Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II reigned over the British Commonwealth for 70 years until her death last week.

That’s a long time.

But it’s a mere blink of the eye compared to how long it has taken for all 4 of the ACC’s North Carolina-based football programs to be 2-0 or better to start a season.

The schools we now know as North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest and Duke first fielded teams at the same time in 1892. It took until 2022 for it to finally happen.

Somewhere on a golf course or beach, John Swofford must be smiling. The retired commissioner understood that while the ACC was, is and probably always will be known as a basketball conference, it’s football that drives the financial bus these days.

Even on Tobacco Road.

While Swofford’s effort to improve the ACC’s football product and transition it into a more balanced league finally appears to be making progress, let’s not get carried away.

The fact that it’s taken 130 years for the Tar Heels, Wolfpack, Deacons and Blue Devils to all make it through just 2-plus weeks without taking a loss speaks more to their collective tradition of mediocracy than drastic improvement.

Especially since 3 of the 4 have needed a little luck to make it this far unbeaten.

UNC wouldn’t be 3-0 heading into this week’s open date without Appalachian State’s Chase Brice overthrowing a wide open receiver on a 2-point conversion try with 17 seconds remaining in Boone 2 weeks ago.

That same Saturday, State (2-0) needed East Carolina to miss a late extra point and a field goal attempt as time expired to escape Greenville unscathed.

Then last week, Duke held off Northwestern by forcing a fumble just before the Wildcats’ Evan Hull crossed the goal line for the go-ahead score in the final 1:18 to secure its first 2-0 start since 2018.

Only Wake Forest, with convincing wins against VMI and Vanderbilt, has made it look easy.

But as Wolfpack running back Demi Sumo-Karngbaye noted in the aftermath of the ECU game: “A win is a win in our book, so I’ll take it.”

The question now becomes how long can this last?

It won’t take long to find out. Because while there’s a high probability that they’ll make it through Week 3 at a combined 12-0, the degree of difficulty for each is about to increase exponentially.

Wake will face the stiffest challenge when it hosts preseason ACC favorite Clemson in Week 4, a team that has outscored the Deacons by a whopping 200-46 margin over their past 4 meetings. UNC will also be tested by a wounded, but still dangerous Notre Dame squad in Chapel Hill 2 weeks from now. Following a gimme against UConn, State travels to Death Valley to take on Clemson in a matchup that will have major Atlantic Division championship implications.

All 3 will be underdogs in those games, which means that there’s a very real possibility that Duke will be the last one standing without a loss. It could even flirt with being bowl eligible before taking on UNC in the battle for the Victory Bell on Oct. 15.

You’re lying if you say you saw that coming. But the schedule is certainly in its favor.

After taking on NC A&T on Saturday, an FCS opponent they beat 45-17 last season on the way to a 3-9 record that led to David Cutcliffe’s departure, new coach Mike Elko’s surprising Blue Devils travel their Big 12 alter ego Kansas before beginning ACC play against fellow Coastal Division bottom-feeders Virginia and Georgia Tech.

All of them are eminently winnable. Since this is Duke, even with all the encouraging signs it has shown thus far, they’re all equally as loseable.

That’s why Elko is already trying to pump the brakes on any delusions of grandeur.

“To me, it just gets us a bigger challenge,” he said of his team’s fast start. “The confidence is growing because of our preparation (and) belief is growing in our program of what we’re capable of becoming. I think that’s exciting.”

The fact that there really is a tangible excitement surrounding the Blue Devils, no matter how realistic it might be, is a victory in itself. And Duke isn’t the only place in which optimism is running high.

State, with its veteran defense and preseason ACC Player of the Year Devin Leary, legitimately believes that it can win its first conference championship since 1979.

Defending Atlantic Division champ Wake Forest is again lurking now that star quarterback Sam Hartman is back to lead its explosive offense.

And UNC, even with a defense that has been virtually defenseless at times, has been energized by an influx of young offensive talent led by QB Drake Maye.

There’s no telling how long that energy will last. But in the meantime, the four Tobacco Road teams can at least take pride in the fact that they’ve already accomplished something that hasn’t been done in forever.

Forever. Now that’s a long time.