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Football
at Tulane
Quotes: Stanford 44, Duke 14
9/10/2011 8:25:00 PM | Football
Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe
On the loss:
“The football game took a lot of turns and twists. I'd say the first thing from my standpoint is that they won the physical battle. I knew coming in they were a very strong football team and they were able to win that battle most of the day. The next thing that was difficult was that they made big plays time and again, some on defense, mostly on offense. We really had one big, big play and that was Lee Butler's interception return for a touchdown. We knew that one of the things that when a team reaches the level they have, their intensity level is high and we have to match their intensity level for 60 minutes. I thought we did that in the first 30. We didn't get tired; it wasn't that. It's one of the most difficult things in sports, to regain momentum and we couldn't do that. We didn't make those plays to get that done. Where we are in this stage, and I've done a lot of thinking about this previous to this game, now is that we've got more players than we've had and we've got more depth and more pieces of the puzzle. Sometimes you have to shuffle the puzzle. We're going to look at things very closely. You have to have guys making plays and you have to have guys compete at a high level. We have quite a few guys who are capable of making plays on both sides of the ball. Not as many as we would like, but quite a few. So you really want to go and reevaluate the combinations from a personnel standpoint part and make sure we're on the right path in that regard. We certainly have to assess our injuries. I'm going to assess very carefully those who were that matched that intensity level. I'm real interested in tomorrow morning, I'd probably wait till then till my mind's clear, to watch that very thing very closely the first time around in all phases: kicking, offense and defense. Then look at some of the things that have to be correct and what we have to do better to make things happen. It's not all bad play, but it is absolutely very obvious that when we're right there close, that we didn't make the plays we had to make to win. That's something I'm going to assess this time. It is hurtful because all of our guys know we're better than we were physically a year ago and I think we're going to be a better football team if we commit to it. We've got to commit to it and we'll see how we approach Sunday and we'll get back Tuesday. Monday is the day off that we are required to give them but they need to use that day well to assess themselves and see what they're willing to do. Tuesday morning, we're going to practice football like we practice football and continue to move forward.”
On red zone offense:
“That's just about making plays. You guys have heard me say it before. When you're down there and run out of real estate yardage, you have to make the plays. One of the things you try to do, and obviously everybody would like to be able to run the ball well in the red zone because you run out of real estate in the passing game and it gets difficult, but that's where people have to make plays. We're not making plays. Two games do not tell you the whole story, but this gives us a little more to evaluate what we're getting done.”
On the kicking game:
“It's very unfortunate that Will [Snyderwine] missed and on the on-side kick, Will got hurt. So he's had that ankle issue, a small ankle issue. Now they've come to me and told me it's much worse and he was out the rest of the game. We have Jeff Ijjas and Paul Asack backing him up. I'll wait to hear what the trainers say about Will before I make a long term decision. We also have Will Monday and he can do a lot of things. He can place kick and punt and he's our backup punter right now. We may redshirt him if we could, but I'll have to assess all that once I hear about Will.”
Duke Junior Wide Receiver Conner Vernon
On tough third quarter:
“Yeah, we came out fighting and kept it close there for a minute, but towards the end there, we just lost our focus. We just stopped doing what we do.”
On the Stanford blitz:
“Yeah, I don't think we expected them to blitz that much coming into it. We tried to pick it up. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. We just have to win our individual battles every play. It's not going to work half the time. We have to do it every time.”
On third quarter chance inside the 20 yard line:
“Yeah, it is a part of the game. We are going to miss kicks. It is just a part of the game, but it is up to the offense and defense for us to pick that up and execute.”
On Boston College next week:
“This game is over and done with. We just have to focus on Boston College next week. It is our first ACC game, so it is going to be a big game. This one goes on your record twice. We definitely have to come out. We had them here last year and had a good game. They've gotten better, and we've gotten better. We will find out on Saturday.”
Duke Senior Safety Lee Butler
On his interception return for a touchdown:
“I had to make it to the end zone. I was shocked really that the ball had bounced right to me. I just took off running and I scored. It was a great play.”
On working on deflections in practice:
“That was a weird play because I actually had nobody to be with. The ball was tipped and I was sitting right there. It was a great play.”
On Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck:
“We knew that we were going to have to be there to blitz and do things to the point where he had to get the ball out to have someone attempt to make the play.”
On next week's game against Boston College:
“We are not really down right now. With a big game coming up, we just have to learn to actually make the plays.”
On being a leader and getting the team focused for next week:
“The main thing is to just make sure that we are not down. We have to just know that we have a long season. We just have to work hard and take it one game at a time.”
Stanford Head Coach David Shaw
On what he liked most out of the win:
“The fact that we started the second half playing our style of football. Our defense did a great job responding to adversity all day.”
On Duke's defensive pressure:
“They did a great job. We've prepared for teams in the past that did some things they didn't show on film, but delay blitzes. Delay blitzes are tough. Their linebackers didn't blitz right away. Once we made that adjustment we stopped getting our quarterback hit.”
On Andrew Luck's play:
“I've only been around a couple of quarterbacks that see everything. I thought he managed the game very well. Early on we had a couple of protection issues where he had to slide and throw a few off his back foot. He's resilient. He never backs down.”
On the running game:
“The running game I thought was great. I thought it was good from start to finish. We were hitting four, five yards a chunk early on. We were just waiting for the breakout run. The bottom line is they have 11 on the field and we can only block 10 when we're running the ball, so somebody is going to be unblocked, so the challenge is to the running backs. You've got to make somebody miss or break a tackle.”
On subbing in a lot of players:
“That was the plan. We did the same thing last week against San Jose State. We were trying to prepare ourselves for two hot-weather games in climates that we are not used to by playing a lot of guys early. We're deep enough so that we can rotate guys with some experience and athletic ability.”
