Upcoming Event: Football versus NC State on September 20, 2025 at 4 p.m.
Football
vs NC State
David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Virginia
10/11/2021 10:29:00 PM | Football
DURHAM – Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe met with members of the media on Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference.
Â
The Blue Devils travel to Virginia on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on RSN with Tom Werme, James Bates and Lauren Jbara on the call. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity app or GoDuke.com
Â
David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Just quick on Georgia Tech, there's no rocket science there. As I mentioned, it fully falls on my shoulders to have a team prepared to do the little things that wins games offensively. We came up with no points out of two plus-side turnovers and couldn't finish a game on offense. Penalties came in to play again. On defense, explosive plays. You've got to line up, have your eyes in the right place and have all the little things prepped there. Then in the kicking game, we didn't do the things that it takes to win a close game in the kicking game. What do you do about it? If you don't like the results that you're getting, you always look at the process. I need to make sure that our teaching and my teaching is what it needs to be to put them on the field to give them the best chance to win. The good part, the good news of that is that our toughness in our effort is outstanding. That's certainly something to build off of, and it'll take that to go on the road and play a really talented Virginia team again up there. It takes a mental toughness and a physical toughness and will take great effort."
Â
(Ref.: On how Mataeo Durant recovered after high usage this weekend)
"He was great. He practiced full speed yesterday. Looked good, looked fast. He's a tough guy, he really is. We have enough conversations with him that if enough is enough or when enough is enough, he's going to let us know. We as coaches are always looking for signs. Calvin McGee's in the press box and he can really get a good vision of it. He was feeling great physically going in and feels good coming out. He wants the opportunity to change a game, so he's good."
Â
(Ref.: On what Mataeo Durant means to the team)
"Yeah, I just think when different types of runs, he's got the skill and the talent level to be an explosive type runner, create explosives. He can run 50-yard touchdowns. He's proven that. But, he also is a guy that consistently gives you what I call the dirty yards. If a run is a three-yard run, he's likely going to get four or four and a half out of it, which is a very successful run. His endurance is obviously special, which helps him become a special back. He is being coached by a guy that's really helped him in the world of trying to get pre-snap reads. The running back has to understand fronts and entire process. I think he's being a great decision maker, and I think Calvin McGee has helped him in that regard as a veteran coach. Not that he wasn't coached great before, but in what we're doing, just the whole process of the scheme. So, I think it's helped Mateo really improve this year."
Â
"He is fierce. I mean, just look at him near the first down marker and look at him on the goal line. It's why you feel good about thinking players, not plays. He went over the top last week. I think part of that was getting tripped on a third down by one of his own players, made him decide he needed to go over the top, take that doubt out. So, he is a fierce competitor, too."
Â
(Ref.: On responding to back-to-back losses)
"The only thing I've seen is yesterday, and we've never been a team to hang our head. Nobody on that practice field was doing anything but what we always do. It's good practice habits and focus and intensity has to be there. It was there the week before that, the week before we played North Carolina. As I said, you can't improve upon the effort and the toughness this team has. I respect the heck out of those guys. We got to find that magic that does put us in position to win games in the fourth quarter."
Â
(Ref.: On seeing what he wanted to see after the North Carolina game even though it was a loss)
"We got better, but it's still on me. Until you're winning games that you can or should win, then you're not getting a job done as a coach. That's how I've always viewed it. I think you have to put yourself in that. There are times you just don't win and you coach your best and you do your best and your team does its best. But when you don't win and you could have or should have won, that's why I'm being truthful when I say it falls on me."
Â
(Ref.: On Mataeo Durant being under 200 pounds as a running back)
"Well, he doesn't have body fat, so that's a lot of lean muscle mass. I worry a little bit about the small amount of body fat that sometimes players have, and he's one of those. But that's a lot of muscle in 195 pounds."
