Upcoming Event: Football versus NC State on September 20, 2025 at 4 p.m.
Football
vs NC State
Quotes: Duke 52, Elon 13
8/30/2014 11:47:00 PM | Football
Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe
On his takeaways from the first game of the season:
“I think we learned a lot about a lot of football players tonight. We played a lot of people. More importantly than that it was obvious we have some playmakers that we hadn't had, a little different level. But at the same time, what they're going to see, all of us, starting on offense is how much better we can play as a team, the cohesiveness of it is another level. Flip over to defense is the same thing. We weren't as aggressive early as you might want to be and it kind of got us on our heels a little bit. I think it's very obvious when you play first games you never tackle quite as good as you want to. You just don't play a lot of live football anymore. So we'll have to tackle better. We'll be able to evaluate our people as to who is being effective. We played a lot of people in the front. I didn't like the results of our four-man pass rush, I think we were okay, but we can be better. The kicking game was the area I was disappointed the most. We got outplayed in kickoff coverage and kickoff returns which doesn't happen to us very often. So what I told our squad is that this is going to be great tape. We're going to learn from it, we'll see some great things, but it's going to be a great opportunity for us to get better as a team.”
On quarterback Anthony Boone helping the cohesiveness of the offense:
“Anthony was exceptional almost all night. I had a lot of time with him on the sideline, which was great. He saw a couple of things. A fifth-year senior quarterback that's as smart as Anthony, as talented as Anthony is…he grasps a lot of things and I think it's a great opportunity for him to grow. We have a tough assignment next week and I think all of them know that. That old first game to second game is a cliché I don't really believe in. I think you learn a lot. You have to correct a lot of things from game one to game two. You're not necessarily going to play better unless you play better. So we've got to play better in areas of the kicking game. I love seeing Ross [Martin] kick a long field goal. I was happy we had that opportunity. I didn't like the location or the hang time of our kickoffs. I didn't like our coverage in kickoffs and I didn't think we blocked very well in the kickoff return. The punting game was kind of a wash. We didn't have to punt much. Will [Monday] looked fine. But in the punt return I'd like to generate something although the guy had some bad punts that were non-returnable. I got all this flowing through my mind. Players asked me if I'm happy. I'm really happy, but I'm learning so much I can't make my brain stop right now.”
On the young secondary tonight:
“First of all let me say this. I was really impressed, and I knew I would be, with the operation of Elon's offense. I'm gonna tell you Coach [Rich] Skrosky does a great job of coaching offense. They were executing. They were throwing comebacks. They were throwing balls in seams and if you weren't good in the secondary they were going to complete passes. We did a better job as the game went on, but we got a lot of looks at true freshmen. There were three true freshmen that were in there a lot together with Zavier Carmichael, Alonzo Saxton II and Zach Muñiz and that's great to see. We can build off of that. I think we've got really good safeties. [Jeremy] Cash didn't have to play a lot tonight because Corbin McCarthy can step in and play. We got Deondre Singleton, Everett Edwards, DeVon Edwards, Dwayne Norman. Good gosh, that's good depth back there. We can grow that thing in the secondary and I think we have a lot of little packages that we didn't use that I think will help us moving forward.”
On Issac Blakeney:
“He may be the surprise in the league. He's extremely talented. Issac's got to draw all the things in the right direction. If he gets every part of that big body and mind moving in the right direction he has a chance at being an exceptional and special player.”
Duke Safety Deondre Singleton
On playing in the first game of the season:
“It felt good to be out there with the team, out there not practicing with each other, but actually playing a real game against somebody else. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of good things, but we have a lot of things to fix to get ready for next week. It just changes the atmosphere. Nobody is keeping score. We're just out there practicing. But now get out there, keeping score. We're out there fighting, and just having fun as a team.
On the younger Duke secondary:
“[Tonight] was a lot of good work out there. [The younger guys] got a chance to play a lot of the second half, learning and getting their first experience in college football. We're going to need them. Anyone can get hurt at any time, and we'll need someone to come in and fill that position.”
On the play of the defense:
“We started out a little slow and then picked things up in the second half. Overall, I think we did a good job, collectively, and I think this week we need to bring our lunch pail and be ready.”
On Troy next week:
“It's going to be a tough, hard-fought game. We're playing them at home. They have the home advantage. We're going to have to go down there and fight. I think it's going to be a good one though.”
