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Football
vs Arizona State
Quotes: Duke 45, Virginia Tech 43
10/24/2015 9:53:00 PM | Football
Duke Head Coach David Cutcliffe
“I could not be more proud of a team or a staff when you're the visiting team, in particular in the incredible environment that the fans here create, and you get into an overtime circumstance, you're challenging not only your physical toughness and conditioning, you're challenging your mental toughness. I thought our leaders on the field, our staff, and everybody was incredible. We'll see a lot of things we want to do better in regulation, we'll see some things we want to do better in overtime. But we grew as a team. I want to compliment Virginia Tech and their players and their staff. The second half—that thing could have gone differently. They did what outstanding programs do: they responded. They played as good of football as I've seen anyone play in that second half. But in the end, we made plays. We made plays on offense, we had a lot of people contribute. You can't just say enough. An extremely well-called overtime by Scotty Montgomery, I did a good job of staying out of peoples' way. I'm very proud of our team.”
On quarterback Thomas Sirk:
“I think he's a great leader. He's one of our captains, one of our two captains, and I think he does a great job himself. They know how hard he works and how hard he has worked. He's totally committed to his teammates. He's a quarterback and it's never about him. I love that about him, he's a servant leader.”
On the 9:46 Drive:
“We had a lot of opportunities to get the stops. Part of that is that we didn't get it done, and part of that is that Virginia Tech got it done. They've got some really good football players. You're trying to roll the dice as to you can take chances. We had a really tough time of their huge defensive line getting to the quarterback. I thought we did a good job of being relentless.”
On Overtime:
“If you're a competitor, you love that test. And I think they viewed it as a test. … We practiced overtime at camp. We made a big deal of it: we did the coin toss, we did the other sides of the field... I didn't think we were going to lose.”
On kicker Ross Martin:
“I pulled him to the side and I said, 'Hey Ross, let me tell you a good thing: you don't have to play Virginia Tech again.”
On Overtime:
“I've made a living out of not second-guessing. You can't be in this business and be that kind of guy… [Practicing OT] Well we don't do it every week, because we do it in camp, but we do red zone every week. As a coaching staff we discuss it every week. We prepare it every week.
“Any time you can force field goals in the red zone…. We couldn't generate touchdowns. Those are huge plays in that part of the field for your defense.
“I've made every mistake ever been made, probably more than anyone in history.”
Bowl Eligibility:
“That's always a good thing… I tell young coaches all the time, don't ever, ever forget how to count to six.”
Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer
On the clock situation at the end of regulation:
“We thought we had stepped out of bounds. I thought everybody … did you guys see that? He [the official] said something about his forward progress, but I thought he [Cam Phillips] intentionally stepped out of bounds. We thought the clock had stopped, and all of the sudden, the clock was still running.”
On the onside kick:
“That was supposed to be a knuckleball dribbler down to the 20-yard line. We practiced it all week, and we didn't execute it. That wasn't an onside kick at all. What I was hoping was that we would get a cheap one. You get that knuckleball rolling down there … the tight end is down there … but you get guys that aren't used to handling the ball on the ground and maybe get to fumbling it around, and we get the ball around the 25 or 26 – with a chance of maybe getting a cheap fumble. But when it takes a high hop and the front line gets it, that's not very good execution.”
On Duke's big plays:
“Being young in the secondary … they did a nice job. They've got those good, tall receivers twisting there a little bit. They did a nice job. The kid [Thomas Sirk] threw the ball well, and the guy [Erich Schneider] had good height and caught it.”
On the decision to go for two in the fourth quarter:
“It was five-point game, and you go for one … it's still a four-point game. It still takes you a touchdown to win it. If you make it a three-point game, you can tie it with a field goal. You don't usually start playing that until the fourth quarter, but I thought it was close enough that I wanted to get it to a three-point game. We didn't have very good execution on that play either.”
On the program:
“I thought we played a good football team, and we played extremely hard. Some guys made some great plays. I thought [Travon] McMillian ran the ball well. We don't play defense as well as we're accustomed to around here, and I'm not going to make any excuses for that. That's that. To me, you look out there on the field, and there are some pretty good players. All the freshmen playing in the secondary, those guys are replacing two guys that probably would have ended up in the NFL. Well, they're going to end up in the NFL, those freshmen are. It's a growing period. You look at the receivers we've got and McMillian, I think the future looks extremely bright.”
On whether the administration and fans will be patient:
“I understand the importance of winning. There's no question about that. We're going to do the best job we can and worry about Boston College. I've got to put all my emphasis on what I can control and right now that's getting ready for Boston College and getting a football team playing with a lot of effort, a lot of heart, and had a tough loss and getting them back ready to roll.”
On what he tells the team:
“I'm a big believer that when things are tough, real tough, if you've got good kids in your program, rally and come back and there may not be enough wins, but if guys come back and play hard … we've got some big ball games against rival opponents. Coming back from disappointment and showing a little character and being relentless, those things go a long way in life. If a guy doesn't give in when things are looking bleak, and all of us have had that, if you don't give in, then you've got a chance. If you give in, I pretty much know how the story is going to turn out. That's us right there.”
