By BRYAN STRICKLAND

bstrickland@heraldsun.com; 419-6671

DURHAM -- This time a week ago, the Duke Blue Devils were teaming with confidence.

Now they're being double-teamed by reasons to lack in confidence.

Duke entered the game at North Carolina a week ago on a three-game winning streak, but they exited Chapel Hill as a beaten team -- literally and figuratively -- after a 19-6 loss.

Today they must try to bounce back against a Georgia Tech team ranked No. 7 in the nation, a team poised to qualify for the ACC Championship Game and that throttled Duke 27-0 a year ago.

The Blue Devils may be facing an uphill battle, but they don't feel like they're starting over at the bottom of the hill.

"You have to have short-term memory," Duke quarterback Thad Lewis said. "The momentum is still there.

"It's a big game because we have a chance to still be in the race, to still play in the ACC Championship game. It's big."

Duke had hoped today's game at Wallace Wade Stadium (noon, ESPN2) would be for first place outright in the ACC's Coastal Division. Now, Duke (5-4, 3-2 ACC) must beat the Yellow Jackets to stay alive and then hope for some help.

If Georgia Tech (8-1, 6-1) wins, it clinches a spot in the ACC Championship Game.

"It's a huge game for the guys and our program," Yellow Jackets coach Paul Johnson said. "We're getting closer to the finish line as far as the conference race goes.

"We have it in our sight now."

For the Blue Devils to keep that from happening, they'll have to play much better than they did at UNC and a year ago at Georgia Tech. Duke did a decent job against Johnson's potent option attack in 2008, but wide receiver Demayius Thomas ran rampant with 230 receiving yards.

And that was without Georgia Tech starting quarterback Josh Nesbitt, who gave way to backup Jaybo Shaw because of an injury.

"They're good, rightfully the No. 7 team in the country if not better than that," Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. "They're a very difficult team to play because they do a great job offensively -- everybody knows about that -- and they keep the ball for long drives.

"But they're a team with balance. They play with a lot of energy on offense, defense and kicking game. If you look at their wins, all parts have been huge at times."

The performance of Duke's offense will be key a week after the unit mustered just 125 yards and a year after not scoring at Tech.

"The lack of understanding of the system kind of hindered us [a year ago], but we're far beyond that now," Lewis said. "We know what we're doing, so we can put ourselves in better situations and counterattack because we're better as a unit."

The offense also will be important because of the way the Yellow Jackets' offense operates. Georgia Tech leads the nation in time of possession, keeping the ball for 34:56 on average.

"When you're playing a team that possesses the ball as well as Georgia Tech does, the best way to prevent them from dominating the ball is to try to stay on the field yourself," Cutcliffe said. "Your offense isn't just playing their defense; your offense is playing their offense.

"You don't want to put your defense right back on the field after they've just been on a 12- or 14-play drive."

That's what happened against UNC, and that's what can't happen today if the Blue Devils want to keep all their dreams alive.

"This is huge," Lewis said. "Every game from this point out has huge stakes."