DURHAM – Seven games into Mike Elko’s tenure as Duke’s football coach, we know one thing above all else.

His team is going to fight and respond.

Be it falling behind early; be it victimized by costly calls (or no-calls); be it giving up 21 straight points spanning the first and second halves, the Blue Devils aren’t going to lay down.

That was one of the silver linings to Saturday night’s 38-35 loss to visiting North Carolina at Wallace Wade Stadium – the Tar Heels’ fourth straight victory in this series.

“We have to stop questioning whether this team is going to respond,” Elko said. “This team is going to fight. They’re going to fight for four quarters. They continue to show it every single week.”

What’s the opposite of silver linings? Cynicism or reality?

Whatever the answer is, it spells three loses in the Blue Devils’ last four games, all by one-score margins. Instead of winning the Victory Bell back to their side, they watched and UNC ring it on their home field as the clock read 0:00.

This one, obviously, is the toughest pill to swallow thus far. Not only was the rivalry trophy on the line – Duke would’ve taken control of the Coastal Division with a win.

Elko started the week by stating that officials don’t determine outcomes and, given the chance to continue his on-field explosion in the post-game press conference, he took the exit ramp.

The illegal shift that negated Jordan Waters’ third-down run to the 5-yard line on Duke’s penultimate possession was the right call, he said. The chop block on the next play, negating Riley Leonard’s touchdown pass to Jalon Calhoun, was just a “bang-bang play” that unfortunately went against Duke.

“It was just one of those things that happened,” Elko said of the chop-block penalty.

He didn’t completely refrain; nobody in college or professional football knows what will or won’t be called roughing the passer, as DeWayne Carter found out the hard way.

“I tried to strip (QB Drake Maye), which is why I rolled,” Carter said, “which I thought was, honestly, the best thing to do. Because if I would’ve hit him and put all of my weight on him, that’s where the flag usually comes.

“But I mean, they saw it how they saw it and you’ve just gotta keep playing.”

The no-call that’ll bother Elko the most was on Duke’s penultimate play, with Calhoun pulled down in the middle of the field and Duke only needing about 15 yards to be in range for Charlie Ham to attempt a game-tying field goal.

Asked what he saw on the play, Elko’s answer was two words.

“Pass interference.”

One play, one call away still equals a loss.

Duke was one play worse than the team that entered Wallace Wade Stadium with a firm grasp on the Coastal Division and left with a stranglehold on it.

UNC is off next weekend and looks like it’ll have three losable* games left (home against Pittsburgh and N.C. State, at Wake Forest). Even if the Tar Heels go 1-2 in those games – and that’s assuming N.C. State turns things around after today’s news of Devin Leary being out for the season – and Duke wins out, the Tar Heels will own the head-to-head tiebreaker.

(* a loose definition for Coastal teams, sure, but Virginia is a trainwreck and Georgia Tech’s interim-coach momentum won’t last into November.)

The Coastal is UNC’s to lose; bowl eligibility is Duke’s to gain, with road games left against Miami, Boston College and Pittsburgh, and home games against Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.

It’s a steep drop from not winning the Coastal to what’s next. Elko has made it abundantly clear that Duke is not going to set a low bar for itself and that’s part of the reason he’ll be successful in Durham.

But a .500 record or better will be a bigger first step than most level-headed fans would’ve hoped for entering the season.

Duke is ahead of schedule in – well, Elko has refused to call it a rebuild, so we’ll just call it an inaugural season. In which Elko inherited a recruiting class he didn’t recruit, and a roster that lost several key contributors from a team that was 3-9 and winless in the ACC a year ago.

The year-to-year difference in Duke was noticeable across the field, too.

“It’s an amazing difference in a team that we played last year and his first year as a head coach,” UNC coach Mack Brown said.

It’s just another step or two – another play or two – that Duke will have to take – or make – to get back to Charlotte.