MIAMI
Growing up on the same football fields in South Florida, Thaddeus Lewis was the mentor, Jacory Harris the pupil. Years later, the relationship between the quarterbacks hasn't changed.
"Me and Thad, we talk every now and then on the phone," Harris said. "He'll give me a couple of pointers, things to do, things to look at."
Today the student will try to show the teacher what he has learned when Duke plays Miami (noon, ESPNU Ch. 143), and they share a field for what might be the last time.
Harris and No. 21 Miami (7-3, 4-3 ACC) still have a chance at the program's first 10-win season since 2003.
Duke (5-5, 3-3) is trying for its first bowl bid since 1994, and Lewis will be playing only eight miles from his high school -- Hialeah-Miami Lakes.
"It's going to be exciting, a chance to play in front of your home crowd in your last college season," Lewis said.
Harris had his best game as a collegian last year against Duke, when he came off the bench, threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score as Miami erased a 24-14 third-quarter deficit and went on to a 49-31. Harris said that Lewis' being on the other sideline was a motivating factor.
"I know it was a lot of fun," Harris said. "It's a lot of fun going against somebody that you grew up with and grew up admiring, when you were at the Optimist level, the Little League level ... now being able to play at the same level with him, it's like competition. You want to see if you can do better than him, see how he reacts in different situations and try to be just like him."
This game is much more than Harris vs. Lewis. There's no title at stake, but it's still critical for both teams.
Harris, a sophomore, has been intercepted 16 times this season, with four picks coming in last week's loss to North Carolina, and he plans to play today with a brace protecting his sore right hand. He still has the full support of his team, and many of them rushed to his defense when he took responsibility for the loss to UNC.
"I've always had a lot of respect for Jacory Harris," left tackle Jason Fox said. "I have more now. It's definitely not all on him."
Last season's game against Duke was the one in which Harris, in some eyes anyway, started to separate himself from Robert Marve as Miami's No. 1 quarterback. With the interceptions and injuries taking a toll, Miami's hope is that facing Duke gives Harris a boost again.
"He looks up to Thaddeus, starting when they were little," Coach Randy Shannon of Miami said. "It's going to be a deal where Thaddeus is coming back home, a guy that Jacory has looked up to, so it's going to be a game for him to prove that he really is the University of Miami quarterback -- but he won't put that sort of pressure on himself, either."
From the Duke perspective, Coach David Cutcliffe sounds less than satisfied with just having the Blue Devils' best record since 1995.
He had 28 names on his internal Sunday injury report, about twice as many as usual. Duke has lost its past 18 games played in November, with the last win coming Nov. 13, 2004 against Clemson. And even with a 3-2 road record this season, the Blue Devils have still lost 66 of their past 77 on the road.
"I don't like the people that just raise the obstacles," Cutcliffe said. "I can tell you 5,000 reasons (why) we won't win. If I tell you 5,000 reasons (why) we won't win, then I have to tell you 5,000 things we are going to do about it. I've talked about the challenges, what they are and what we are going to do about them."
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