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DURHAM -- Under a heavy leaden sky, the atmosphere at historic Wallace Wade Stadium felt like football Saturday. And when Duke took an early 9-0 lead over Wake Forest, it felt like an upset in the air.

But then Wake woke up. And so did Duke.

Football at old Trinity College is an ephemeral experience. The bucolic Blue Devils appear to actually care about the sport at times, but those times never last. And now that Wake has proven that small, private ACC schools in North Carolina can compete on a national level, the ruse is up at Duke. There are no excuses.

The 50th anniversary of Duke's 1957 Orange Bowl team was recognized at halftime of Duke's 41-36 loss to the first anniversary team from Wake's Orange Bowl season. Wake surrendered a safety and a long touchdown in the opening minutes and gave up a slew in the second half, but the Deacs scored 34 straight points in the interim, subduing the Devils and dropping them to 1-5.

Duke fought mightily but might have lost the last game it can win this year, assuming it doesn't go up and beat equally hapless Notre Dame next month. Even so, it appears the Devils are headed for another disastrous autumn and maybe even another coaching change. That has been Duke's history in dealing with autumns such as this.

It won't matter, though. Nobody much cares.

A decent crowd showed up to watch Duke collapse against a team some actually thought the Blue Devils had a chance to beat, which would have ended an ACC losing streak that has stretched to 20 games and a losing streak to the Deacs that now has grown to seven. They didn't win, but they didn't quit. They never quit.

"And we're never going to," safety Chris Davis said.

Duke is convinced hard work eventually will win these games, that perseverance will eventually turn Duke into a winner. But it won't.

Tommy Bowden, the coach at Clemson, joked a few years back that the secret to Division I success rested on three things: a commitment from the university, a strong athletics director and a willingness to commit secondary violations. Through the seasons, other hapless football schools have followed similar theories. Virginia, Kansas State, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and Wake have enjoyed football renaissances in recent years. Some were short-lived, but others, bolstered by Bowden's three tenets and lowered admissions standards, became competitive over a longer period.

Duke has no plans to lower admissions standards for football players. The school has no apparent plans to upgrade its commitment to football. The team is perpetually stuck in its current state of losing close games, stuck in its defiant attitude that hard work wins football games.

Ted Roof's shoulders sagged as he walked off the field Saturday. His team fought with Wake to the bitter end, not giving up until an onside kick attempt failed in the final minute. Roof said afterward he was convinced his team is getting better.

"You don't just go from where we were to winning close football games,'' he said. "There's a process there. We've just got to keep getting to that point. We've done it one time, but we haven't done it three or four other times. We've just got to keep getting back there against a very tough schedule as we move forward. There's a lot of football left in this season. We're a lot better football team than we were last year. We're a lot better football team than we were at the first of the season. At the same time, we don't have a lot of wins to show for it.''

That's a tired explanation, and Roof is tired of giving it. Football people know what's wrong with Duke, and it has to do with talent. Or a lack thereof. It has to do with a school's commitment to football, a university's willingness to look the other way as long as the victories keep coming and the players stay out of trouble. Duke doesn't play that way, and it doesn't want to hear its coaches complaining about it. Asked if it's fair for Duke to be compared with Wake, Roof sighed and looked away.

"I don't really want to get into that right now,'' he said. "They did a nice job. ...''

His voice trailed off. He can't say what he really thinks. Roof has been around big-time programs. He came up with Alabama and was the defensive coordinator of his alma mater, Georgia Tech, when the Jackets went to four straight bowls. He knows private, academically challenging schools can win in football. But he also knows he has to have players. He has to have an understanding with administrators and academicians and the office of admissions.

Or he can coach a hard-working football team year after year, lose almost every Saturday and graduate rocket scientists and brain surgeons every four years. He knows this could be the best job in America if the school would embrace Division I football.

Instead, it might be the worst. Duke lost another close one Saturday. Virginia Tech and Florida State await.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ehardin@news-record.com