David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Syracuse

DURHAM, N.C. - Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe met with members of the media virtually on Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference.

The Blue Devils head to Syracuse, N.Y., for their fifth contest of the 2020 season at Syracuse. The game will be broadcast on RSN with Tom Werme, James Bates, and Abby Labar on the call. Kickoff is slated for 12:30 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from Learfield IMG College through the TuneIn app or goduke.com

David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"As I said after the game just referring to the last game -- it's been a little bit of a repetitive feeling as you come up and why have you gotten beat. The inconsistency of our team falls and lies on the head coach. The inconsistency of our offense lies, in this case, on the head coach. You look at everything you're doing and we're doing that. But most importantly, we don't lose spirit. We don't lose our work ethic. Not as easy as people might think when our players are doing everything we're asking them to do and between school and football there really is no other time for them. I'm very proud of their Sunday's, of how they approach getting back ready. Obviously, it's Monday our day off. We've spent a lot of time over the last two days now moving forward with Syracuse.

"Syracuse is a really good football team. Dino Babers does a great job. He's a great coach. They've got a new defensive coordinator with a pretty complex system. Obviously, with their offense they're going to play fast. They're going to spread the field. They've got some good football players and an outstanding quarterback in (Tommy) DeVito. A big challenge for us and a year ago, they came down here and spanked us pretty badly. Another big challenge. The fifth ACC game in a row. It is what it is. It's 2020. We're not going to run from the challenge. We are going to run to the challenge. We look forward to getting on the practice field tomorrow and getting our football team better in every aspect."

(Ref.: On Jaylen Stinson's fumble recovery for a touchdown)
"Just great effort and a mentality that you're not going to be denied. We have a term 'treat the ground like a hot stove,' that as soon as you hit the ground you get up and you go make something happen. Our team has had intermittent great moments in spirit. I'll be honest with you our punt team right now is performing at an extremely high level, doing a lot of things well. And I'm not talking about just the snapper or the punter, I'm talking about everybody involved with the punt team. Jaylen is an exciting young player. He's full of energy. Our freshmen are really leading the way in so many different areas and I'm excited about that. But we've got to put 22 people out there, whether it's the offense, defense, really 33 if you want to add whatever special teams unit that are playing with that kind of energy and I'm anxious to see if we can get to that level and get to that level of execution. Great play by him."

(Ref.: On the importance of playing in a tight game with Virginia Tech)
"Well, I think it's extremely important. And I do think it had an effect when we took the entire offensive team and I sat down with them again this week. We're going to have to get to where all 11 positions, whoever is lining up and playing there, all 11 positions are doing their job. Just do your job. Nobody has to be Superman. You don't have to do more than what's required. You just have to do what's required. And if we take that approach in all of our phases we'll be just fine. We've got enough good football players to play and win when we play well together. That's got to be the theme."

(Ref.: On the hurdles that Chase Brice has faced while learning the offense during the pandemic)
"Well I think it's been really difficult for all of our players to deal with the pandemic and the amount of time away from here and how we returned mid-July and how little time that really is before school started and where we could really practice with them. So, it's not easy. Learning a new system, learning a new protection system. Our protection system is going to be one of the more versatile ones that you'll find in football, period. There's a lot of communication that goes with the quarterback. A lot has to happen quickly at the line of scrimmage, and I think that's a challenge for any new quarterback.

"When we say, for example, a quarterback comes to us out of high school, it's the same process. It's very difficult. We've been doing this protection system since, I started this about the time Peyton Manning came to Tennessee and he kept it with him throughout his NFL career. It's going to settle in, it's going to get better. And then you have to learn the other parts of it. Route concepts and progression reads are really important to us. We're not going to just give you a primary and say, this is where we're going with the ball. The longer you play in our system, the quicker -- that mechanics is tough with eyes here pre snap read, post snap read, and then what we call an alarm. That means you've got to get it out on time. And so the more you do it, the better you're going to get at it."

(Ref.: On the way Brice has picked up on the offense and what he can improve on)
"Well, that's really where we are because of the lack of scrimmage time. Unfortunately, your scrimmaging against power five football teams in reality from what you would do in spring ball and what you would do in summer camp, which we didn't really have a camp. I think it's an ongoing process and each week, I sit down with him. 'What are you comfortable with? What are you not comfortable with?' Because really what we have to come up with is what is the functional part, and that is the quarterback. What is he comfortable with what pass concept, what protection concept, and then we move it from there."