Duke Wide Receiver Issac Blakeney
On his height advantage:
“I think it's something different that I can bring to the team. Anthony Boone likes it a lot, just throwing the ball up. Getting up to the goal line, instead of having the linemen trying to push and shove, we just make it easy, throw the ball up in the air, and I can go up and get it over a smaller cornerback.”
On his potential for the future this season:
“Jamison [Crowder] is like my brother, so I want to help him out anyway I can. I feel like the more plays I can make, it'll make it easier for him, so the safety has to respect the whole field, and not just shade over to Jamison. If teams have their game plan to keep going over to Jamison, I'll just keep making plays, so they'll have to pick and choose.”
On the first regular season game:
“It's nice to see fresh faces. You can work on your technique and go back to your fundamentals. Football's most fun when you can just go out there relaxed when you're scoring.”
On the maturity of Anthony Boone:
“It keeps us on the field. It keeps drives going. Last year, Anthony was very aggressive. Anthony has a really strong arm, but Coach Cutcliffe and Coach Montgomery have taught him how to check down and play for the next down.”
Duke Quarterback Thomas Sirk
On the first play of his college career:
“It was definitely exciting. It gave me a lot of confidence, coming in, getting the first down [on fourth and one], and seeing our team score. Our offensive linemen do a great job. They want to score just as bad as I do, even though they're not carrying the ball. I give a lot of credit to those guys, helping to pull me in and pushing people off me down in the red zone. It was everything I thought it would be. Growing up, it was my dream to play in a college football game, and I've accomplished that tonight. Now I think some of the jitters that I have went away. Now I'm moving on to Troy. I am satisfied as a whole with our performance on offense, but I'll never say that I'm satisfied with my performance because I think that there are things that I can get better at each week. I think there are some things we're going to look at on the film tomorrow and see that I can fix. I'm definitely happy I scored, helped our team win, and got those two touchdowns, but moving forward to Troy next week, I'm going to do whatever I can to get the W.”
On communicating with former roommate/teammate Brandon Connette before the game:
“I got a text from Brandon right before the game, and I was so in the zone, I didn't have a chance to reply to it. I'm looking forward to getting back and sending him a text to wish him the best in his game in California.”
Elon Head Coach Rick Skrosky
Opening Statement:
“Overall, I'm not pleased with the result. Like I said to the guys after the game – I'm not a guy who is going to sugarcoat it – I think we were competitive and played hard until the end, but the result is the result. That's what we do. We are judged on the scoreboard.
“They're a more talented football team than we are. There's no question about it. Coach Cut [David Cutcliffe] and I had a great conversation before the game got going and then a great, short conversation afterwards. The respect I have for that man is because he is everything that coaching should be.
“At the same time, the game should have been closer than what it was. Too many of our errors were self-inflicted on both sides of the ball. Whether it was on defense not fitting a run right, not playing the ball in the air or missing some tackles, I thought we missed some turnover opportunities. On offense, we had too many drops and a little bit too much pressure on the quarterback.
“We'll continue to get better. I'm so confident each and every day that the program is moving in the direction we all want it to move. When I say we all, I'm talking about everybody. I've said this from day one this is an inclusive program. I want everyone to be proud of this program because we have a lot of real special kids that we're playing with.”
On not being overly pleased about his first impression:
“When you lose a game like that, I don't think you can sit here and say that you're overly pleased. It's like any game. There are good things that we can draw from. We're going to come in and watch the film tomorrow morning. The kids will come in tomorrow afternoon.
“There's going to be a lot of good things that we'll be able to take from it, but we're in a result-oriented deal. Don't mistake that. I'm the first one to tell you that we don't talk about winning coming into a game, but we have to understand that our execution level needs to get amped up very high to make sure the result doesn't end like it did tonight.
“They're a good team. I think you guys know the respect I have for Coach Cut. Their quarterback [Anthony Boone] is a good player. The receivers, No. 17 [Issac Blakeney] and No. 83 [Anthony Nash] size-wise, and [Jamison] Crowder we knew about coming in. You kind of knew those matchups were going to be tough on us. But we'll battle. We'll come back and get back to work tomorrow.”
On his conversation with Coach Cutcliffe after the game:
“I'll just say this, he is everything coaching should be. He is why our profession is special. Our profession needs more and more people like him.
