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8 p.m.
Football
at Tulane
Quotes: Duke 48, Tulane 27
9/24/2011 7:56:00 PM | Football
Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe
Opening Statement:
"The biggest issue and thing I said all along coming back from BC was that I was happy we got better in the second half. We kind of picked up where we left off in that regard, if you think about the start of this ball game. We weren't perfect. [Quarterback]Sean [Renfree] stared a receiver, and I saw the guy started breaking before he ever even went to his throwing motion. We give up that. What I like is we came back immediately. We answered anything they did - field goal or otherwise - with touchdowns. A lot of players involved, we ran the ball a little across the goal line. Glad to see that. We had some big passes. We dinked them a lot because they just played in man and we knew we could pop people loose over and over and over again. One thing I was disappointed in, Sean got hit a little bit. We've got to get him well. He's a pretty tough kid. He's been more banged up than what we let on. He's not missed a snap in practice and most guys would not have practiced. I'm proud of the fact that he won't give into it. That's pretty special."
On Duke's offensive output:
"I'm sure [Tulane was] frustrated. Particularly in the first half and the second quarter there, we just dominated the football. We had that one drive that they're calling a timeout. We wore their youngsters down a little bit. I thought we were going in a better conditioned team and we are. The conditions got tough today. It was hard on our guys. I told them at halftime, I said, 'This is Duke football weather. The hotter, the more humid, the nastier, the tougher, the better you're going to play.' We've got to get that through their minds, and of course, we did go out and score and put the game out of doubt in the second half early."
On Duke's personnel in the game:
"A lot of young people got to play. We got to play some of our great walk-ons. That really makes me happy - guys that have been with us a long time. The looks on their faces after that ball game was worth everything that happened to me. We've got this one behind us. We've got a whole lot of work to do. I've got a lot of work to do in the morning with this tape. We lost some people in this game, probably for some significant time. It's always difficult, but our team at this point, at least, we rallied and we've done what we had to do."
On the play of Duke's defense:
"They really didn't run the football at all as the game changed a little bit. We dominated them in the kicking game, for the most part. We had a punt return which we thought we might get and it got called back. I have said on tape that it looked like a good block. But defensively, we're so much improved. We've still got a lot that we can do - and that's the great part. I'm not ungracious at all. I'm very proud of our coaches - they've done a great job. I'm very proud of our players. But that's not the best we can play right there. We're moving in the right direction, but it's not the best that we can play."
On next week's trip to Florida International:
"We have a huge test to play an undefeated FIU team. Everybody picks them to win their league, and they're the hottest team in Div. IA football, and we've got to go on the road and challenge ourselves 7:00 Saturday night, nationally-televised. That's good stuff. Our guys have got to be pumped about tomorrow right now."
"Each week is a season, and that's where we are. To worry about anything else is too much of a burden. I don't want think about anything else. That's what we've got to crave - the opportunity to go on the road again and see how well we can play and get better. I just hope we keep playing on and on and on. I don't want the season to end. I want to see if this team can reach its potential. Our coaches feel that - all of us are just so enthused about these youngsters' work ethic. If they would just cut themselves loose and play, and we can minimize errors that have hurt us at times, we could have a lot of fun playing football. A lot of people missed a good football game today. I like the fact that our team goes out there early in the stadium for pre-game warm-up. They got themselves ready. They were locked in, and that's a great tribute to our young men. I'm really proud of them."
Duke Senior Nose Guard Charlie Hatcher
On back-to-back wins:
"Yes, it was really important for us, but Coach Cutcliffe has been telling us that it is a one-game season. We start on Sundays , and regardless of what happens the week before, we are going to go out there and do what we do and just work hard to prepare for that week."
On putting pressure on Tulane's quarterback:
"That is one thing that we have been working and focusing on before the season started, bumping up the total number of sacks. Kenny Anunike has been doing a really good job at that. Kenny got off today. I was able to step up, and Justin Foxx was able to help a little bit too."
On disrupting Tulane's running game:
"We just stayed in our gaps. We had solid gap control defense like we have been working on all year. There were good offensive lines, good running backs, and we were just able to get the job done up front with Kelby Brown and the linebackers helping us out. It was a good a game for the front seven."
Duke Sophomore Running Back Juwan Thompson
On being productive today:
"We ran the ball great today. We got a lot of pressure up front. The linebackers were great. They didn't have too much eye discipline, so with a lot of run fakes that we had, we were able to get it down the field with deep passes."
