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Last week's home loss to Northwestern wasn't as much fun as the opening win over James Madison, but Duke coach David Cutcliffe said the 24-20 defeat to the Wildcats represented progress.

"We're not panicking about playing like we did before," said the first-year coach. "We're not going to play like that anymore. It was so far gone and so far removed from what it needed to be that we're just looking to get better."

Today's challenge in Durham is Navy (1-1) and its funky, triple-option offense (noon, ESPNU). That task that has made Sean Renfree, a freshman from Scottsdale, Ariz., one of the most important of the Blue Devils this week. Renfree has been the scout-team quarterback, and in the name of sure tackling, contact has been plentiful in practice.

"I think they wanted me to do it because they wanted to hit me," the coach joked. "I went into the training room after practice and (Renfree) was there with electric stimulus on one shoulder and ice on the other. He had been bounced around pretty good."

FAMILY TIES: With N.C. State set to play at Clemson today (noon, WXLV-45), Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien had access to a good source of info on the Tigers. His son, Daniel, is a graduate assistant at Alabama, which overwhelmed the Tigers 34-10 in Atlanta two weeks ago. It's not clear, however, if the elder O'Brien took advantage of the opportunity.

"I have talked to my son," he said, "but he's a GA, and sometimes they don't know what day of the week it is."

BEARING DOWN: Maryland, which squeaked by Delaware in the opener and last week became the first ACC team to lose to a Sun Belt program (Middle Tennessee State), doesn't really need to be playing California, which scored 38 on Michigan State in the opener and 66 against Washington State last week. At least the Terrapins don't have to travel for today's noon game (ESPN).

"I don't think it's easy either way, but it's harder coming east," said Terrapins coach Ralph Friedgen, who experienced such things while a San Diego Chargers assistant.

A Pac-10/ACC matchup is a rarity, especially during the regular season. From 1995 through 2007, Pac-10 teams played only three games on ACC campuses. (Stanford lost at North Carolina in 1997, Southern California fell at Florida State the following year and Arizona State won at UNC in 2003.) After this week, there will have been two such meetings in 2008. The Trojans flogged Virginia in Charlottesville 52-7 in the opener.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rob.daniels@news-record.com