“As long as we have David Cutlcliffes in this game, we have a good game. I think that much of him and he knows that.”
On his takeaways from the first game of the season:
“I think we learned a lot about a lot of football players tonight. We played a lot of people. More importantly than that it was obvious we have some playmakers that we hadn't had, a little different level. But at the same time, what they're going to see, all of us, starting on offense is how much better we can play as a team, the cohesiveness of it is another level. Flip over to defense is the same thing. We weren't as aggressive early as you might want to be and it kind of got us on our heels a little bit. I think it's very obvious when you play first games you never tackle quite as good as you want to. You just don't play a lot of live football anymore. So we'll have to tackle better. We'll be able to evaluate our people as to who is being effective. We played a lot of people in the front. I didn't like the results of our four-man pass rush, I think we were okay, but we can be better. The kicking game was the area I was disappointed the most. We got outplayed in kickoff coverage and kickoff returns which doesn't happen to us very often. So what I told our squad is that this is going to be great tape. We're going to learn from it, we'll see some great things, but it's going to be a great opportunity for us to get better as a team.”
On quarterback Anthony Boone helping the cohesiveness of the offense:
“Anthony was exceptional almost all night. I had a lot of time with him on the sideline, which was great. He saw a couple of things. A fifth-year senior quarterback that's as smart as Anthony, as talented as Anthony is…he grasps a lot of things and I think it's a great opportunity for him to grow. We have a tough assignment next week and I think all of them know that. That old first game to second game is a cliché I don't really believe in. I think you learn a lot. You have to correct a lot of things from game one to game two. You're not necessarily going to play better unless you play better. So we've got to play better in areas of the kicking game. I love seeing Ross [Martin] kick a long field goal. I was happy we had that opportunity. I didn't like the location or the hang time of our kickoffs. I didn't like our coverage in kickoffs and I didn't think we blocked very well in the kickoff return. The punting game was kind of a wash. We didn't have to punt much. Will [Monday] looked fine. But in the punt return I'd like to generate something although the guy had some bad punts that were non-returnable. I got all this flowing through my mind. Players asked me if I'm happy. I'm really happy, but I'm learning so much I can't make my brain stop right now.”
On the young secondary tonight:
“First of all let me say this. I was really impressed, and I knew I would be, with the operation of Elon's offense. I'm gonna tell you Coach [Rich] Skrosky does a great job of coaching offense. They were executing. They were throwing comebacks. They were throwing balls in seams and if you weren't good in the secondary they were going to complete passes. We did a better job as the game went on, but we got a lot of looks at true freshmen. There were three true freshmen that were in there a lot together with Zavier Carmichael, Alonzo Saxton II and Zach Muñiz and that's great to see. We can build off of that. I think we've got really good safeties. [Jeremy] Cash didn't have to play a lot tonight because Corbin McCarthy can step in and play. We got Deondre Singleton, Everett Edwards, DeVon Edwards, Dwayne Norman. Good gosh, that's good depth back there. We can grow that thing in the secondary and I think we have a lot of little packages that we didn't use that I think will help us moving forward.”
On Issac Blakeney:
“He may be the surprise in the league. He's extremely talented. Issac's got to draw all the things in the right direction. If he gets every part of that big body and mind moving in the right direction he has a chance at being an exceptional and special player.”
Duke Safety Deondre Singleton
On playing in the first game of the season:
“It felt good to be out there with the team, out there not practicing with each other, but actually playing a real game against somebody else. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of good things, but we have a lot of things to fix to get ready for next week. It just changes the atmosphere. Nobody is keeping score. We're just out there practicing. But now get out there, keeping score. We're out there fighting, and just having fun as a team.
On the younger Duke secondary:
“[Tonight] was a lot of good work out there. [The younger guys] got a chance to play a lot of the second half, learning and getting their first experience in college football. We're going to need them. Anyone can get hurt at any time, and we'll need someone to come in and fill that position.”
On the play of the defense:
“We started out a little slow and then picked things up in the second half. Overall, I think we did a good job, collectively, and I think this week we need to bring our lunch pail and be ready.”
On Troy next week:
“It's going to be a tough, hard-fought game. We're playing them at home. They have the home advantage. We're going to have to go down there and fight. I think it's going to be a good one though.”