On first drives coming out strong:
"Yeah, we like to play a fast tempo game. We try to do a two minute offense majority of the time to keep the defense on their toes. Today, we still had some mistakes out there that we need to correct, but overall, we did play a good sound game being able to put some points on the board. Therefore, we were happy with the win.
On having tough start to the season and now coming off two wins:
"We are just going to keep improving. We are not worried about what other people say about our offense or defensive schemes. We are just going to keep going and practice better every day. We just had a lot of errors in those first two games and even in the third game. Errors are going to occur. We just have to bounce back and keep playing through them."
On quarterbacks rushing for touchdowns:
"It is no problem. We're doing our part as running backs. They want to call that specific formation for us to go out there and possibly block. I can't complain about it. It is a team effort. That's all."
Tulane Head Coach Bob Toledo
On the game:
"Running the ball really took us out of our game a little bit. They ran the ball extremely well and we missed tackles. Of course, [Sean] Renfree did a great job of being accurate and the receivers did a nice job of catching the ball and running after the catch. The first half, we were playing a little more man and they were running crossing routes and we were not staying with them - they were hurting us. In the second half we went to a little more zone and we were able to hit in on those crossing routes."
"Defensively, Duke put eight /nine guys in the box and they took away the run. We wanted to try to force the run a little bit and get some play-action passes. They just did a nice job of covering our receivers and putting pressure on our quarterback - linebackers did some blitzing and got after us pretty good. They kind of got us out of rhythm so to speak."
"The first half was tough but I was proud of the fact that the second half we came back and fought back. There were some things that happened - the fumble that we didn't get. There were some things that were a little strange that didn't go our way unfortunately. Again, it was one of those games where they played better than we played."
On the last scoring drive Tulane got it going:
"Again, they had some of their backups in and we had some of our backups in. We were fortunate we made some plays. Some of our receivers made some nice catches and D.J. Ponder threw a couple of nice balls. Robert Kelley did a nice job running with the ball on the screen and then on the touchdown run. They just did a nice job. They kept competing. That is the one thing as a coach you can be proud of - your team just keeps competing. We were outmatched today in that they played better than we did."
Opening Statement:
"The biggest issue and thing I said all along coming back from BC was that I was happy we got better in the second half. We kind of picked up where we left off in that regard, if you think about the start of this ball game. We weren't perfect. [Quarterback]Sean [Renfree] stared a receiver, and I saw the guy started breaking before he ever even went to his throwing motion. We give up that. What I like is we came back immediately. We answered anything they did - field goal or otherwise - with touchdowns. A lot of players involved, we ran the ball a little across the goal line. Glad to see that. We had some big passes. We dinked them a lot because they just played in man and we knew we could pop people loose over and over and over again. One thing I was disappointed in, Sean got hit a little bit. We've got to get him well. He's a pretty tough kid. He's been more banged up than what we let on. He's not missed a snap in practice and most guys would not have practiced. I'm proud of the fact that he won't give into it. That's pretty special."
On Duke's offensive output:
"I'm sure [Tulane was] frustrated. Particularly in the first half and the second quarter there, we just dominated the football. We had that one drive that they're calling a timeout. We wore their youngsters down a little bit. I thought we were going in a better conditioned team and we are. The conditions got tough today. It was hard on our guys. I told them at halftime, I said, 'This is Duke football weather. The hotter, the more humid, the nastier, the tougher, the better you're going to play.' We've got to get that through their minds, and of course, we did go out and score and put the game out of doubt in the second half early."
On Duke's personnel in the game:
"A lot of young people got to play. We got to play some of our great walk-ons. That really makes me happy - guys that have been with us a long time. The looks on their faces after that ball game was worth everything that happened to me. We've got this one behind us. We've got a whole lot of work to do. I've got a lot of work to do in the morning with this tape. We lost some people in this game, probably for some significant time. It's always difficult, but our team at this point, at least, we rallied and we've done what we had to do."
On the play of Duke's defense:
"They really didn't run the football at all as the game changed a little bit. We dominated them in the kicking game, for the most part. We had a punt return which we thought we might get and it got called back. I have said on tape that it looked like a good block. But defensively, we're so much improved. We've still got a lot that we can do - and that's the great part. I'm not ungracious at all. I'm very proud of our coaches - they've done a great job. I'm very proud of our players. But that's not the best we can play right there. We're moving in the right direction, but it's not the best that we can play."
