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Football
vs Arizona State
Quotes: Duke 31, Virginia 3
9/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Coach David Cutcliffe
“I am really proud of our team. I don't remember or recall having 98 yards of offense at halftime. Our defense played four quarters. Then the turnovers, good gracious ? the game just blew up for us. The best part was the conditioning and energy our team played with in the second half.”
On picking a player of the game:
“I would pick our seniors because this game is so meaningful to them. That is amazing when you think about they had no idea how good an ACC win felt. I didn't say all that much after the game but the biggest thing I did talk about was thank goodness for our seniors. They are great young men and I really appreciate their efforts and what they have done here.”
On receiving the game ball from the team:
“They did ? first ACC win. That goes in the office; it is a tribute to all of our players. These kids, they believe in each other and they believe in this staff. From my perspective, as a head football coach, I have an unbelievable belief in our team and our staff. I have said it all along; I think we have the best staff in all of college football ? great adjustments at halftime and a great job putting a lot of energy on the sideline in the second half.”
On Thaddeus Lewis:
“I haven't had a chance to talk to Thad. All quarterbacks that I have been around have off days. When you win 31-3 with an off day ? really the two interceptions were questionable and tough. We were being very aggressive with both calls. He really took care of the ball. He did. I am proud of Thad. It wasn't his best performance. He told me at halftime; he said ?Coach I just feel rushed.' Part of it is we didn't do worth a darn protecting the quarterbacks. I cannot stand those sacks and we are going to address that. We are going to look at what we are doing and how we are doing it. We are going to fix something there because we cannot continue on that path.”
On Jay Hollingsworth:
“I cannot say enough good things about Jay Hollingsworth, our freshman running back. He certainly gave us a spark. When Jay gets a full benefit of a year or year and a half in our strength and conditioning program, watch out. He is going to do some special things.”
On linebackers Vincent Rey and Michael Tauiliili:
“If they could share the Butkis Award, they would get my vote. I would split it in half and give it to both of them. I don't know of any linebackers playing any better anywhere.”
Senior Thaddeus Lewis
On the first half:
“We were kind of out of sync in the first half, but we came in and made some adjustments in the lockerroom and got into a groove in the second half. The adjustments were to relax ? we have a half under our belt we knew what to expect in the second half. Go on out there and play well.”
On the start of the second half:
“Coach told me that is my job to get into a rhythm ? we cannot blame it on nobody and you are the leader. I took that to heart and went out there and got my mind right, looked at my reads and got into a groove in the second half.”
On the defense:
“The defense definitely kept us in the game and played well. The offense kind of fed off of that in the second half and that was a great job by those guys.”
Senior Eron Riley
On the lockerroom after the game:
“We were a little more hyped than the JMU game, because it is an ACC game ? my first one winning since I have been here. So it was a whole other sense of happiness going along with it. We are just real happy to actually get a win, especially being an ACC win. We will enjoy tonight but we know tomorrow we will have to come back in to watch tape and get ready for Georgia Tech.”
Senior Clifford Respress
“We had a slow first half, but we pride ourselves on being a second half team. We came out and forced several turnovers ? I couldn't keep up the count.”
Virginia Coach Al Groh
On Virginia's performance against Duke:
“The only thing that really matters is what's up on the scoreboard, but despite what we saw up there, we saw a lot of positive things in a lot of different areas. Our running game from Reshawn (Jackson), Keith (Payne) and Mikell (Simpson) had some more positive plays than what we've had in the past. Defensively, we were able to do a number of things that we thought were important to do in the game, but we had too many turnovers and too much bad field position. Those two things pretty much tie together, one creating the other in some circumstances, and it makes it really challenging for the defense to keep the points down and for the offense to get anything going.”
On giving away chances to score in the first half:
“We had a couple of opportunities early in the game, and clearly, if we would have taken advantage of those, we probably would have gotten a positive spark. That's the story of the season though, not being able to take advantage of those opportunities.”
On losing defensive back Ras-I Dowling and linebacker Clint Sintim on the same play in the third quarter:
“Those were clearly not just two real good players for us, but two of our principle playmakers on defense. After (they were injured on the same play), we were just kind of rocking along without them. We would have liked to have them in there, sure, but it was an opportunity for some guys to step in and do a little bit more for us.”
On whether he gave any thought to taking out quarterback Marc Verica after throwing four interceptions in the second half:
“No, because that's part of growing up as a quarterback. You can't run for the hills when things get though. You have to stand out there. Other players have some tough circumstances, and there's no one out there to bail them out. It's good, one, for him to be put in that circumstance, and two, for us to see how he'll deal with hit and how he'll handle it. We have every confidence that Marc will go in the right direction, but this will be his opportunity.”
Players Mentioned
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