Â
(Ref.: On how to face Virginia's quarterback with a banged up secondary)
"I guess you start every morning with a good prayer, right? It may make a lot of sense, playing coverage against a guy like him. As I said, he's mobile. So that increases the hardship of staying in coverage if he breaks the pocket because he sees downfield well. He's very accurate. So, we have to mix coverage. We have to do what we believe in. We have to have vision on receivers, and we've got to generate some rush. You always have to have pass rush. And then the other thing, may sound crazy, but if a guy is throwing the heck out of the ball, which he will, you also have to try to stop the run. You got to make them one dimensional if you can. You can't lose that in the process because they can run the ball. It's not an easy task in this league to play defense at all. We know we've got to play better defense than we have against him to be successful."
Â
(Ref.: On failing to convert third-and-short downs)
"It was a combination of different things. We got a guy stepped on. He fell in front of Mataeo and Mataeo tripped over him. You've heard of Murphy's law, it's a little bit of that. It only takes one at the point of attack. We've got to look at mixing the different things that we're doing. We're a good short yardage team when we're clicking. But, that was one of the areas that concerned me. We talked about it as a staff. Don't let third-and-short turn into fourth-and-short having to make a decision and having to make a decision at times between a field goal and go for it. That's easy when you open the book and read it, it's not so easy when the book says don't steal third and you do, you understand what I'm saying? So yeah, I want to see us and we've got a good broad base menu. We've got to prepare ourselves for that. Doing that in game six or game seven or even game five, particularly good against good is hard to make yourself do. So, it takes a lot of study by the players, coaches and you really got to focus on good footwork and no penetration, etc. That's a great question, because as you can might tell, I pretty much lectured on this yesterday for quite some time and again this morning. So, it's an area of emphasis."
Â
(Ref.: On the field goal misses against Georgia Tech)
"The battery is really good. The snap and hold were really good. I think he's got to make sure he's aligned better. I'm not inside his head. But what happens to any specialist? You can't take the field wondering whether it's going to be a good kick or a good punt. You don't need to wonder it. I mean, can you imagine a quarterback worrying every time he threw the ball, whether it's going to be a good throw or not? It's thoughtless. It's the mechanics. What I've always taught them is that you do the same things in practice a million times, and then you don't worry about the result. If you're striking the ball and you're in the same rhythm, it's no different than a golfer. I doubt there are many big time golfers that ever started shaking right before they swung a club. I don't know whether he's doing that, I'm not in his head, but I'm telling you what I tell him. Practice well. Practice really, really well. Then you go out there and play, period, let it go. So, that's kind of where it is."
Â
(Ref.: On Coach K's final season at Duke)
"Well, I talked with him not too terribly long ago, actually he and Mickey, both. We were somewhere together, and I just asked him, I said, how does this feel? Are you enjoying this process? Because if anybody ever deserve to enjoy a final year, and I think what you might think about him, he said, I'm enjoying the players more than ever. There's a purity to that. He may well be the most accomplished coach in any sport in the history of sports. Everything's arguable, but from every aspect of the accomplishments with Duke basketball, accomplishments with USA basketball, with the people that he's surrounded himself with coaches and players, the quality of people. I just don't think you could do it any better. I'm like everybody else that's a Duke basketball fan, I hate to see him go, but I'm also excited to know that Jon Scheyer is extremely prepared for this. I've visited with him on more than one occasion, and he's a great young man of character and talent, and he's had a pretty dang good mentor. You think? That's maybe more than you wanted, but that's my thoughts."
Â
(Ref.: On if he thinks his team has their backs against the wall)
"No, I don't really think that. I mean, I'm being serious. I think they've reached a mentality that we got more. We got more. We know we have more and we're not in the tank, not even close to empty. Or there's nobody feeling pushed against a wall because that suggests panic or anxiety. I think hunger is a better term. I'm hungrier than I've ever been, for lots of different reasons. I hope our team certainly does and I believe they do based on how their work and feel the same way."
