Thaddeus Lewis has put up plenty of big numbers during 3½ seasons as Duke's starting quarterback, but he's still looking for his signature victory.

He'll need to come up with one - and quickly, too - if he wants to end his career in a bowl game.

The Blue Devils can see their path to postseason eligibility, but that doesn't make it any less daunting: They need two wins in their last three games to qualify for their first bowl since 1994. Two of those opponents are in the Top 25, so that means they must knock off a nationally ranked for the first time in 15 years.

"I think (the best game) is still out there," Lewis said. "We have three or four more games to go, so three or four more opportunities to prove myself or to make it your best game, one everybody else will remember."

He'll have a few chances in the coming weeks for Duke (5-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference), which faces quite the late-season challenge: No. 7 Georgia Tech this week, No. 12 Miami the next and, finally, against a Wake Forest team that's chasing its school-record fourth straight bowl trip.

On paper, that seems like a tall order for a program that hasn't won a game in November since 2004, and went 0-5 in that month in coach David Cutcliffe's first season on the Duke sideline.

"It's going to test the true character of our team, with our backs against the wall," tight end Brandon King said. "These last three games, I think we can really respond. I think we're more experienced than last year. We kind of faltered in November last year, but we have a great opportunity and I think our team really knows that and appreciates it."

Duke needs seven wins to qualify for a bowl because its North Carolina Central victory doesn't count toward postseason eligibility. The NCAA considers the Eagles a transitional Championship Subdivision team that doesn't yet offer enough scholarships.

And history suggests the Blue Devils - 11-point underdogs to the Coastal Division-leading Yellow Jackets - are even longer shots to reach that magic number.

They've lost 38 straight games against AP Top 25 teams, haven't beaten one since they were ranked 23rd when they upset No. 13 Virginia in 1994, and haven't done it as an unranked team since stunning No. 22 North Carolina State in '93.

But they certainly don't sound like those old Duke teams that might back down from the challenge. These days, they're insisting that they have embraced the chance to play in a high-stakes game.

"It gives you something, really, to shoot for," safety Catron Gainey said. "That's not been the case around here for a long time, since I've been here. So it's real great. It lights a fire in you, lets you keep going and go out there and try as hard as you can."

For Lewis, his career might be winding down, but the level of urgency is only increasing.

His streak of 300-yard passing performances was stopped at four last week at North Carolina, he's 451 yards shy of the school record for career passing yardage and he's on pace to break Ben Bennett's 26-year-old mark next week in his hometown of Miami.

But more importantly, he knows he's running out of chances to claim the victory that will define his four-year run as Duke's starter.

For now, his biggest win might be a 49-28 win at North Carolina State, the Blue Devils' first road ACC win in almost six years. Or the improbable, come-from-behind victory three weeks later at Virginia. Or perhaps the 2007 win at Northwestern that snapped Duke's 22-game losing streak.

"Knowing where we came from, we obviously have a great opportunity ahead of us Saturday to keep the Coastal Division open and not let it be closed out, move it on to the next chapter," Lewis said. "We know what this game means to us and we know what we have to do to go out there and be victorious."