“I could not be more proud of a team or a staff when you're the visiting team, in particular in the incredible environment that the fans here create, and you get into an overtime circumstance, you're challenging not only your physical toughness and conditioning, you're challenging your mental toughness. I thought our leaders on the field, our staff, and everybody was incredible. We'll see a lot of things we want to do better in regulation, we'll see some things we want to do better in overtime. But we grew as a team. I want to compliment Virginia Tech and their players and their staff. The second half—that thing could have gone differently. They did what outstanding programs do: they responded. They played as good of football as I've seen anyone play in that second half. But in the end, we made plays. We made plays on offense, we had a lot of people contribute. You can't just say enough. An extremely well-called overtime by Scotty Montgomery, I did a good job of staying out of peoples' way. I'm very proud of our team.”
On quarterback Thomas Sirk:
“I think he's a great leader. He's one of our captains, one of our two captains, and I think he does a great job himself. They know how hard he works and how hard he has worked. He's totally committed to his teammates. He's a quarterback and it's never about him. I love that about him, he's a servant leader.”
On the 9:46 Drive:
“We had a lot of opportunities to get the stops. Part of that is that we didn't get it done, and part of that is that Virginia Tech got it done. They've got some really good football players. You're trying to roll the dice as to you can take chances. We had a really tough time of their huge defensive line getting to the quarterback. I thought we did a good job of being relentless.”
On Overtime:
“If you're a competitor, you love that test. And I think they viewed it as a test. … We practiced overtime at camp. We made a big deal of it: we did the coin toss, we did the other sides of the field... I didn't think we were going to lose.”
On kicker Ross Martin:
“I pulled him to the side and I said, 'Hey Ross, let me tell you a good thing: you don't have to play Virginia Tech again.”
On Overtime:
“I've made a living out of not second-guessing. You can't be in this business and be that kind of guy… [Practicing OT] Well we don't do it every week, because we do it in camp, but we do red zone every week. As a coaching staff we discuss it every week. We prepare it every week.
“Any time you can force field goals in the red zone…. We couldn't generate touchdowns. Those are huge plays in that part of the field for your defense.
“I've made every mistake ever been made, probably more than anyone in history.”
Bowl Eligibility:
“That's always a good thing… I tell young coaches all the time, don't ever, ever forget how to count to six.”
Virginia Tech Head Coach Frank Beamer
On the clock situation at the end of regulation:
“We thought we had stepped out of bounds. I thought everybody … did you guys see that? He [the official] said something about his forward progress, but I thought he [Cam Phillips] intentionally stepped out of bounds. We thought the clock had stopped, and all of the sudden, the clock was still running.”
On the onside kick:
“That was supposed to be a knuckleball dribbler down to the 20-yard line. We practiced it all week, and we didn't execute it. That wasn't an onside kick at all. What I was hoping was that we would get a cheap one. You get that knuckleball rolling down there … the tight end is down there … but you get guys that aren't used to handling the ball on the ground and maybe get to fumbling it around, and we get the ball around the 25 or 26 – with a chance of maybe getting a cheap fumble. But when it takes a high hop and the front line gets it, that's not very good execution.”
On Duke's big plays:
“Being young in the secondary … they did a nice job. They've got those good, tall receivers twisting there a little bit. They did a nice job. The kid [Thomas Sirk] threw the ball well, and the guy [Erich Schneider] had good height and caught it.”
On the decision to go for two in the fourth quarter:
“It was five-point game, and you go for one … it's still a four-point game. It still takes you a touchdown to win it. If you make it a three-point game, you can tie it with a field goal. You don't usually start playing that until the fourth quarter, but I thought it was close enough that I wanted to get it to a three-point game. We didn't have very good execution on that play either.”
On the program:
“I thought we played a good football team, and we played extremely hard. Some guys made some great plays. I thought [Travon] McMillian ran the ball well. We don't play defense as well as we're accustomed to around here, and I'm not going to make any excuses for that. That's that. To me, you look out there on the field, and there are some pretty good players. All the freshmen playing in the secondary, those guys are replacing two guys that probably would have ended up in the NFL. Well, they're going to end up in the NFL, those freshmen are. It's a growing period. You look at the receivers we've got and McMillian, I think the future looks extremely bright.”
On whether the administration and fans will be patient:
“I understand the importance of winning. There's no question about that. We're going to do the best job we can and worry about Boston College. I've got to put all my emphasis on what I can control and right now that's getting ready for Boston College and getting a football team playing with a lot of effort, a lot of heart, and had a tough loss and getting them back ready to roll.”
On what he tells the team:
“I'm a big believer that when things are tough, real tough, if you've got good kids in your program, rally and come back and there may not be enough wins, but if guys come back and play hard … we've got some big ball games against rival opponents. Coming back from disappointment and showing a little character and being relentless, those things go a long way in life. If a guy doesn't give in when things are looking bleak, and all of us have had that, if you don't give in, then you've got a chance. If you give in, I pretty much know how the story is going to turn out. That's us right there.”
Players Mentioned
Coach Diaz Media Availability: Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl
Sunday, December 07
Manny Diaz and Darian Mensah: Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, December 07
Manny Diaz Joins ACC Huddle
Sunday, December 07
Darian Mensah Joins ACC Huddle
Sunday, December 07