Â
(Ref.: On taking the blame on losses and where he got that mentality)
"Well, Coach (Bear) Bryant, really. I learned important lessons from him. I understand exactly what he meant when he told me personally, when things aren't going well, it's the only time you say I or me because it is your fault. If you look deeply into what's going on around you, you'll see that. As a young coach, I didn't really want to hear that. As I've grown in this business, I do realize that. In the same sense, when you have a team that's winning championships, you better realize it's them. You really better realize that you're doing nothing special or different, that they've taken it. You've got one sitting right in here right now that's got a coastal division ring, and I have the utmost respect for him and his teammates. I struggled with that one, too, when Coach Bryant said that. Then probably the best advice he gave me, he said, don't get into this business of coaching college football because you think you love football. He said you only get in it because you can't live without it. I concur. Otherwise, don't get in it, they're going to be too many tough times, you'll start questioning. And I have no doubts that 46 years ago chose the right path."
Â
"I felt it, like I said. I didn't really lock into that early on. But I go back and I look at losses that I've had as a head coach. I get on the bus occasionally after a game and the loss, and I can hear he and Coach (Johnny) Majors yelling at me and like, why didn't you listen on the front end? OK, I'm sorry. That's real."
 Â
(Ref.: On Gunnar Holmberg's impressive completion percentage as a first year starter)
"I think it's the person he is. He is a young man of character. I think he's a really good listener. He's not a chatter box by any means. I think people that choose their words carefully are probably better listeners than the rest of us that may talk too much. I really think he grasps words and takes them to heart. He has been fearless in the pocket, and his pocket movement has been solid and he's kept his eyes down field. Then he's got a group of receivers that work with him and for him. If you'll look, I mean, those guys are there to make good catches. They're getting that little bit of edge and the difference sometimes is this much him being that much more accurate and them being that much more separated. So, it's a combination. And then the offensive line is, you're talking about great effort, those guys are battling. It's not an easy place to be. We got about eight of them playing a lot and they are battling. So just the combination of all of those things."
 Â
(Ref.: On what makes quarterback Brennan Armstrong and Virginia's passing game so dangerous)
"Because they create explosives, he's good down the field. He's got a big arm from hash to sideline. He's a good vertical thrower. He's a good deep out thrower. You don't average that many yards without getting chunks of yardage and they've got speed, size and quickness, that whole combination at receiver and tight end."
 Â
(Ref.: On Jake Bobo and Jalon Calhoun leading the receiving corps and how to get production from others)
"There's a lot of football teams built that way. A lot of teams in the NFL are built that way. I've seen these guys run these numbers way up. I mean, when the 49ers had Jerry Rice, you would have thought they'd cover him, wouldn't you? You understand what I'm saying. It's easier said than done. You're putting the people on the field. We're going to play guys more and more and more, and we got confidence in those receivers. But, we can design concepts that give these guys the ability to move around and play different circumstances. So yeah, we always want to use all our weapons and we've done that pretty well. But everybody in every offense is going to have go-to guys."
 Â
#GoDuke
Â
Â
The Blue Devils travel to Virginia on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on RSN with Tom Werme, James Bates and Lauren Jbara on the call. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity app or GoDuke.com
Â
David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"Just quick on Georgia Tech, there's no rocket science there. As I mentioned, it fully falls on my shoulders to have a team prepared to do the little things that wins games offensively. We came up with no points out of two plus-side turnovers and couldn't finish a game on offense. Penalties came in to play again. On defense, explosive plays. You've got to line up, have your eyes in the right place and have all the little things prepped there. Then in the kicking game, we didn't do the things that it takes to win a close game in the kicking game. What do you do about it? If you don't like the results that you're getting, you always look at the process. I need to make sure that our teaching and my teaching is what it needs to be to put them on the field to give them the best chance to win. The good part, the good news of that is that our toughness in our effort is outstanding. That's certainly something to build off of, and it'll take that to go on the road and play a really talented Virginia team again up there. It takes a mental toughness and a physical toughness and will take great effort."
Â
(Ref.: On how Mataeo Durant recovered after high usage this weekend)
"He was great. He practiced full speed yesterday. Looked good, looked fast. He's a tough guy, he really is. We have enough conversations with him that if enough is enough or when enough is enough, he's going to let us know. We as coaches are always looking for signs. Calvin McGee's in the press box and he can really get a good vision of it. He was feeling great physically going in and feels good coming out. He wants the opportunity to change a game, so he's good."
