Upcoming Event: Football at North Carolina on November 22, 2025 at 3:30 p.m.
Football
at North Carolina
David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: North Carolina
10/22/2019 7:02:00 PM | Football
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe met with members of the local media on Tuesday afternoon for his weekly press conference inside Blue Devil Tower.
The Blue Devils travel to archrival North Carolina on Saturday for an ACC Coastal Division contest. The game will be broadcast on RSN with Tom Werme, James Bates, and Kelsey Wingert on the call. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devils IMG Sports Network through the TuneIn app or goduke.com
David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Well, good afternoon. As you might imagine we've had a lot of work to do starting Sunday. The interesting thing for us, I mean, the obvious is the obvious. But we have 16 turnovers as an offense for the season with 11 of them coming from our two conference losses. When you turn the ball over, you really have no chance to win in a conference to where every team you play is gifted. Every team you play is well coached. I can go back to my early time in the Southeastern Conference when it wasn't as big, but I don't know if people understand this when you have a conference game. You have to be better than you normally are. And if you don't grasp that and you don't understand that as a team and a staff, and it will bite you.
"You have to give Virginia some credit, but also just the little things. If they're a little bit off, if the care of the ball is not the most important thing on every play offensively, you're going to struggle. The other thing we have is we've got to be better on possession downs. You have to convert, and you have to stop people. We've played well on first and second down defensively only to give up first downs. And when you give up first downs particularly consecutively on third downs it usually leads to scores. There's no magic trick. You have to play at a level to be consistent in all of those areas and certainly can't turn it over on our side of the field like we did.
"As we move toward North Carolina, North Carolina is an example of another really good Coastal Division team. They've got lots of good players. They're got lots of athletes and they're well-coached. It's always the biggest one when it's the next one, but certainly this is Duke-North Carolina. So, it's always going to have a lot at stake, and this one certainly does with both of us still battling to try to maintain the ability to stay in the Coastal Division race."
(Ref.: On trying to move on from last week's game with this week being a rivalry contest)
"I think it's never easy. When you have a big game, you better turn it around. What I told them Saturday night up there, it wasn't time to say a lot of things. I said, 'this has been a horrific setback today.' And it was, it hurt. It was a horrific setback on that day. 'This cannot be a setback tomorrow.' I thought they did a good job of moving forward and certainly knowing that you're getting ready to play a rival and another conference game, you don't have the luxury to let it linger."
(Ref.: On moving on but using last week's game as a teaching point)
"Well, we had a lot of them. It took me a long time Sunday to make my notes for the staff as you might imagine. We use Sunday night a lot of different ways. We correct things in the kicking game. We do a little circuit work. And then on offense and defense, we do corrections that are extremely important. We had a lot of things that we needed to be worked on and corrected on Sunday. And I think they embraced it. It wasn't anything unusual. I mentioned two areas, and there's obviously little things. I mean, the quality of a route. The quality of an exchange. The most minute things can be big things. And so yes you always should extra emphasize the fundamentals. That falls on me. Why in two games it's reared its ugly head, I probably won't ever know. But I do know the way to correct it is to absolutely coach the little things better. You better assume that you have to do that or you're going to have some issues."
(Ref.: On poor execution in the kicking game)
"Just really poor. First one was poor kick placement, bad. And the second one was poor coverage. It was disappointing. It's something we don't do. But we did. And I mean, they all sat there Sunday. They looked at it, they know. There's no hiding behind anything or any circumstance when it's poor coverage, that's exactly what it is. We didn't get the job done."
(Ref.: On adding veteran coach Jim Collins to your staff as an analyst)
"Well, I think you know Jim after the other league. I don't know if I want to use the word failed or folded but when the other league ended you know, Jim and I had talked about a part-time opportunity that could work out for him. He's not through. He's a football coach. It's in his blood. And so this is an opportunity for me to have somebody that I can bounce things off of. Another person that has a lot of experience. It worked out perfectly. I told him 'you look like you need to do a little work.' So it was great to get him back."
(Ref.: On the blocking game)
"Well, it wasn't just the interior. You know I think people assume that when you say blocking. I thought we passed protected extremely well against a very difficult team to protect. I thought at times we run blocked interior really well. We didn't block them the second and the third time, sometimes. And that's what it takes against a team like Virginia where their front is going to compete. And I hope you understand what I mean by you can fit a guy. And if that's it, you're not winning the battle. He turns here, you've got a block, and he turned back here, you have to block. And we can do that better inside. Where I was most disappointed was just in our perimeter game. We got absolutely nothing out of it and we blocked very poorly in that regard. We have to be consistent from sideline to sideline. We've worked hard on that this week. We had some live work today. I mean live ones versus ones, tackling on a lot of different aspects of perimeter football."
