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DURHAM -- Duke University was a charter member of the ACC 55 years ago and has remained in good standing. Having acknowledged all of the literal necessities, new football coach David Cutcliffe has nonetheless declared something that might sound shocking out of context.

"We made the statement -- and we were serious -- that we've got to join the ACC first," he said. "Somebody asked me about that, about whether or not you bring those things up. Well, I try to talk truth to the players. The fact of the matter is our seniors are 0-24 in their careers playing in the ACC. We've got a few redshirts, and they're 1-31."

The new Blue Devils' informal application process for conference membership begins in earnest Saturday, when Duke (2-1) brings a winning overall record into its ACC opener for the first time since 1998. Virginia's the opponent, and Duke's the favorite. By a touchdown. Believe it.

"It feels good," senior safety Glenn Williams said. "We're not usually in that position, but I won't go to sleep on Virginia at all."

The Devils are seeking to end a 25-game losing streak in league play, and the opponents they've faced while going 2-1 outside the ACC have been credible. James Madison may be the best team in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA), Northwestern is 4-0 and Navy beat Rutgers after losing to the Devils.

Duke has won respect on campus, where students have been enthusiastic and eager to embrace change. Breaking through against league brethren is the next step in bridging the Devils' credibility gap.

"You get a few more smiles, a few more high-fives, a few more congratulations," senior offensive tackle Fred Roland said.

Every football team talks a good game about intensity and commitment and any other trendy abstraction it can imagine. Cutcliffe takes it a step further by defining each day of preparation individually.

"Bloody Tuesday" has the greatest amount of live contact. Its cousin is "Wild-Out Wednesday." The theme continues with "Thirsty Thursday," which is heavy on conditioning and a time when resolve is tested. Things take on a different tone on "Focus Friday."

"You polish everything," Williams said. "You actually play the game in your mind so that when you go out on Saturday, you don't have to think; you just let loose."

Saturday, Cutcliffe said, is about having fun. That has been an alien concept in football at Duke, which has suffered 15 of the 25 straight ACC defeats by 20 or more points.

But so far, the players have accepted the coaches' novelty. They started by shedding the equivalent of several humans worth of fat in preseason conditioning, and it seems to have worked. The Devils have outscored their first three foes 48-14 in the second half. They have produced another eye-catching statistic that seems to reflect the up-tempo, urgent attitude. They're running 80 plays a game -- the seventh-highest figure in the country -- after getting only 63 snaps a contest in 2007, and they're doing so in a season of new timing rules that has reduced the average from 72 plays to 68.

"The biggest thing we do to try and become a better second-half team is how we practice," Cutcliffe said. "Our approach in practice is to set up everything to get better as we go along."

They have continued with disciplined football -- averaging only 30 yards a game in penalties -- and solid choices by quarterback Thaddeus Lewis, who has thrown 206 passes without an interception.

Saturday's contest represents the end of an unusual but welcomed four-game, season-opening homestand that can give Wallace Wade Stadium more good vibes than it has felt in 14 years.

"I thought of success from the beginning," Roland said. "Whether we're at home or not, it didn't make much of a difference to me. Now I'm starting to like it because we're starting to have a better atmosphere here."

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