work his way back into practice.
Losing Bailey, however, may be the worst thing that could have happened to Duke's defense. One of the team leaders, Bailey paces the Blue Devils with four and a half sacks and tallied 37 tackles before crumpling to the field on special teams against Wake Forest with a knee injury.
"It's always tough to see that type of injury to any football player," defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase said. "It's been tough for Radloff too. He's a real tough guy and not being able to practice because of injuries is getting to him."
Kinney Rucker and Greg Akinbiyi have filled in for the most part in place of Bailey and Radloff. Rucker has performed well, having recorded two sacks on the year-good enough for third on the team-and 20 tackles. Akinbiyi, meanwhile, has managed 1.5 tackles for loss and 15 tackles total.
Nevertheless, the bye week came at a good time for the Blue Devils, as the players finally got the chance to relax and heal a bit.
"A lot can come mentally from just a couple of days of refreshing, rejuvenating and refocusing," Roof said. "We're going to take a relatively fresh team to Tallahassee Saturday night."
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