(Ref.: On his team getting off to slow starts)
"From the get-go in practice we're going wide open. It's not tunnel emotion or locker room emotion. It's not a state of readiness. I don't think those things can really have a pinpointed reason. I think what you have to focus on is 60 minutes of really good football. I think that goes back to the other question of 'where your focus is.' What's your edge. You know what kind of edge do you have. Can you maintain an edge wire to wire. All of those things -- and that's been around forever. But all of those things are a big part. And I know Coach (Bear) Bryant used to talk about it and I agree with this. It's not that you don't start fast, but as your practice goes if you're going to be a really good fourth quarter team then your practices should peak at the end, with energy. And I think that's difficult for most teams to accomplish."
(Ref.: On if his team will step up and have playmakers)
"Oh we have to. Every year I've ever coached -- big games, big wins. There's a sack fumble caused by somebody on your team. There's a catch made. There's a run made. There's a block made. There's a tackle made that knocks a ball loose. I think that will never change in football. The best teams seem to have those people appear and we've got a lot of good football players, but there's no question there's opportunities right now for people at the biggest of times to step up. And you know, that's the role that whether it's in basketball, the guy wants to take the game winner and you don't always hit them. But you have stick your neck out to make those plays and you always look for people like that."
(Ref.: On limitations with the team due to NCAA restrictions)
"I mean, I don't want to make an excuse. It's different than it used to be and the amount of focused time that we can teach. You know we get them in here early in the morning. We have meetings. You have a 15-minute margin to get to the field. You have to get on the field and get your work done. And then they have to get off and go to class. But that's been that way 12 years. We've played some really good football. So again, that's not an excuse, but yes everywhere your margin for error is less than what it was because you just can't assume that you're going to get it done later. Later doesn't exist in a week's time. Every second just about is accounted for to be honest with you, with the staff and players."
(Ref.: On using multiple running backs in the game against Virginia)
"Well, we were running with different offenses and when you get that far behind we were playing different people. So not anything that we specifically planned. I mean when we're running the football, right now the majority of it is going to be two people, and that's going to be Deon (Jackson) and Mataeo (Durant), because they're the best two we have. We got some good young players. And we have an opportunity to utilize those guys ahead or behind. But you know for the most part those two others are going to be the guys."
The Blue Devils travel to archrival North Carolina on Saturday for an ACC Coastal Division contest. The game will be broadcast on RSN with Tom Werme, James Bates, and Kelsey Wingert on the call. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devils IMG Sports Network through the TuneIn app or goduke.com
David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Well, good afternoon. As you might imagine we've had a lot of work to do starting Sunday. The interesting thing for us, I mean, the obvious is the obvious. But we have 16 turnovers as an offense for the season with 11 of them coming from our two conference losses. When you turn the ball over, you really have no chance to win in a conference to where every team you play is gifted. Every team you play is well coached. I can go back to my early time in the Southeastern Conference when it wasn't as big, but I don't know if people understand this when you have a conference game. You have to be better than you normally are. And if you don't grasp that and you don't understand that as a team and a staff, and it will bite you.
"You have to give Virginia some credit, but also just the little things. If they're a little bit off, if the care of the ball is not the most important thing on every play offensively, you're going to struggle. The other thing we have is we've got to be better on possession downs. You have to convert, and you have to stop people. We've played well on first and second down defensively only to give up first downs. And when you give up first downs particularly consecutively on third downs it usually leads to scores. There's no magic trick. You have to play at a level to be consistent in all of those areas and certainly can't turn it over on our side of the field like we did.
"As we move toward North Carolina, North Carolina is an example of another really good Coastal Division team. They've got lots of good players. They're got lots of athletes and they're well-coached. It's always the biggest one when it's the next one, but certainly this is Duke-North Carolina. So, it's always going to have a lot at stake, and this one certainly does with both of us still battling to try to maintain the ability to stay in the Coastal Division race."
(Ref.: On trying to move on from last week's game with this week being a rivalry contest)
"I think it's never easy. When you have a big game, you better turn it around. What I told them Saturday night up there, it wasn't time to say a lot of things. I said, 'this has been a horrific setback today.' And it was, it hurt. It was a horrific setback on that day. 'This cannot be a setback tomorrow.' I thought they did a good job of moving forward and certainly knowing that you're getting ready to play a rival and another conference game, you don't have the luxury to let it linger."