On the loss:
“The football game took a lot of turns and twists. I'd say the first thing from my standpoint is that they won the physical battle. I knew coming in they were a very strong football team and they were able to win that battle most of the day. The next thing that was difficult was that they made big plays time and again, some on defense, mostly on offense. We really had one big, big play and that was Lee Butler's interception return for a touchdown. We knew that one of the things that when a team reaches the level they have, their intensity level is high and we have to match their intensity level for 60 minutes. I thought we did that in the first 30. We didn't get tired; it wasn't that. It's one of the most difficult things in sports, to regain momentum and we couldn't do that. We didn't make those plays to get that done. Where we are in this stage, and I've done a lot of thinking about this previous to this game, now is that we've got more players than we've had and we've got more depth and more pieces of the puzzle. Sometimes you have to shuffle the puzzle. We're going to look at things very closely. You have to have guys making plays and you have to have guys compete at a high level. We have quite a few guys who are capable of making plays on both sides of the ball. Not as many as we would like, but quite a few. So you really want to go and reevaluate the combinations from a personnel standpoint part and make sure we're on the right path in that regard. We certainly have to assess our injuries. I'm going to assess very carefully those who were that matched that intensity level. I'm real interested in tomorrow morning, I'd probably wait till then till my mind's clear, to watch that very thing very closely the first time around in all phases: kicking, offense and defense. Then look at some of the things that have to be correct and what we have to do better to make things happen. It's not all bad play, but it is absolutely very obvious that when we're right there close, that we didn't make the plays we had to make to win. That's something I'm going to assess this time. It is hurtful because all of our guys know we're better than we were physically a year ago and I think we're going to be a better football team if we commit to it. We've got to commit to it and we'll see how we approach Sunday and we'll get back Tuesday. Monday is the day off that we are required to give them but they need to use that day well to assess themselves and see what they're willing to do. Tuesday morning, we're going to practice football like we practice football and continue to move forward.”
On red zone offense:
“That's just about making plays. You guys have heard me say it before. When you're down there and run out of real estate yardage, you have to make the plays. One of the things you try to do, and obviously everybody would like to be able to run the ball well in the red zone because you run out of real estate in the passing game and it gets difficult, but that's where people have to make plays. We're not making plays. Two games do not tell you the whole story, but this gives us a little more to evaluate what we're getting done.”
On the kicking game:
“It's very unfortunate that Will [Snyderwine] missed and on the on-side kick, Will got hurt. So he's had that ankle issue, a small ankle issue. Now they've come to me and told me it's much worse and he was out the rest of the game. We have Jeff Ijjas and Paul Asack backing him up. I'll wait to hear what the trainers say about Will before I make a long term decision. We also have Will Monday and he can do a lot of things. He can place kick and punt and he's our backup punter right now. We may redshirt him if we could, but I'll have to assess all that once I hear about Will.”
Duke Junior Wide Receiver Conner Vernon
On tough third quarter:
“Yeah, we came out fighting and kept it close there for a minute, but towards the end there, we just lost our focus. We just stopped doing what we do.”
On the Stanford blitz:
“Yeah, I don't think we expected them to blitz that much coming into it. We tried to pick it up. Sometimes we did and sometimes we didn't. We just have to win our individual battles every play. It's not going to work half the time. We have to do it every time.”
On third quarter chance inside the 20 yard line:
“Yeah, it is a part of the game. We are going to miss kicks. It is just a part of the game, but it is up to the offense and defense for us to pick that up and execute.”
On Boston College next week:
“This game is over and done with. We just have to focus on Boston College next week. It is our first ACC game, so it is going to be a big game. This one goes on your record twice. We definitely have to come out. We had them here last year and had a good game. They've gotten better, and we've gotten better. We will find out on Saturday.”
Duke Senior Safety Lee Butler
On his interception return for a touchdown:
“I had to make it to the end zone. I was shocked really that the ball had bounced right to me. I just took off running and I scored. It was a great play.”
On working on deflections in practice:
“That was a weird play because I actually had nobody to be with. The ball was tipped and I was sitting right there. It was a great play.”
On Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck:
“We knew that we were going to have to be there to blitz and do things to the point where he had to get the ball out to have someone attempt to make the play.”
On next week's game against Boston College:
“We are not really down right now. With a big game coming up, we just have to learn to actually make the plays.”
On being a leader and getting the team focused for next week:
“The main thing is to just make sure that we are not down. We have to just know that we have a long season. We just have to work hard and take it one game at a time.”
Stanford Head Coach David Shaw
On what he liked most out of the win:
“The fact that we started the second half playing our style of football. Our defense did a great job responding to adversity all day.”
On Duke's defensive pressure:
“They did a great job. We've prepared for teams in the past that did some things they didn't show on film, but delay blitzes. Delay blitzes are tough. Their linebackers didn't blitz right away. Once we made that adjustment we stopped getting our quarterback hit.”
On Andrew Luck's play:
“I've only been around a couple of quarterbacks that see everything. I thought he managed the game very well. Early on we had a couple of protection issues where he had to slide and throw a few off his back foot. He's resilient. He never backs down.”
On the running game:
“The running game I thought was great. I thought it was good from start to finish. We were hitting four, five yards a chunk early on. We were just waiting for the breakout run. The bottom line is they have 11 on the field and we can only block 10 when we're running the ball, so somebody is going to be unblocked, so the challenge is to the running backs. You've got to make somebody miss or break a tackle.”
On subbing in a lot of players:
“That was the plan. We did the same thing last week against San Jose State. We were trying to prepare ourselves for two hot-weather games in climates that we are not used to by playing a lot of guys early. We're deep enough so that we can rotate guys with some experience and athletic ability.”
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