On next week's trip to Florida International:
"We have a huge test to play an undefeated FIU team. Everybody picks them to win their league, and they're the hottest team in Div. IA football, and we've got to go on the road and challenge ourselves 7:00 Saturday night, nationally-televised. That's good stuff. Our guys have got to be pumped about tomorrow right now."
"Each week is a season, and that's where we are. To worry about anything else is too much of a burden. I don't want think about anything else. That's what we've got to crave - the opportunity to go on the road again and see how well we can play and get better. I just hope we keep playing on and on and on. I don't want the season to end. I want to see if this team can reach its potential. Our coaches feel that - all of us are just so enthused about these youngsters' work ethic. If they would just cut themselves loose and play, and we can minimize errors that have hurt us at times, we could have a lot of fun playing football. A lot of people missed a good football game today. I like the fact that our team goes out there early in the stadium for pre-game warm-up. They got themselves ready. They were locked in, and that's a great tribute to our young men. I'm really proud of them."
Duke Senior Nose Guard Charlie Hatcher
On back-to-back wins:
"Yes, it was really important for us, but Coach Cutcliffe has been telling us that it is a one-game season. We start on Sundays , and regardless of what happens the week before, we are going to go out there and do what we do and just work hard to prepare for that week."
On putting pressure on Tulane's quarterback:
"That is one thing that we have been working and focusing on before the season started, bumping up the total number of sacks. Kenny Anunike has been doing a really good job at that. Kenny got off today. I was able to step up, and Justin Foxx was able to help a little bit too."
On disrupting Tulane's running game:
"We just stayed in our gaps. We had solid gap control defense like we have been working on all year. There were good offensive lines, good running backs, and we were just able to get the job done up front with Kelby Brown and the linebackers helping us out. It was a good a game for the front seven."
Duke Sophomore Running Back Juwan Thompson
On being productive today:
"We ran the ball great today. We got a lot of pressure up front. The linebackers were great. They didn't have too much eye discipline, so with a lot of run fakes that we had, we were able to get it down the field with deep passes."
On first drives coming out strong:
"Yeah, we like to play a fast tempo game. We try to do a two minute offense majority of the time to keep the defense on their toes. Today, we still had some mistakes out there that we need to correct, but overall, we did play a good sound game being able to put some points on the board. Therefore, we were happy with the win.
On having tough start to the season and now coming off two wins:
"We are just going to keep improving. We are not worried about what other people say about our offense or defensive schemes. We are just going to keep going and practice better every day. We just had a lot of errors in those first two games and even in the third game. Errors are going to occur. We just have to bounce back and keep playing through them."
On quarterbacks rushing for touchdowns:
"It is no problem. We're doing our part as running backs. They want to call that specific formation for us to go out there and possibly block. I can't complain about it. It is a team effort. That's all."
Tulane Head Coach Bob Toledo
On the game:
"Running the ball really took us out of our game a little bit. They ran the ball extremely well and we missed tackles. Of course, [Sean] Renfree did a great job of being accurate and the receivers did a nice job of catching the ball and running after the catch. The first half, we were playing a little more man and they were running crossing routes and we were not staying with them - they were hurting us. In the second half we went to a little more zone and we were able to hit in on those crossing routes."
"Defensively, Duke put eight /nine guys in the box and they took away the run. We wanted to try to force the run a little bit and get some play-action passes. They just did a nice job of covering our receivers and putting pressure on our quarterback - linebackers did some blitzing and got after us pretty good. They kind of got us out of rhythm so to speak."
"The first half was tough but I was proud of the fact that the second half we came back and fought back. There were some things that happened - the fumble that we didn't get. There were some things that were a little strange that didn't go our way unfortunately. Again, it was one of those games where they played better than we played."
On the last scoring drive Tulane got it going:
"Again, they had some of their backups in and we had some of our backups in. We were fortunate we made some plays. Some of our receivers made some nice catches and D.J. Ponder threw a couple of nice balls. Robert Kelley did a nice job running with the ball on the screen and then on the touchdown run. They just did a nice job. They kept competing. That is the one thing as a coach you can be proud of - your team just keeps competing. We were outmatched today in that they played better than we did."
Players Mentioned
L
/ Football
LB
/ Football
DE
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NG
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RB
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