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Football
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Quotes: Virginia 24, Duke 13
9/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Virginia vs. Duke
Sept. 8, 2007
Duke Quotes
Duke Head Coach Ted Roof
On missed opportunities:
“The field position in the second half was about the opposite of what it was last week in the second half to us. When you don't come up with those points and you don't convert those missed opportunities, it ends up costing you, and it did. The way the game started off, our kids kept hanging around, hanging in there, which is what we're supposed to do. We blocked two kicks and recovered a fumble off a kick off; they had a couple of missed chances, and we need to take advantage of those. Like the last scoring drive, you get off the field and put it down. They made a great play, and we really have to execute it. It just rip your guts out.”
On going for field goals:
“I thought we would change the score better by making a few field goals. Instead of keeping it all or nothing, I wanted to get it down to a one-possession game. It was a missed opportunity.”
On the team's effort:
“The effort was good. There's a fine line between winning and losing, and we go back to looking at the chances we had to do it. For whatever reason, in several different instances, it didn't happen. Football is a game of 60 minutes for a reason. Whatever happens, you've got to play through it. We had to do that as the coaching staff ? not panic.”
On his young players:
“I thought they grew up from last week. I think that they're starting to understand that the crowd doesn't have anything to do with it. Focus on what's inside our box: execute and take care of business. I was pleased today on their job with special teams.
“There were some good, some bad, but we've got to continue to work to eliminate those things that keep you from going backwards.
On next week:
“We've got to bounce back. That's our job. There's a lot of football season left. We came to win and we didn't do it. Virginia had something to do with that, so I give them credit. At the same time, we have to get ready to go back and make sure that our team is ready for Northwestern.”
Senior Free Safety Chris Davis
On the start of the game:
“We came out; they quick snapped us a few times. We didn't get lined up and we gave up a couple of big plays early. We fought back and had our chances to win the game. I'm really proud of our effort today. Defense, once we got settled down everything was good; offense gave us a chance today as well. We just lost a tough one today.”
On the play of Duke's special teams:
“We got a lot of turnovers. We've just got to do something with them next time. You can't ask for more turnovers than that - getting some blocked kicks and things like that. It was a great day, a lot of excitement on the sideline for both teams. It was a great ACC football game.”
On losing another game:
“It's been too long. It's nothing to be proud of. You go out there and give effort anyway. Everybody wants to win. We're going to get back there on Monday and find a way to go to Chicago and beat Northwestern.”
On losing a close game:
"Maybe for the young guys it's something to be encouraged about, but for the older guys, we've been there before and this game was too close to let it slip away. We have to find a way; that's what we are working on. We've got to find a way somehow. Maybe one of those blocked kicks we've got to return for a touchdown, defense has to get an interception, or we have to return a fumble to score. We have to get a good way on offense. Somehow we have to find a way to win in close games.”
On Coach Roof's words to the team after the game:
“He kept it all in perspective but he didn't come here to coach us to lose or to give effort and be proud of that. If you don't get your effort, you shouldn't be playing anyways ? that's a given. It was a positive for us to keep going throughout the whole game. We've been talking about playing a full game; we played a full game today, especially the second half; it was a great half for us. We've just got to keep moving forward.”
On this week's play:
“This game, especially on the road, is about momentum. They came out, scored early, and the crowd got behind them quickly. It's tough when you've got all those fans screaming down and you feel like you're on your heels sometimes. We just had to get together, put our arms together, and just stand strong. It all worked out, and we came back.”
On kicker Joe Surgan:
“To be honest with you, Joe had the best week of practice this last week ? just right down the middle all week. We end practice with a field goal, and he was putting them right down the middle. We are a team, and we are going to be behind him. We have to be behind him because he's our kicker. He's going to make some big kicks for us, so we try not to put it all on his hands. We've got to go ahead and score some of those touchdowns instead of putting the pressure on the field goal team. We're going to find a way; we're going to put it together.
Junior Kicker Joe Surgan
On the game:
“I had a great week, a great preseason, and a whole great off-season. I thought to be able to come in here and not be able to help your team win is gut wrenching and upsetting. My role on this team is limited in some capacities but it still is important I feel as anyone else's. We're here to help the team win, and at the end of the day if you're not able to do that, it's upsetting and I wish there was a better outcome”
On what didn't go well:
“Protection was great and the snapping and all was great. It's all up to myself to get that ball through the uprights. I want to win as much as anyone else on this team. I came here today to win a football game and to not be able to help the team to do that and feel that it was a major reason why it happened; it's not a great feeling. You feel terrible to your teammates; you feel terrible to your coaches because they have a lot of faith in me and to let them down in those situations is not a good feeling.
“There shouldn't be any difference. You practice as if you are in a game. You put yourself in the situations, you practice and mentally you try to prepare for them. Obviously things didn't go right today. I've got to go back to look at the film to see what exactly what went wrong; I wasn't kicking the ball great. You want to go make those kicks and if you can't do it, there's no nice way to put it. There's no way to sugar coat what happened. I want to help the team win and it's a long season. If I wanted to quit, I could have quit last off-season after what happened last season. We're going to keep going; we've got ten more games. If I quit now, it's going to be a long three months.
“I have no choice but to bounce back at this point. I feel like I've had a great off-season, a great preseason, and I feel great coming into this game. I'm going to work hard this week, and feel great going into next week, and we're going to do everything to turn it around then.”
Senior Wide Receiver Jomar Wright
On losing the game:
“It's very disappointing. We have eleven guys coming back on offense; we should have been able to perform better under pressure and execute when the chance comes. We've got to come back this weekend, find out what's going wrong, and find a way to adjust it because right now we're not getting it done with offense and it's very disappointing because we should be.”
On this week's progress:
“We have to do a lot better; we have to execute, we have to protect, we have to catch the ball, we have to run blocks from all positions from receivers to the line. The quarterback has to do better with the line. The whole group has to come back and do better. We keep saying it each week but something's got to change because we are not winning games and we should be.”
Players Mentioned
Game Trailer: California
Friday, October 03
Coach Diaz Media Availability: Cal
Wednesday, October 01
Bruno Fina Media Availability: Cal
Tuesday, September 30
Tre Freeman Media Availability: Cal
Tuesday, September 30
