The terms “Duke University” and “basketball” are nearly synonymous with each other.

When everyone thinks of Duke, an initial thought would be that of the Blue Devils four-time national champion men’s basketball team. Duke is consistently at the top of national polls, earning No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament and racking up the Final Four berths.

On the contrary, Duke football has been the laughing stock of not only the ACC, but all of Div. I football through the last two decades. Since an 8-4 campaign and a trip to the Hall of Fame Bowl in 1995, the Blue Devils have failed to produce a winning season, have gone winless four times and have been held to three or fewer wins in 13 of the last 18 seasons.

Needless to say, when David Cutcliffe set foot on campus in December 2007 to take over as head coach of the Blue Devils, he had a lot of work to do. Luckily for the Blue Devil faithful, the former University of Mississippi head coach and University of Tennessee offensive coordinator was up for the challenge.

Cutcliffe replaced Ted Roof as head coach after Roof put up a dismal 6-45 record over four-plus years at the helm. Cutcliffe immediately made his presence known, instituting a new weight-lifting program along with enhancing the game day experience for fans at Wallace Wade Stadium.

Duke went 4-8 and 5-7 in Cutcliffe’s first and second years, respectively, winning four combined ACC games after the Blue Devils had gone since 2004 without winning a single game in the conference. All-time leading passer Thad Lewis graduated in 2009, and Duke then regressed to back-to-back 3-9 seasons.

But 2012, Cutcliffe’s fifth year at Duke, proved to be a program-changing season. For the first time since 2003, the Blue Devils defeated arch-rival University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, bringing the famed Victory Bell back to Durham. The victory gave Duke its sixth win of the season, making the team bowl-eligible for the first time since 1994.The Blue Devils lost a 48-34 heartbreaker to University of Cincinnati in the Belk Bowl, but the winning foundation had been laid.

With 16 total starters returning, 2013 has turned into one of the most successful football seasons at Duke in ages. The Blue Devils are currently 7-2, 3-2 in the ACC. The team is averaging 33.4 points per game, running a balanced offense that is outscoring opponents 93-34 in the fourth quarter.

Quarterbacks Anthony Boone and Brandon Connette have both contributed to an offense that has explosive abilities while the rushing attack is as balanced as could be. Jela Duncan and Josh Snead are averaging 43 and 38 yards per game, respectively, while Connette himself is averaging 35. Jamison Crowder has been the Blue Devils’ top receiver, amassing 903 total receiving yards this season.

Duke opened the year with a 45-0 blanking of North Carolina Central University before earning a 28-14 victory on the road at University of Memphis. However, the Blue Devils fell to 2-2 with ACC losses to Georgia Tech University and University of Pittsburgh at home.

Since the 58-55 loss to Pitt on Sept. 21, Duke has won five straight, including a massive upset of No. 16 Virginia Tech, 13-10, in front of more than 63,000 fans in Blacksburg, Va. It was a game in which the Hokies doubled Duke in time of possession and total offense.

With three games remaining in the regular season, the Blue Devils are still in the running for the ACC Coastal Division title. But, for Duke to even have a chance to win the crown, the Blue Devils must knock off No. 24 University of Miami Saturday, Nov. 16. The chips already fell in place for Duke to take the Coastal crowns as Georgia Tech fell to Clemson University Thursday, Nov. 14.

Duke showed it has the ability to not only compete with, but to defeat, the best of the ACC in the Virginia Tech game. But beating Miami Saturday will be difficult. The Blue Devils then wrap up the year with trips down the road to Wake Forest University and North Carolina.

Cutcliffe has accomplished a lot in his tenure in Durham. In 2010 with the Tennessee job available, he expressed his loyalty to Duke and the program by removing himself from consideration for it. Should the Blue Devils finally get over the hump and win their first bowl game since 1961, Cutcliffe will no doubt be a popular candidate for any BCS job that opens this offseason.

Whether Cutcliffe leaves or not doesn’t matter. Thanks to him, Duke football is back on the map for the first time since the Steve Spurrier days in the late 1980s.