Recently on the Duke Basketball Report fan forums an eager Duke football fan tried to break down the chances of this year's Duke team winning the remainder of their games and then having a chance to be in the BCS playoffs. The fan was dismissed by fellow Duke football advocates, who noted that there were plenty of one-loss teams from stronger conferences ahead of the Blue Devils so a playoff run this year isn't going to happen.

But that leads to the question - realistically what would it take for Duke football to make a run at the National Championship? Many have rightfully compared the recent rise of the Blue Devil gridiron team to the work that head coach Mike Krzyzewski did in his early years at the helm of the men's basketball team. Yet building a national championship football team is very different than creating a national champion on the hardwood.

Recruiting is obviously one of the keys to building a winning team. Many know that Duke basketball's rise started when the class of Mark Alarie, Jay Bilas, David Henderson and Johnny Dawkins took a chance on a team that had been 10-17 during the 1981-82 season and committed to the Blue Devils. That trio was central to Duke's run to the 1986 National Championship game against Louisville.

The 1986 team also had freshmen Quin Snyder and Danny Ferry, sophomore Billy King and junior Tommy Amaker. Success on the court often begot success on the recruiting trail. More recently, the Blue Devils success in recruiting (see the 2015 National Championship Team and this year's core of freshman) points out a major difference between football and basketball.

In basketball, you have a team of 12 players, and we have seen instances before (Kevin Durant at Texas is one that comes to mind) where one player can be enough to lead a team to at the NCAA Tournament and beyond. In football, you have 11 players on the field working together. Rarely is one player enough to propel a team to victories every single week. If a team has a top running back, defenses will stack the box forcing the team to pass. If a team has a top receiver, the player will be double teamed.

On the positive side, Duke football has recently been winning on the recruiting trails. Duke has been adding players that are ranked on national lists.

Recently Duke made news when it managed to get a verbal commitment from four star TE Tyler Petite, convincing him to come to Durham over playing for traditional powerhouses like USC. Unfortunately for Duke, Petite changed his mind in December, and now is playing for the Trojans.

When a three way quarterback controversy arose at Ohio State this past winter, there were some rumors that Braxton Miller would graduate in three years and spend his fourth year behind center in Durham.

Again, the talk was only rumors, as Miller is still with the Buckeyes, catching passes as a wide out instead of throwing passes. While neither Petite nor Miller ended up in Duke Blue, the Blue Devils recent success on the gridiron is certainly paying dividends on the recruiting trail. Currently Duke is ranked #20 by Rivals.com for its 2016 recruiting class.

The other key is the nature of the path to the national championship in basketball and football. Basketball, of course, has the NCAA Tournament, most recently expanded to 68 teams. As Butler, Wichita State and others have proven recently, a team can get on a winning streak and play its way into contention for a national title.

Football too has had its own "Cinderella stories" such as Boise State in 2007 and 2010, but even in those cases an undefeated season wasn't enough to give the Broncos a national title. Of course those days were before the current playoff system, and there continues to be discussion about expanding the football playoffs to more teams.

So, will we be seeing t-shirts sold on campus anytime soon that say both Duke Football and National Champions?Honestly, probably not. But there is some hope that shirts may say Duke Football and Atlantic Coast Conference Champions. Just two years ago, the Blue Devils were division champions which led to a date with Florida State, where they were trounced 45-7. After that game, many gave the Blue Devils little chance of competing with Texas A&M, something Duke disproved by falling just short in a thrilling game.

Just like the men's basketball team in Krzyzewski took incremental steps towards finally winning a national title in 1991, the Duke football team needs to fulfill some steps first before we can start discussing a national title.

The first step will be winning a bowl game this year. The Blue Devils have made three straight bowl appearances, and have lost all three games. The last two they lost by a combined total of nine points while two late turnovers made the 2012 Belk Bowl result appear less close than the game actually was. Duke must find a way to win its final game of the year.

The next step will be more challenging, as it will have to find a way to get an in-conference top 10 win against Florida State, Clemson (or Notre Dame, an independent playing many ACC teams). Such a win could come in the ACC Championship game, which would then propel Duke to a top tier Bowl game (but possibly not the football playoffs).

Such success should lead to more success in recruiting. Duke has managed to move from getting mainly three star recruits to a handful of four star recruits. At some point, Duke needs to find a way to capture one or two of the five star recruits. Building such momentum may eventually change the tide and could lead Duke fans to watching Duke football in the playoffs.