By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

DURHAM -- Duke has reached the halfway point of its football season on a high note, Saturday's 49-28 victory at N.C. State, but the Blue Devils will spend their open date evaluating some off-key notes as well.

"We have to improve," said Duke coach David Cutcliffe, whose team enters the break at 3-3, 1-1 in the ACC. "We're going to use it to get better. We're going to keep striving to be the best we can be.

"Thank goodness we're finishing the first half of the season, and now we have the open date. I'm glad we have one because what we have in front of us is a six-game season, one game at a time."

Here's a look at the Blue Devils' journey to date and their journey to come.

How they got here

The first half of Duke's season can be further divided into quarters -- a mostly disappointing first quarter, followed by a most encouraging second quarter.

Duke dropped its season opener to reigning Football Championship Subdivision champion Richmond, a tough pill to swallow. The Blue Devils bounced back by gutting out a come-from-behind victory at Army -- a comeback led by backup quarterback Sean Renfree -- then played well at times but not nearly well enough in a 44-16 loss at a top-15 Kansas team.

The second quarter started off with an expected victory over neighbor N.C. Central, but it spite of the level of competition, Cutcliffe came away pleased with the level of competitiveness he finally saw from his team.

It carried over to the next week in a 34-26 loss to a top-five Virginia Tech team and certainly to this past Saturday, when the Blue Devils won at Carter-Finley Stadium for the first time in a quarter-century.

Where they are now

Aside from the Hokies, it could be argued that Duke enters its open date playing the best football in the ACC (Georgia Tech, Virginia and Wake Forest stand as the other candidates).

The Blue Devils pushed Virginia Tech unlike Miami could the week before and unlike Boston College did the week after. Their offensive line has made a remarkable turnaround over the last three weeks to help unleash the high-flying passing game now led by a healthy Thad Lewis, and their defense may have turned the corner in the second half at N.C. State, holding the Wolfpack to 74 yards and no offensive points.

The Blue Devils, however, still haven't been able to run the ball effectively, and their defense still has its share of vulnerabilities, especially against the pass.

And at any time, an unfortunate injury or two could rock Duke and its still-shaky depth.

Where they're headed

Cutcliffe said the Devils were a bowl team, and they've certainly looked the part over the last three weeks. Still, because of the loss to Richmond, their backs are against the wall.

Some are saying the unexpected victory in Raleigh replaces the unexpected loss to Richmond, but because the NCCU victory doesn't count toward bowl eligibility, Duke really needed to beat Richmond and beat someone like N.C. State.

Duke must go 7-5 to qualify for a bowl, meaning the Devils must go at least 4-2 over the second half of the season. If they keep playing like this, who's to say they couldn't beat Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina after the open date?

Even if they were pull off that triple play and forge the program's first four-game winning streak in 15 years, they'd have to win one more: against top-25 foes Georgia Tech or Miami or against nemesis Wake Forest.

The Blue Devils' path to a bowl bid may be daunting, but the program's path to respectability may be fast approaching the finish line.