David Cutcliffe is 67 years old and considers himself a young football coach with “a lot of fire in me,” Duke’s football coach said earlier this week.

“I love doing what I'm doing. Has this been fun? No,” Cutcliffe said with his Blue Devils riding a seven-game losing slide entering Saturday’s finale. “Has it been rewarding? Yes, because you find out more about yourself during these times. Here is the test. I've had to fight adversity all my life, and you don't run from it.”

That’s been the message since seemingly the beginning of the season, when Duke lost the opener at Charlotte to become the 49ers’ first Power 5 victory. The three-week reprieve came when the Blue Devils swept the rest of their non-conference games, but the adversity has come in wave upon wave as ACC losses have mounted.

And that three-game non-conference winning streak? Northwestern, by the way, is 3-8; Kansas is 2-9 and even North Carolina A&T, in its first season in a new conference, went 5-6.

Cutcliffe seems determined to see the Blue Devils through to the other side of this downward spiral. If Duke doesn’t beat Miami on Saturday, it’ll be the first time since 2007 – the season before Cutcliffe’s arrival in Durham – that the Blue Devils go winless in the ACC.

“I'm a firm believer in Galatians 6:9, ‘don't grow weary of doing good for at a proper time you will reap a great harvest.’ I'm not going to back down from that mentality,” Cutcliffe said.

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Here’s a primer on what you need to know for Saturday’s game:

Time: 12:30 p.m.

TV: Regional Sports Network (so, Bally Sports if you’re in N.C.)

Announcers: Tom Werme (play-by-play), James Bates (analyst), Wiley Ballard (sideline).

Series; last meeting: Miami leads 14-4; Miami won 48-0 in 2020.

Records: Miami 6-5, 4-3 ACC; Duke 3-8, 0-7.

Stat to watch: 620.2.

That’s how many yards per game Duke has allowed in the last five games, with Wake Forest (677), Pittsburgh (636) and Louisville (687) all clearing the 600-yard plateau against the Blue Devils.

Duke’s season average of 516.9 yards allowed per game is the worst mark in the ACC by 50 yards. Opposing teams on the whole have had more success through the air than rushing against Duke, although the Blue Devils gave up 384 rushing yards to Louisville, 297 to Virginia Tech a game before, and 220 on the ground to a Pitt offense that has an anemic rushing attack.

Quote of the week: “I've got my toolkit out, just to answer that question. We kind of got a screwdriver, a hammer and quite a few things. You got to look at it. I mean, you got to look at some things and I've had a lot of long meetings with those guys.” – Cutcliffe on changes to the defensive scheme.

Opposing player to watch: Tyler Van Dyke, quarterback.

He’s not the quarterback who was leading Miami at the start of the season, but he’s the reason Miami will go into next season with lofty expectations (again).

Van Dyke took over for D’Eriq King after King’s shoulder injury against Michigan State in the third game of the season and the freshman has been sensational. His 283.3 passing yards per game ranks fifth in the ACC, and he’s got a streak of five straight games with at least 300 yards and three touchdowns – making him the first ACC quarterback in at least 15 years with such a streak.

Young Blue Devil to watch: Jaylen Stinson, safety.

One of Duke’s bright spots as the season has gotten later, Stinson had the second-best grade on Duke’s defense against Louisville, per Pro Football Focus.

The sophomore has 36 tackles and three pass break-ups to go along with his kick return touchdown earlier this month.

Prediction: There isn’t going to be a “good” matchup when you’re the only winless team in the conference (and every other team has at least two league wins), but this one seems like a particularly tough matchup for Duke.

Miami has been hot after a suboptimal start and is gathering steam with a savvy quarterback at the helm. The Hurricanes bounced back from a devastating loss to rival Florida State with a win against Virginia Tech last weekend to become bowl eligible, and now can guarantee a winning record by knocking off Duke.

For the Blue Devils … the mystery isn’t in the result, but what comes next. Whether new athletics director Nina King decides to give Cutcliffe next season to try to turn around the program from this spiral, or if it’s time for a fresh start – we should have an answer soon enough.