Quotes: North Carolina 28, Duke 20

Postgame Quotes
11-29-08 vs. North Carolina

Head Coach David Cutcliffe

Opening Statement:
“It somewhat defined our season, defined our November. I said at the start of the year that November would define our year, and what we find out is that we're close and we are, real close. The most important thing that these seniors have done is made sure that it's not okay to be close anymore at Duke. We had our opportunities, you just go back to Northwestern, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, even N.C. State, with three times in the red zone and no points. Close isn't okay. It shows how easy the balance is to having an 8-4 year or a 4-8 year. The shame is not in what's happened this year, because our guys have come a long way to get to this point. The shame will be if the returning players and the staff and everybody here, if we don't do something with this ? and we will. I'm just disgusted that this didn't happen for our seniors.

On the season that senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili had:
“The young man you were just talking to is a first team All-American football player. I haven't been around a better defensive player and I have been around some great ones. This guy can play at the next level and can play for any team in the country and he's the best defensive player in the ACC and I hope gets his due because he certainly deserves it.”

On building the program
“It's more difficult than ever before to establish a program. It's very competitive. It's competitive in recruiting and everybody has good players, yet you're never very far away and that's kind of what you continually see. I don't think there's a team I've seen that's played as hard as our team this year. Take nothing away from any other team, but the team we just played and Clemson are probably two of the most talented teams we played from top to bottom, but nobody plays as hard as Duke and we're going to maintain that edge and improve ourselves physically. You see a lot of strength issues out there, not breaking tackles, not making the tough plays. Those kinds of things are the things that are my responsibility, and we have to take that next step. I told all those seniors that I love you, but right now it's 2009 and we have a 2009 football team. We have one right now. I'm meeting with them at 12 p.m. tomorrow and we're running at 3 p.m. We're not wasting time getting ready, and if they don't like that they need to be someplace else because this is Division I-A football and it's not okay to be average at Duke.”

On offseason preparation:
“We're going to have probably the most intense offseason that I've had as a coach. They know me and know my expectations. We will start January 9 upon their return from break. It's really in earnest then, although we're going to get some lifts in right here before finals are done and we're going to give them some work to do at home. It will be much different. I think about January 9th a year ago and I think ?Good gosh, I've never seen anything like that.' I wrote a poem about the seniors that I read to them at Thanksgiving this week and they kind of chuckled and laughed and remembered about what we thought about each other to begin with. We'll be much further ahead. Spring practice will be a little bit different because we'll have low numbers. There's something to say about one-on-one throwing the ball. If we just play man-to-man better defensively and offensively we're a better football team. There's something to say for old 3-on-3 and the old middle drill. We may not get a lot of 11-on-11 stuff done in this spring. I already got the dates set and I can't wait. I'm looking forward to it. We're going to learn how to play low, and we're going to learn to be physical and consistent. We can't go into a game like this and we convert 40 percent of third downs and the opponent convert 80 percent of the third downs. We can't win and do that.”

Junior Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis

On the game:
“A very, very tough loss, especially for these seniors. Some of these guys you hold dear to your heart after playing with them for three years. You look at these guys like brothers and unfortunately, we couldn't get this win for them.”

On final drive of the game:
“Donovan Varner was doing a great job of getting open, and once you start hitting that, they start closing that down and giving us other things. I thought we did a great job with that, but we fell just short down by the goal line.”

On the final play of the game:
“The pocket was collapsing, so I made a move and was about to fall and it was fourth down, so you just try to throw it in there and make a play and make something happen. Unfortunately, I didn't get enough on the ball, and the guy made a good play on it.”

On the season and the future
There's definitely a lot to look forward to, and as [Coach Cutcliffe] said in the locker room, now we're preparing for next year. The seniors are going to move on and go ahead, but now it's time for this team and the guys who are about to be seniors to step up and get this thing rolling.

Junior Linebacker Vincent Rey

On the game:
“You have to tip your hats to Carolina. They had a great gameplan, they came out and executed and they were able to win the game in the fourth quarter.”

On defensive effort by Duke in the second half:
“Coach [Cutcliffe] told us about getting better as the game goes on. In the first half we definitely didn't play well or play to our potential at all. We got better as the game went on, third quarter, fourth quarter and we were able to get some key stops.”

On his fumble recovery and touchdown:
“I'm not sure what really happened. I was just playing my assignment, and I know the defensive line made a great play in front of me. The guy ended up fumbling and it came right to me and I just took it and ran for daylight and ran to the end zone. Coach talks about winning on defense, especially Coach Hobby. He talks about not only getting the turnover, but scoring on defense.”

Senior Linebacker Michael Tauilili

On the game:
“It was a good, hard-fought game, but like Coach [Cutcliffe] said ?coming close is not acceptable here at Duke any longer.' Words can't express how hurt I am to take the loss, but I'm just thinking about the greatness that's waiting around the corner. The seniors and me, we feel that we've done a lot, and we're just excited about the program and we gave it all we had.”

On his interception:
“I was breaking and I was surprised he threw it. I just reacted to the ball and made sure I caught it. Coach [Cutcliffe] stressed throughout the season and throughout the week that we have to get the takeaways. I just wish I wouldn't have fallen, and I could have run one like [Vincent Rey].”

On UNC's last four possession, which resulted in no points:
“We just knew as a defense that we had to do what we had to do regardless of what's going on with offense and special teams. We have a job and I kept telling them we're playing to win on defense. We're not playing to keep it close, we're not playing to come close, we're playing to win and our guys stepped up.

On career:
The quality time with my teammates [is what I remember best]. All week, I've been thinking about the seniors who have graduated who have come before me and just spending that time and realizing now that it's my time. I'm looking back at these underclassmen and it's the relationships. The football is great, but it's the relationships that I've built that will last forever.