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Quotes: FSU 41, Duke 16
10/15/2011 7:32:00 PM | Football
Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe
On talented Florida State:
"Playing for Florida State, I had some concerns. Defensively, how would you match-u. They found some hot spots. We have been beat up on the secondary and that was the initial parts of it, the three 50-yard passes and a couple of other plays they made. The thing I think is the most disappointing is that offensively, I felt like we matched up just fine. We just never got rhythm. WE were bad on first down. You just couldn't feel it. They played some tight man and had helped behind. They did a good job of changing some things up. They are a very athletic, and I knew that, but I still thought our match-ups were good. If we had been consistent on executing offensively, we could have kept that a close ball game. We just could not stay on the field."
On the battle for the receivers and backs facing the FSU defenders:
"To their credit, they made us hold it some at quarterback. At first, they weren't really getting to us a lot, but then they heated up when they got ahead. They knew we were throwing the football. They have some NFL guys rushing the passer. We threw them off to some degree and level but not consistent enough."
On the risk the secondary took going after the quarterback:
"Yeah, it is, but some of those were just them holding the ball in their own coverage. Eventually, when you are double covering, which one of them was, they just ran by us because they held the ball so long. It is a combination of us being great in a three or four man pass rush. When we blitz, you have to be able to play man to man. They got us a couple of times. I knew going in, Johnny Williams hadn't practice, Matt Daniels hadn't practice. You didn't know how much you were going to get out of them. They found the sore spot. E.J. Manuel is good enough to see down the field. HE threw that one ball a mile."
On preparing for Wake Forest:
"We have to correct mistakes. There are still some people that can help us more. We have to look at our personnel and find ways people can help us. We have guys that can make plays. Losing Donovan Varner early on, it hurts us obviously, but at the same time we have to look at a lot of people. Jamison Crowder got a lot of playing time. Tyree Watkins got a lot of playing time. Holliday got a lot of playing time. Of course I rather have Varner. I hate it, but all this is going to do is make us better down this stretch of the last 6 games. Our focus will be to study this game, correct mistakes and turn our attention right to Wake Forest. We'll be ready to play. I promise you that."
Duke Senior Tight End Cooper Helfet
On the loss today:
"It's always hard when we go out there and we can't get momentum going on offense and we're not making the tackles we need to make on defense, so it's always frustrating when stuff like that happens."
On his ability to go up and get some catches today:
"I like it when Sean [Renfree] gives me a chance to make a play on the ball. I'm a taller guy who had a smaller guy guarding me so he let me go up and make plays. That's what I like to do and he gave me a chance to do it today."
On Duke recovering from the loss and moving forward:
"We gotta get some people healthy that's for sure. Definitely focus on getting into rehab and getting into tubs this week. It's our turn to take Wake [Forest] so it's a big game this weekend and we got to move forward and take it one game at a time. That's the goal for this week."
On Florida State's defense taking away middle of the field:
"Some things were open. They batted down a lot of balls. We had some of those routes open over the middle actually, but it turns out that they got a hand up right in the passing lane so that helped them out a lot. We just have to try and work all angles of the field instead of staying single focused, but we did that in the second half. We upped the tempo and it started to work out."
On young players getting experience:
"From my position, we got Braxton Deaver in there at the end of the game and he's a good athlete. Even though it doesn't look good at the end of the game when we're losing, it's still good to see them out there and see him put things we try to teach him as older guys to use so that's always good to see."
Duke Junior Cornerback Zach Greene
On the play of Florida State's offense:
"We knew it was going to be a challenge going in, but whenever you're playing a team like that if you're out of place one step here and one step there that's what's going to happen. We just have to go back to fundamentals next week and see what we can get going."
On taking chances on defense:
"Well it all goes back to that we just have to do our job no matter who we're playing. If we're out of position then they're going to take advantage Whether we're playing Florida State or Richmond. In both of those games we lost and we didn't play up to the best of our ability.
On seeing the young guys play:
"We've had a lot of guys have to step up due to injuries. We hold each other accountable and there's a standard that we have to reach every day and our guys are working towards it. We just have to work on being more consistent. "
On getting ready for Wake Forest defensively:
"We just have to make plays. We made plays a couple weeks back at FIU. Today we were just a step slow and that'll get you beat. Going into next week we just have to refocus and it's a new week starting tomorrow so we just have to forget about it and move on."
Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher
On the Win:
"It feels good to get back on a winning track. There's nothing like winning - don't ever take it for granted - it makes a big difference. I'm proud of our kids and the way they battled."
On coming out to a fast start:
"I think it builds your confidence. We haven't had a break. We lost a hard-fought game against Oklahoma - lost some starters - battled Clemson to the end - still had some guys out at Wake [Forest]- no excuses, but I liked the way our team practiced. I thought it was one of the best weeks we've had and the way they're reacting to things and the way they're coming together. When confidence comes that's when it starts to roll."
On the importance of Quarterback E.J. Manuel:
"He changes everything because of his ability, to create when broken plays come, to scheme, it adds another blocker and it makes the lineman better because they're one blocker up, and people don't understand that. He can do what a drop-back guy does, but he can do what an option guy does. He's the combination of both guys. He makes everybody on our football team better."
On the cleanliness of Florida State's game:
"We executed. We played with some consistency. That's a sign of a good football team - a mature team that can execute play-in and play-out, a team that can stay focused and do what it does."