(Ref.: On using last year's game against Syracuse as motivation)
"Well we haven't really been with our team to show any Syracuse yet. They have it on their iPads. They certainly will look at it. I think a year ago that was a unique game in itself. A real low point for our team a year ago. Not just a low point after the game, really before. I think there were things we needed to address, and we did later. But I do think any football player is embarrassed by poor performance and they want to respond. They're well aware of what occurred a year ago. But let me tell you about Syracuse, Syracuse is a physical, very aggressive football team, program I should say. So, if you want to mix it up, they're the ones to mix it up with. You have to step your game up when you play Syracuse when it comes to physicality and effort."

(Ref.: On explosive plays and Jarett Garner's development coming back from injury)
"Let me start with Jarett. He had a great summer. It was interesting. We would get video of his work because he was in physical therapy all throughout the time he was gone. We were able to keep him in physical therapy and saw the work that he was putting in. You could see that it was coming. Early in camp, he was still tender and cautious. That's a bit of an ongoing process. But he is a big guy that has absolutely outstanding speed. It's great to see that coming. Big time players can make big time plays. That's what explosives are. We certainly have them in the backfield. We've got it at tight end. We've got it at receiver. But his size when you walk up next to Jarett Garner, you're going to be shocked, anybody is, at just how big of a man he is. It's exciting to see that.

"We're going to have some match-up opportunities as each week goes by. One of the things with explosives in the pass game comes with protection. You've got to set up great decisions. We have to have great protection. We also have to set up some times where we can hold the ball a little bit with certain types of protection. A lot of what you go in in the planning is where are the explosives going to come from. Then you have to go on the field and execute them. But they're huge in the game of football. No doubt."

(Ref.: On what the phrase 'learning how to win' means to him)
"I go straight to the practice field. If you're going to be a winner, and that's why only special people win consistently, it's not just on Saturday. Learning how to win means you know where the seeds of victory are planted is on a practice field not a game field. You go out each day with the same focus. They are focused executed reps that lead you to being a good football team and that leads you to being a good football player. That's really all it means to me. I think from a game day perspective when you're struggling maybe one of the biggest issues though, is you're going to give up some big plays. Things are going to happen sometime that aren't good. You don't want that 'here we go again' mentality to creep into your team. Don't let one mistake become two, would be what I would say is the game day operation of learning how to win."

(Ref.: On how to prevent one bad thing from becoming two when your team is losing)
"Yeah, I think that's one of the biggest challenges you have as a head coach and particularly in this environment where you don't have as many team meetings. We don't have a place other than at practice to have a team meeting to develop that kind of chemistry. You got two different locker rooms. You circulate that mindset. Your captains have to circulate that. Your coaches have to circulate that. It's a unique time, as I said, that where you take your team and develop those types of mentalities more than just at the hotel on Friday night before a game or Saturday morning before a ballgame. Again, I'll go back to the practice field. You have to have a next play mentality, we'll say that. We've also had some other buzz words that mean, let it go and move on to the next play. Let's play with energy. You know, we call it 'treat the ground like a hot stove.' Everybody's going to get back up, how fast do you get back up? And so that mentality has to run throughout your program. But I think it's probably been more challenging for me being as entrenched in the offense as I am and then trying to get time with the team and you don't have as much time as you normally would get. No excuses, just got to get the job done better."

(Ref.: On what exact buzz words your players use within the program that are said on the field)
"We've changed them through the years, whether it's rally or whether it's hot stove or 55, which is one of our mottos. That circulates at times on the sideline. Pick yourself back up. All of those things are a reminder that we need to be a great teammate. That's one of the ways of being a great teammate is you immediately see opportunities to pick people up. That's one of the things that you have to do as a coach. You've got to be the best teammate on the field. You don't have time to hang your head. And we've got to move forward. This is something that obviously for us right now is a big challenge, but it's also a work in progress and we've got to get there."

