Dean Juipe: Winless trio was on top as late as ‘94

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

TWO YEARS ago, Duke was being lauded for its football resurrection under new coach Fred Goldsmith, Western Michigan won seven times and UNLV played in the Las Vegas Bowl. Each program could argue it was in the midst of an upwardly mobile cycle.

Today, those three teams are the only Division I schools without a football victory this year.

In the case of Duke and Western Michigan, the failure to win has come as a surprise. In UNLV's case, with a young team playing a brutal schedule in a new league, being 0-9 as the Rebels are heading into Saturday's game at Texas Christian is hardly unexpected. The Rebels' next certain victory isn't until a 1997 date with Illinois State.

But Duke at 0-7 and Western at 0-8? They're undoubtedly uneasy keeping UNLV company at the bottom of a Division I membership list that has 111 entries.

Duke has never been a great football power but the Blue Devils looked to be turning the corner in 1994 after Goldsmith was hired. Their 8-4 success that season was chronicled at the national level with back-patting stories that all but glowed with praise for everyone from the coach to the water boy.

A year later, the luster was off as Duke went 3-8.

This season, the Devils went five weeks before playing a competitive game. And they might be inching toward a victory, having lost to Clemson by only a touchdown and to Maryland by a field goal in their last two games. With North Carolina State and Wake Forest still ahead, they've got a chance to put one in the win column before it's over, although they're a 24-point underdog this week against Virginia.

Western Michigan's inability to post a victory seems inexplicable from a distance. Going backward from 1995, look at the Broncos' record this decade: 7-4, 7-4, 7-3-1, 7-3-1, 6-5 and 7-4.

Yet now they're having an oh-for season, although four of their losses -- including a 10-7 overtime setback against Toledo last weekend -- have been by a total of 28 points. They're only a three-point underdog this week against Ohio and they still have perennial doormat Kent ahead, so a fruitless season could be avoided.

(Western, of course, might be feeling some karmic repercussion on the football field for its hiring of Jim Weaver as athletic director. One thing about it, the former UNLV A.D. has had some experience dealing with troubled football programs.)

This much can be said for the thirsty three: They haven't had the advantage of playing an inferior Division II team, nor have they had the opportunity to win against a patsy like Southern Utah. A week ago, New Mexico State was among the winless but leapt from those ranks last Saturday with a 31-point win over a Southern Utah team that has prime-time ambitions but bargain-basement personnel.

Duke, Western Michigan and UNLV may not have a Southern Utah to pick on, yet each still has a shot to win a game this season and eliminate the possibility of earning a collective label that ... nyuk, nyuk ... they would all rather avoid: The Three Stooges.