By Joedy McCreary

Associated Press

DURHAM — The coach is under fire, the football team is on a long losing streak and the students have long since shifted their attention to basketball.

That can mean only one thing — it's another November at Duke.

And while the Blue Devils' usual feelings of late-season frustration have given way to anger with those missed opportunities, coach Ted Roof is fighting to make sure the annually nagging questions about his job security don't affect his team's focus on its finale at rival North Carolina.

"I'm the head football coach at Duke. Nobody has told me any different," Roof said Tuesday. "I'm sure, after the season, (university president Richard Brodhead, athletic director Joe Alleva) and I will have a conversation about where we're going. At the same time, I can't concern myself with that or worry about that, because that would split my focus, and my focus is on getting my football team ready to play North Carolina.

"And with all that being said, I know a win against North Carolina would help everybody. Everybody."

Duke (1-10, 0-7 ACC) clinched its third straight season with double-figure defeats and Roof's career record dipped to 6-44 after last week's loss at struggling Notre Dame — by comparison, Boston College's first-year coach, Jeff Jagodzinski, had that many career wins just 11/2 months into his time with the Eagles. And the Blue Devils have lost eight straight games since a September win at Northwestern snapped a 22-game losing streak.

Yet despite those heavy losses, Roof insists he's not fighting just to keep his job. His goal is more altruistic than that.

"I'm coaching for something a whole lot more important than my job," Roof said. "I'm coaching for our football team and this university. That's what's really important."

Asked whether he expects to be back next year for a fifth full season as Duke's coach, Roof responded, "I certainly hope so. Sure."

The players have never wavered in their support of their under-fire coach, saying in recent weeks that they are seeing progress and results that aren't showing up on the scoreboard or even the stat sheet.

And as the merciful end of another dreary season approaches, the players say they're not just tired of all the losing, they're angry with themselves for not making enough plays to win games.

Most recently, Notre Dame turned two Duke fumbles into key touchdowns in its 28-7 victory. Before that, the Blue Devils couldn't hang on to an early lead in a 41-24 loss to Georgia Tech, Roof's alma mater.

"The way the last two weeks have gone, especially this past weekend, the frustration has kind of let (in) a little bit of anger, but I think that's a good thing," senior center Matt Rumsey said. "Especially going into this rivalry. It's the biggest game of the year, and for some of us, it's the only game we have left."

Despite the losing, Roof sees progress and is pointing to next season as a critical one in the program's future, telling team supporters that the Blue Devils could be bowl eligible in 2008.

"We've gone from being a bad football team to a competitive football team most of the time," Roof said. "You don't just go from bad to winning. You go from bad to being competitive to winning, and we've taken a step to be competitive, much more so, and we've got to take this next step to win, and a win this Saturday would certainly be a big building block and a springboard for us going into the offseason to get that done."