Quotes: Richmond 24, Duke 16

Head Coach David Cutcliffe

On the expectations of the season:
"I've created those expectations and I still have them. Nothing changes and I have good reason to have those expectations. When you took that Blue Devil walk amongst that crowd and you came out to start this game in that stadium, that's even more reason for expectation. Our crowd was awesome and the support has been fantastic. Our administration, they do things with a pursuit of excellence and that's what we're going to continue to do in football."

On team's energy in the game:
"I don't think we competed and the way you compete in football is with emotion and energy, but it's also with execution and our execution on offense, our execution in the kicking game and in times on defense wasn't what we expected it to be. But the competitive edge was never there. There was never an energy and that's 100 percent the head football coaches responsibility. I think I was surprised by it. I knew our team this week practiced better than any time since we had been at Duke and I never saw that level tonight."

On the blocked punt:
"We just let a guy run absolute free. I don't know if we ever recovered from it. It was a strange beginning and when you're still a -I hate to admit this- fragile program trying to find your way. We don't respond very well to adversity and we certainly didn't in that circumstance."

On the passing game and the overall competition of Duke:
"Competing is sustained. You don't compete some of the time, that's not the way you do things. That's not how our practices are designed, to take people to the wall, never stop. We never got there. Even though there was some success-we threw for 350 yards- we should have thrown for 500 yards. We knew going in we were going to throw it a lot more than run it because of the design of their defense. When you throw it you can't be 3-of-14 on third downs. If we're going to be a passing football team, you execute and you execute with precision and consistency and we didn't get that done."

Duke Player Post-Game Quotes

Thaddeus Lewis

On starting the season with a loss:
"Yeah it's kind of disappointing, but when you look at it you still have all season so it's not enough to get down on yourself for or hang your head as a team."

On being a leader and the next step:
"You know, just learn from this. Don't let the same mistakes you did out here tonight affect you next week, and get back to the tape and prepare for Army and get ready."

On Richmond's experience and defensive pressure:
"It was a veteran group and obviously, you know they've been playing together so they are able to do the things that they did and they played hard. They played harder than us tonight, so that's why they came out with the victory."

On big pass play to Johnny Williams and overall big passing night:
"Coach saw something in their defense and every time we play-actioned, the rover came down pretty strong. We capitalized on that with the play action and they actually brought the corner, and the running back did a great job and Johnny ran right by him. Hats off to Johnny when he got the ball; I just put it out there for him."

On second TD pass to Austin Kelly:
"They went double safety and we had a corner curl option route. If they ran single safety he was supposed to run a curl and if they went double safety he would run the corner. He did a great job of that and the tight end affected the flat and the cornerback came up so we took advantage of the safety."

On Army next week and regrouping:
"Yeah we are going to go back to the drawing board and it's up to the seniors to pick it up and bring these young guys along. We are a young football team and we have to teach them the right way. Everything falls on our shoulders so we know what we have to do this week."

Matt Daniels

On expectations of season and the loss:
"Yes it is definitely unfortunate but hats off to the Richmond Spiders they really played their butts off they really came out and competed with us. They are a great team and I expect them to go a long way and compete for the [FCS] national championship. Things just didn't go our way tonight, but all we can do is keep our heads up and look forward to tomorrow because next week we are playing another ball game."

On Richmond quarterback Eric Ward:
"Absolutely, Eric Ward is a great quarterback. He really has great pocket presence and we had a hard time getting back there to him. When we did, he kind of scrambled away and made plays with his feet while at the same time still looking downfield to make a throw. He is a great player."

Re'quan Boyette

On difficulty rushing:
"Yes they did. They had a lot of things schemed up but what it all boils down to is that we didn't execute. Richmond did a great job, they have a pretty good defense but we didn't execute in the running game and the running backs didn't hit the hole as hard. Running is a team effort. It takes the quarterback, the running back, the receivers, the [offensive] line. We didn't execute as well as we should have in the running game."

On refocusing for the Army game:
"This game is in the past. We are going to go in tomorrow and watch the film, but after that we are going to focus on Army and go out and compete a lot better than we did tonight. That was one of the things coach said that we didn't do that I also saw. We didn't come out and compete as well as we should have."

Richmond Head Coach Mike London

"I've always said the offensive line is an indication as far as experience goes of where your team can go. We have a very experienced offensive line. They can block and make holes and they can also protect and that's a good thing. We won't have that luxury next year because they'll all be gone, but I'm glad we have them right now.

On starting season with a win:
"There are a whole lot of games to be played in 2009. We are going to just take it one game at a time. We started out with a win in our first game last year. The next game is the most important game right now."

On quarterback Eric Ward's game:
"There were some passes that were dropped. He put the ball in peoples' hands and the receivers have got to make those catches. We'll get better at it. The first game, you're always not sure because you practice so much against each other. But tonight I thought he ran the team and managed the team and got the ball and distributed the ball. That's what Eric can do so we're excited about the team getting better and we're hoping we can better next week."

On the state of the Colonial Athletic Association:
"I tell you it's the black-and-blue division. It's a testament to CAA football and particularly the south because those are the teams that we have to go against every week."

On what they need to improve upon for next week:
"Obviously at the end of the first half we were 1-for-7 on third downs. We got to improve that. First and second downs, we need to get in situations where there are makeable third downs. Some things in the kicking game defensively we have to shore up. Defensively we can't let the ball get thrown behind us. So I mean there are things you can practice and now there are tangible things you can see that other teams can exploit. So you just have to make sure it doesn't happen again or minimize it."

On the team's effort after the 2008 championship season:
"The effort was tremendous. The effort was such that it looked like I thought in the third and fourth quarter we were in better shape than they were. Our guys were in there battling. I give all the accolades to our strength coach because he got our guys prepared for games like this."