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WINSTON-SALEM -- So you take two college football teams from the same state, put them together and what do you have?

In the case of Wake Forest and Duke, you have two college football teams from the same state. If, historically speaking, you consider this an "in-state rivalry," you must also refer to Britney Spears as a musician.

But 2008 is different. For only the third time in the ACC era, the Blue Devils (4-3, 1-2 ACC) and Demon Deacons (4-3, 2-2) carry winning records into today's game at BB&T Field.

There are two reasons that such significant encounters have been rare. One is that the teams almost always have played toward the end of the season. The other is that they have almost always been bad. (At least one of them has lost eight or more games in each of the past 19 seasons.)

For now, anyway, the bloom is on. Perhaps inspired by the Deacons' recent example, which includes an ACC title followed by a nine-win season, Duke hired a proven winner in coach David Cutcliffe, who has already done something implausible. Today, the calendar hits November, and the Blue Devils entertain bowl aspirations.

"Every game has become important to us," said Duke defensive end Vince Oghobaase.

No, these teams have never played while sharing a reasonable postseason dream. Only in 1971 and 1955 have they squared off with winning records on the line at kickoff. You must go back to 1988 to find a season that both finished above .500, but back then a barely-winning record didn't necessarily earn you anything. (In that season, 100 Division I-A teams were fighting for 32 bowl spots. This year, 68 of the 119 programs in the Football Bowl Subdivision are headed to postseason play if they meet the rather minimalist qualifying standards.)

It's not that today's stakes are high; it's that they exist in the first place.

Among the tributes to the Jim Grobe era is this: Wake's season includes wins over Florida State and Clemson, and some people are probably unhappy with it. The offense is ranked 100th in yards per game among teams in the NCAA's top division, but that's not a dramatic drop from the previous two years, which produced 20 combined wins and offensive standing of 93rd and 96th. The Deacs' defense has been brilliant, limiting four of seven opponents to fewer than 17 points.

The difference? Wake isn't getting the non-offensive touchdowns it enjoyed in disproportionate numbers the previous two seasons. In 2007, for example, 10 of the Deacs' 44 touchdowns (22.7 percent) came from defense and special teams -- a rate nearly three times the national average. They have one such score in seven games this year, and that's more in line with college football norms.

"We're always harping on it, but they're just not coming as easily as they used to," defensive end Matt Robinson said.

There's a wild race brewing in the ACC's Atlantic Division, and the Deacs are hoping to rejoin it after falling twice on the road.

In less than a week, there's a chance that four teams will be tied for the lead.

"Man, you just want to win," Grobe said. "You start talking about all that other stuff and it's crazy."

Cutcliffe's Blue Devils have already engineered a turnaround with most of the same cast that went 1-11 a year ago.

l They have scored 31 or more points in four games, a feat they hadn't achieved since 1994. That was the program's most recent winning season.

l They have held three foes to fewer than 10 points for the first time since 1976.

l They have equaled their takeaway total (18) from all of last year, and their four victims are 22-6 when not facing Duke. All four may wind up in postseason play of some sort -- Virginia, Navy and Vanderbilt in bowls and James Madison in the FCS playoffs.

That's a nice body of work, and it means the Devils get to keep playing with something on the line. And given the track record of Grobe, whose work is unmatched at Wake in the past six decades, and Cutcliffe, who won at Mississippi, this Duke-Wake thing could be the start of something relevant if not big.

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