Duke Wide Receiver Issac Blakeney
On his height advantage:
“I think it's something different that I can bring to the team. Anthony Boone likes it a lot, just throwing the ball up. Getting up to the goal line, instead of having the linemen trying to push and shove, we just make it easy, throw the ball up in the air, and I can go up and get it over a smaller cornerback.”
On his potential for the future this season:
“Jamison [Crowder] is like my brother, so I want to help him out anyway I can. I feel like the more plays I can make, it'll make it easier for him, so the safety has to respect the whole field, and not just shade over to Jamison. If teams have their game plan to keep going over to Jamison, I'll just keep making plays, so they'll have to pick and choose.”
On the first regular season game:
“It's nice to see fresh faces. You can work on your technique and go back to your fundamentals. Football's most fun when you can just go out there relaxed when you're scoring.”
On the maturity of Anthony Boone:
“It keeps us on the field. It keeps drives going. Last year, Anthony was very aggressive. Anthony has a really strong arm, but Coach Cutcliffe and Coach Montgomery have taught him how to check down and play for the next down.”
Duke Quarterback Thomas Sirk
On the first play of his college career:
“It was definitely exciting. It gave me a lot of confidence, coming in, getting the first down [on fourth and one], and seeing our team score. Our offensive linemen do a great job. They want to score just as bad as I do, even though they're not carrying the ball. I give a lot of credit to those guys, helping to pull me in and pushing people off me down in the red zone. It was everything I thought it would be. Growing up, it was my dream to play in a college football game, and I've accomplished that tonight. Now I think some of the jitters that I have went away. Now I'm moving on to Troy. I am satisfied as a whole with our performance on offense, but I'll never say that I'm satisfied with my performance because I think that there are things that I can get better at each week. I think there are some things we're going to look at on the film tomorrow and see that I can fix. I'm definitely happy I scored, helped our team win, and got those two touchdowns, but moving forward to Troy next week, I'm going to do whatever I can to get the W.”
On communicating with former roommate/teammate Brandon Connette before the game:
“I got a text from Brandon right before the game, and I was so in the zone, I didn't have a chance to reply to it. I'm looking forward to getting back and sending him a text to wish him the best in his game in California.”
Elon Head Coach Rick Skrosky
Opening Statement:
“Overall, I'm not pleased with the result. Like I said to the guys after the game – I'm not a guy who is going to sugarcoat it – I think we were competitive and played hard until the end, but the result is the result. That's what we do. We are judged on the scoreboard.
“They're a more talented football team than we are. There's no question about it. Coach Cut [David Cutcliffe] and I had a great conversation before the game got going and then a great, short conversation afterwards. The respect I have for that man is because he is everything that coaching should be.
“At the same time, the game should have been closer than what it was. Too many of our errors were self-inflicted on both sides of the ball. Whether it was on defense not fitting a run right, not playing the ball in the air or missing some tackles, I thought we missed some turnover opportunities. On offense, we had too many drops and a little bit too much pressure on the quarterback.
“We'll continue to get better. I'm so confident each and every day that the program is moving in the direction we all want it to move. When I say we all, I'm talking about everybody. I've said this from day one this is an inclusive program. I want everyone to be proud of this program because we have a lot of real special kids that we're playing with.”
On not being overly pleased about his first impression:
“When you lose a game like that, I don't think you can sit here and say that you're overly pleased. It's like any game. There are good things that we can draw from. We're going to come in and watch the film tomorrow morning. The kids will come in tomorrow afternoon.
“There's going to be a lot of good things that we'll be able to take from it, but we're in a result-oriented deal. Don't mistake that. I'm the first one to tell you that we don't talk about winning coming into a game, but we have to understand that our execution level needs to get amped up very high to make sure the result doesn't end like it did tonight.
“They're a good team. I think you guys know the respect I have for Coach Cut. Their quarterback [Anthony Boone] is a good player. The receivers, No. 17 [Issac Blakeney] and No. 83 [Anthony Nash] size-wise, and [Jamison] Crowder we knew about coming in. You kind of knew those matchups were going to be tough on us. But we'll battle. We'll come back and get back to work tomorrow.”
On his conversation with Coach Cutcliffe after the game:
“I'll just say this, he is everything coaching should be. He is why our profession is special. Our profession needs more and more people like him.
“As long as we have David Cutlcliffes in this game, we have a good game. I think that much of him and he knows that.”
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WR
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