On talented Florida State:
"Playing for Florida State, I had some concerns. Defensively, how would you match-u. They found some hot spots. We have been beat up on the secondary and that was the initial parts of it, the three 50-yard passes and a couple of other plays they made. The thing I think is the most disappointing is that offensively, I felt like we matched up just fine. We just never got rhythm. WE were bad on first down. You just couldn't feel it. They played some tight man and had helped behind. They did a good job of changing some things up. They are a very athletic, and I knew that, but I still thought our match-ups were good. If we had been consistent on executing offensively, we could have kept that a close ball game. We just could not stay on the field."
On the battle for the receivers and backs facing the FSU defenders:
"To their credit, they made us hold it some at quarterback. At first, they weren't really getting to us a lot, but then they heated up when they got ahead. They knew we were throwing the football. They have some NFL guys rushing the passer. We threw them off to some degree and level but not consistent enough."
On the risk the secondary took going after the quarterback:
"Yeah, it is, but some of those were just them holding the ball in their own coverage. Eventually, when you are double covering, which one of them was, they just ran by us because they held the ball so long. It is a combination of us being great in a three or four man pass rush. When we blitz, you have to be able to play man to man. They got us a couple of times. I knew going in, Johnny Williams hadn't practice, Matt Daniels hadn't practice. You didn't know how much you were going to get out of them. They found the sore spot. E.J. Manuel is good enough to see down the field. HE threw that one ball a mile."
On preparing for Wake Forest:
"We have to correct mistakes. There are still some people that can help us more. We have to look at our personnel and find ways people can help us. We have guys that can make plays. Losing Donovan Varner early on, it hurts us obviously, but at the same time we have to look at a lot of people. Jamison Crowder got a lot of playing time. Tyree Watkins got a lot of playing time. Holliday got a lot of playing time. Of course I rather have Varner. I hate it, but all this is going to do is make us better down this stretch of the last 6 games. Our focus will be to study this game, correct mistakes and turn our attention right to Wake Forest. We'll be ready to play. I promise you that."
Duke Senior Tight End Cooper Helfet
On the loss today:
"It's always hard when we go out there and we can't get momentum going on offense and we're not making the tackles we need to make on defense, so it's always frustrating when stuff like that happens."
On his ability to go up and get some catches today:
"I like it when Sean [Renfree] gives me a chance to make a play on the ball. I'm a taller guy who had a smaller guy guarding me so he let me go up and make plays. That's what I like to do and he gave me a chance to do it today."
On Duke recovering from the loss and moving forward:
"We gotta get some people healthy that's for sure. Definitely focus on getting into rehab and getting into tubs this week. It's our turn to take Wake [Forest] so it's a big game this weekend and we got to move forward and take it one game at a time. That's the goal for this week."
On Florida State's defense taking away middle of the field:
"Some things were open. They batted down a lot of balls. We had some of those routes open over the middle actually, but it turns out that they got a hand up right in the passing lane so that helped them out a lot. We just have to try and work all angles of the field instead of staying single focused, but we did that in the second half. We upped the tempo and it started to work out."
On young players getting experience:
"From my position, we got Braxton Deaver in there at the end of the game and he's a good athlete. Even though it doesn't look good at the end of the game when we're losing, it's still good to see them out there and see him put things we try to teach him as older guys to use so that's always good to see."
Duke Junior Cornerback Zach Greene
On the play of Florida State's offense:
"We knew it was going to be a challenge going in, but whenever you're playing a team like that if you're out of place one step here and one step there that's what's going to happen. We just have to go back to fundamentals next week and see what we can get going."
On taking chances on defense:
"Well it all goes back to that we just have to do our job no matter who we're playing. If we're out of position then they're going to take advantage Whether we're playing Florida State or Richmond. In both of those games we lost and we didn't play up to the best of our ability.
On seeing the young guys play:
"We've had a lot of guys have to step up due to injuries. We hold each other accountable and there's a standard that we have to reach every day and our guys are working towards it. We just have to work on being more consistent. "
On getting ready for Wake Forest defensively:
"We just have to make plays. We made plays a couple weeks back at FIU. Today we were just a step slow and that'll get you beat. Going into next week we just have to refocus and it's a new week starting tomorrow so we just have to forget about it and move on."
Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher
On the Win:
"It feels good to get back on a winning track. There's nothing like winning - don't ever take it for granted - it makes a big difference. I'm proud of our kids and the way they battled."
On coming out to a fast start:
"I think it builds your confidence. We haven't had a break. We lost a hard-fought game against Oklahoma - lost some starters - battled Clemson to the end - still had some guys out at Wake [Forest]- no excuses, but I liked the way our team practiced. I thought it was one of the best weeks we've had and the way they're reacting to things and the way they're coming together. When confidence comes that's when it starts to roll."
On the importance of Quarterback E.J. Manuel:
"He changes everything because of his ability, to create when broken plays come, to scheme, it adds another blocker and it makes the lineman better because they're one blocker up, and people don't understand that. He can do what a drop-back guy does, but he can do what an option guy does. He's the combination of both guys. He makes everybody on our football team better."
On the cleanliness of Florida State's game:
"We executed. We played with some consistency. That's a sign of a good football team - a mature team that can execute play-in and play-out, a team that can stay focused and do what it does."
Players Mentioned
B
/ Football
TE
/ Football
CB
/ Football
TE
/ Football
B
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WR
/ Football
B
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