(Ref.: On moving on but using last week's game as a teaching point)
"Well, we had a lot of them. It took me a long time Sunday to make my notes for the staff as you might imagine. We use Sunday night a lot of different ways. We correct things in the kicking game. We do a little circuit work. And then on offense and defense, we do corrections that are extremely important. We had a lot of things that we needed to be worked on and corrected on Sunday. And I think they embraced it. It wasn't anything unusual. I mentioned two areas, and there's obviously little things. I mean, the quality of a route. The quality of an exchange. The most minute things can be big things. And so yes you always should extra emphasize the fundamentals. That falls on me. Why in two games it's reared its ugly head, I probably won't ever know. But I do know the way to correct it is to absolutely coach the little things better. You better assume that you have to do that or you're going to have some issues."
(Ref.: On poor execution in the kicking game)
"Just really poor. First one was poor kick placement, bad. And the second one was poor coverage. It was disappointing. It's something we don't do. But we did. And I mean, they all sat there Sunday. They looked at it, they know. There's no hiding behind anything or any circumstance when it's poor coverage, that's exactly what it is. We didn't get the job done."
(Ref.: On adding veteran coach Jim Collins to your staff as an analyst)
"Well, I think you know Jim after the other league. I don't know if I want to use the word failed or folded but when the other league ended you know, Jim and I had talked about a part-time opportunity that could work out for him. He's not through. He's a football coach. It's in his blood. And so this is an opportunity for me to have somebody that I can bounce things off of. Another person that has a lot of experience. It worked out perfectly. I told him 'you look like you need to do a little work.' So it was great to get him back."
(Ref.: On the blocking game)
"Well, it wasn't just the interior. You know I think people assume that when you say blocking. I thought we passed protected extremely well against a very difficult team to protect. I thought at times we run blocked interior really well. We didn't block them the second and the third time, sometimes. And that's what it takes against a team like Virginia where their front is going to compete. And I hope you understand what I mean by you can fit a guy. And if that's it, you're not winning the battle. He turns here, you've got a block, and he turned back here, you have to block. And we can do that better inside. Where I was most disappointed was just in our perimeter game. We got absolutely nothing out of it and we blocked very poorly in that regard. We have to be consistent from sideline to sideline. We've worked hard on that this week. We had some live work today. I mean live ones versus ones, tackling on a lot of different aspects of perimeter football."
(Ref.: On his team getting off to slow starts)
"From the get-go in practice we're going wide open. It's not tunnel emotion or locker room emotion. It's not a state of readiness. I don't think those things can really have a pinpointed reason. I think what you have to focus on is 60 minutes of really good football. I think that goes back to the other question of 'where your focus is.' What's your edge. You know what kind of edge do you have. Can you maintain an edge wire to wire. All of those things -- and that's been around forever. But all of those things are a big part. And I know Coach (Bear) Bryant used to talk about it and I agree with this. It's not that you don't start fast, but as your practice goes if you're going to be a really good fourth quarter team then your practices should peak at the end, with energy. And I think that's difficult for most teams to accomplish."
(Ref.: On if his team will step up and have playmakers)
"Oh we have to. Every year I've ever coached -- big games, big wins. There's a sack fumble caused by somebody on your team. There's a catch made. There's a run made. There's a block made. There's a tackle made that knocks a ball loose. I think that will never change in football. The best teams seem to have those people appear and we've got a lot of good football players, but there's no question there's opportunities right now for people at the biggest of times to step up. And you know, that's the role that whether it's in basketball, the guy wants to take the game winner and you don't always hit them. But you have stick your neck out to make those plays and you always look for people like that."
(Ref.: On limitations with the team due to NCAA restrictions)
"I mean, I don't want to make an excuse. It's different than it used to be and the amount of focused time that we can teach. You know we get them in here early in the morning. We have meetings. You have a 15-minute margin to get to the field. You have to get on the field and get your work done. And then they have to get off and go to class. But that's been that way 12 years. We've played some really good football. So again, that's not an excuse, but yes everywhere your margin for error is less than what it was because you just can't assume that you're going to get it done later. Later doesn't exist in a week's time. Every second just about is accounted for to be honest with you, with the staff and players."
(Ref.: On using multiple running backs in the game against Virginia)
"Well, we were running with different offenses and when you get that far behind we were playing different people. So not anything that we specifically planned. I mean when we're running the football, right now the majority of it is going to be two people, and that's going to be Deon (Jackson) and Mataeo (Durant), because they're the best two we have. We got some good young players. And we have an opportunity to utilize those guys ahead or behind. But you know for the most part those two others are going to be the guys."
Coach Diaz Media Availability: North Carolina
Wednesday, November 19
Darian Mensah Media Availability: North Carolina
Tuesday, November 18
Coach Patke Press Conference: North Carolina
Monday, November 17
Coach Brewer Press Conference: North Carolina
Monday, November 17