(Ref.: On the run game success this weekend against Virginia Tech)
"I think that we adjusted some things with our backs. We are always looking at the timing mechanism. I think I mentioned that if you get an accurate snap the timing of the run game is there. Run game initially in my world was all from under the center. And you know what people forget sometimes is the relationship of the ball not only with but to the line of scrimmage and the block. If the timing's not there an offensive lineman can have a great block. But the ball doesn't arrive at the right time or the right place no chance to be successful. We're still a work in progress there. I think we were close, close, close on so many other plays. I think we can be an outstanding run team. We've got a big challenge this week because Syracuse does a lot of things that are unorthodox and you know every week you've got to work on something and we're going to certainly have to work this week. But I think they're enthused about what we can do. And I think Coach (Greg) Frey is getting more and more time with the guys. And you know we want to grow the number of people we can play with upfront. So, I think we've got a really good chance of being a good running football team if we put the work in."

(Ref.: On Noah Gray's importance to the team)
"Every day we go to practice, means more to this team than people might realize. Noah empties the bucket every day. I've never seen Noah take a rep off or a day off and his teammates would all tell you that. People are going to listen to your actions by far more than they're going to listen to your words. Noah doesn't say a whole lot, doesn't have to. He's inspirational. He's very talented. He's gifted. He can run. He's out with the wide receivers getting work and a great route runner. But he also doesn't mind going in and mixing it up in the line of scrimmage. He can play fullback. He can play tight end. He can play receiver and he can line up next to a tackle. That's a rare breed of player. I would say that he doesn't only inspire his fellow teammates, he inspires his coaches including this one right here. He is a very inspirational young man."

(Ref.: On the kick return game)
"Well, generally a lot of it comes from the kickers you face. Hang time and ball placement is one of the most difficult things to try to get the timing right of a kickoff return. We have faced some really good kickers so the opportunities haven't been very many. We've also had to rotate through people. Coach (Kirk) Benedict has had a lot of changes in personnel with the injuries and the circumstances that we've had to deal with. We're not as experienced as we have been on that unit. The combination of we've got to block it better but also see a kicker that gives us a kick or too. When you get too much hang time, you're really better off fair catching the ball because there's no way that you can time the blocks and the return out. We've played four really good football teams that all have good kick off men, four ACC power five football teams. It's always going to be a challenge against that kind of talent."

(Ref.: On wearing a mask while on the sideline coaching)
"Well, I'm first a believer that it's important to other people that you wear a mask. More important to other people than it is to you. And I'll go back to April when I had parent meetings on zoom and player meetings. None of us knew what to expect. We didn't know when they were going to return or under what circumstances they were going to return. But I promised our players and I promised our parents that the number one priority that we would have would be the health and well-being of those young men. That still is the number one priority. Our protocol has been unmatched. Our discipline level of the players has been unmatched. They're great at wearing masks and staying distanced when you can. Obviously, there's times in football you're not going to be distanced but when we're in a meeting or just around, that's the way it's going to be. I've talked with our coaches enough about it. Certainly, if our players are disciplined enough to do all that they're doing to stay playing football, why would we not do the same? So, I'm going to wear one and I'm going to keep it up. I don't find it easy. It's not easy to talk standing right here. It's not easy to talk and call plays on the sidelines. It's a constant thing that's in your mind. But you know what, personal discipline is the best way we're going to face anything in life and handle tragic circumstances or tough circumstances. So, we're just going to go with it."

(Ref.: On players wearing masks while on the sidelines or in bench areas)
"Players that aren't playing will keep their mask up or their helmet on which you know puts them where they have the shield. The other part of it is we have disposable masks they can put on. Now when you're hydrating, and you're drinking, we don't expect them to have the mask up. If they're having to verbalize something or breathing hard, catching their breath, we don't. But, we stand back as coaches and we understand that. We also are tested every single day, every day. Not three days a week like some people. Every single day we get the results. We have been negative this entire time since back in July. We do trust that value. So, when a guy's having to recover that's been in the game, I'm not going to immediately make them put a mask up, but they all have them. We have the gaiters but we also have disposable mask for all of them."

(Ref.: On the challenges of the new Syracuse defense)
"Well, I think they do a great job of being multiple. They've got really good athletes that they're putting on the field that are very versatile. They got some powerful people up front and they use their scheme well. They have a lot of ways they can apply pressure and you have to just stay solid. We've seen quarterbacks in their last game, the young Georgia Tech quarterback had a hard time taking care of the football. You have to make great decisions and make that a priority against a team like Syracuse."

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David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Syracuse

Players Mentioned

Chase Brice

Jarett Garner

Noah Gray

Jaylen Stinson

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David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Syracuse

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Players Mentioned

Chase Brice

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Noah Gray

Jaylen Stinson

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