Quotes: Army 35, Duke 21

Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe Quotes

On the Blue Devils overall play

"It seems a new set of problems crept in, an offense that turns the ball over and that doesn't convert on third downs. That is the simple part of the story. There are other things that we could work on, but the premise of what we do is that we take care of the ball. We throw the ball on time, we are running it a little better and we are capable of continuing that. We have come to that point, where this team has got to play one game at a time. What I mean by that is we have to practice every day at a time and we have to take it one play at a time, one game at a time, until we are consistently playing good football. There have been flashes all fall, nothing consistently enough."

"I will say our defense has got better. We lined up well, we were ready to play, but were we perfect? No. They hit us with the some things. We were dealing with a lot of blocking schemes, but the most disappointing things were the two big passes. That is a part of the Army offense. We were on our corners about supporting and the next thing you know they pulled it out and scored. We are going to keep work at it to get things done, we're not giving in to this, we are going to get better and we will get better."

On the presence of Kelby Brown

"Kelby is just continuing to impress. He is a quick study, and he reads quickly. He ignites and gets to the ball. He did not play much of the first half but his presence was felt in the second half."

On play of Quarterback Sean Renfree

"I am a little confused as to where that came from. I think he locked in his mind that they were just going to play man, but any zone that they played just shocked him. They were in man on the first interception and he thought he saw the guy open and he wasn't. That can happen to you at quarterback. He's better that that and he knows it. I feel for him, he is one of those guys were this is hurting him. We will get him where he needs to be. He is young and it's not the last time he will have a tough day but he is just going to have to bounce back from it."

On play of Conner Vernon

"He is one of the toughest young men that you will ever come across. He had that fumble going for extra yards, and occasionally that happens to guys who try to stay up in the middle I have to talk to him about when he needs to get down every week. I don't want people taking shots at his back because they will, because he is such a great competitor. He is wise beyond his years and he can be a great football player."

Duke Player Quotes

Duke sophomore receiver Conner Vernon

On the offense's performance:

"It was rough, we had five turnovers today. That's never going to win it from the offensive side of the ball. Hats off to our defense today, they played lights out, if you think about it. Without those first two picks, they only score 21 points and it's a really different ballgame. We did a lot of really great things today, but we're never going to win the ballgame when we have five turnovers and the offense comes out and plays like this."

On the fumble as a result of trying to gain extra yards:

"That's what we do. We're always going to fight for every inch we can get. It might make the difference in a game, but unfortunately I didn't protect the ball enough and let it go at a big point in the game and gave all the momentum back to them. That was my fault. I take the blame 100-percent on that."

On the match-up with Maryland next Saturday:

"Now we get into the meat of our schedule, the ACC schedule. We got a great Maryland team coming in. I think they won today and they have a good record. We had a really good Maryland game, we played them last year and we know what they can do. We're just going to have back tomorrow and it's back to work."

Duke freshman linebacker Kelby Brown:

On the loss:

"We did all we could. It was fun to get out there, but I hope our team can pull together and pick the season up because it's far from good."

On the play of the defense:

"Our coaches really prepared us. We really had good pre-snap reads. The coaches really told us what they were going to do and we were able to adjust as the game went on. In the second half, we were really able to figure out what they were doing and stop them."

On Army's pass plays:

"Obviously they killed us two or three times. That's something we have to work on, definitely. All of us were biting the run and that's tough to do against a running offense. That's something we need to work on definitely as a defense."

Duke senior linebacker Abraham Kromah
On the loss:

"I feel like it's very disappointing. This is a great test of character, to see how we respond to this. We're going to respond to this just as last week. We dug ourselves a hole, but as long we're willing to work and to come together, some good will come out of it and we'll be ok.

"It's a reality check and for the most part we have to pinpoint things and nip it in the bud before we get deeper into the season. We have a great opportunity this week. I feel that every week is an opportunity to show what we've improved on and what we've worked on. We have to keep a very positive attitude. We can't hang our heads, no dirt kickers or nothing like that and we'll be ok."

On Army's offense:

"They're a very good team. They fight very hard and that's the main thing that they do. They execute very well. It's up to you to stop them. And they're going to do what they do and you know what it is. It's a great challenge mentally and fundamentally. I feel like that's always a great test and it was a great challenge, unfortunately we didn't come up on the right side of it, but we have Maryland we have to work on."

Army Head Coach Rich Ellerson

On the performance today:

"Well, there were a lot of great things in that football game and there were some things we don't like. We need to finish a game like that better. We are not used to being in a situation where you've got somebody by the throat. We turned into a little bit of a clown act there at the end and we need to make sure we can play people and they know what to do and what is expected. We don't play on our heels - we play on the edge, we play aggressively. That is their opportunity to develop and we don't expect the opponent to go down the field in 20 odd seconds, ever."

On the passes today:

"That was good. You heard me talking last week. That was something we felt we have that part of our offense and we needed to make those plays. We had scared people, we run by them and they saw what we were trying to accomplish. As aggressively as we run the football and as aggressively as the safeties have to be defending the triple option, we need to challenge their eyes so we can slow them down a little bit on offense. Especially when they are aggressive like that we need to be able to throw it over their head."

On becoming one step closer to becoming bowl eligible:

"Our first goal is to win the next game. Regardless of what happened last week, we are going to refocus and go to work. That is what our guys are doing. They are getting more comfortable with this role; they are getting more comfortable with this expectation -- that is what the scoreboard is supposed to look like. That is a powerful thing - learning how to win. We are starting to do that. What we did with the turnover battle tells you know how to win a little bit. That is huge. As I say, right now we may reflect back on this and see this as a turning point. We may just say why couldn't we keep doing that. Who knows. We have to enjoy this and then go to work on it. Clear and get ourselves refocused. We have a great challenge next week."

On capitalizing on turnovers with touchdowns:

"Offensively we moved the ball well at times but we needed those turnovers to create points. That is offense, defense and special teams all playing together. That is how you win football games. You don't win it on one side of the ball. Cleary the defense getting those early takeaways and putting us in good scoring position and the offense being able to capitalize on it. That is why turnovers are such an important predictor of success. If you can win the turnover battle you've got a great chance every week."

Players Mentioned

Abraham Kromah

Sean Renfree

Conner Vernon

Duke information