Â
(Ref.: On what Mataeo Durant means to the team)
"Yeah, I just think when different types of runs, he's got the skill and the talent level to be an explosive type runner, create explosives. He can run 50-yard touchdowns. He's proven that. But, he also is a guy that consistently gives you what I call the dirty yards. If a run is a three-yard run, he's likely going to get four or four and a half out of it, which is a very successful run. His endurance is obviously special, which helps him become a special back. He is being coached by a guy that's really helped him in the world of trying to get pre-snap reads. The running back has to understand fronts and entire process. I think he's being a great decision maker, and I think Calvin McGee has helped him in that regard as a veteran coach. Not that he wasn't coached great before, but in what we're doing, just the whole process of the scheme. So, I think it's helped Mateo really improve this year."
Â
"He is fierce. I mean, just look at him near the first down marker and look at him on the goal line. It's why you feel good about thinking players, not plays. He went over the top last week. I think part of that was getting tripped on a third down by one of his own players, made him decide he needed to go over the top, take that doubt out. So, he is a fierce competitor, too."
Â
(Ref.: On responding to back-to-back losses)
"The only thing I've seen is yesterday, and we've never been a team to hang our head. Nobody on that practice field was doing anything but what we always do. It's good practice habits and focus and intensity has to be there. It was there the week before that, the week before we played North Carolina. As I said, you can't improve upon the effort and the toughness this team has. I respect the heck out of those guys. We got to find that magic that does put us in position to win games in the fourth quarter."
Â
(Ref.: On seeing what he wanted to see after the North Carolina game even though it was a loss)
"We got better, but it's still on me. Until you're winning games that you can or should win, then you're not getting a job done as a coach. That's how I've always viewed it. I think you have to put yourself in that. There are times you just don't win and you coach your best and you do your best and your team does its best. But when you don't win and you could have or should have won, that's why I'm being truthful when I say it falls on me."
Â
(Ref.: On Mataeo Durant being under 200 pounds as a running back)
"Well, he doesn't have body fat, so that's a lot of lean muscle mass. I worry a little bit about the small amount of body fat that sometimes players have, and he's one of those. But that's a lot of muscle in 195 pounds."
Â
(Ref.: On how to face Virginia's quarterback with a banged up secondary)
"I guess you start every morning with a good prayer, right? It may make a lot of sense, playing coverage against a guy like him. As I said, he's mobile. So that increases the hardship of staying in coverage if he breaks the pocket because he sees downfield well. He's very accurate. So, we have to mix coverage. We have to do what we believe in. We have to have vision on receivers, and we've got to generate some rush. You always have to have pass rush. And then the other thing, may sound crazy, but if a guy is throwing the heck out of the ball, which he will, you also have to try to stop the run. You got to make them one dimensional if you can. You can't lose that in the process because they can run the ball. It's not an easy task in this league to play defense at all. We know we've got to play better defense than we have against him to be successful."
Â
(Ref.: On failing to convert third-and-short downs)
"It was a combination of different things. We got a guy stepped on. He fell in front of Mataeo and Mataeo tripped over him. You've heard of Murphy's law, it's a little bit of that. It only takes one at the point of attack. We've got to look at mixing the different things that we're doing. We're a good short yardage team when we're clicking. But, that was one of the areas that concerned me. We talked about it as a staff. Don't let third-and-short turn into fourth-and-short having to make a decision and having to make a decision at times between a field goal and go for it. That's easy when you open the book and read it, it's not so easy when the book says don't steal third and you do, you understand what I'm saying? So yeah, I want to see us and we've got a good broad base menu. We've got to prepare ourselves for that. Doing that in game six or game seven or even game five, particularly good against good is hard to make yourself do. So, it takes a lot of study by the players, coaches and you really got to focus on good footwork and no penetration, etc. That's a great question, because as you can might tell, I pretty much lectured on this yesterday for quite some time and again this morning. So, it's an area of emphasis."
Â
(Ref.: On the field goal misses against Georgia Tech)
"The battery is really good. The snap and hold were really good. I think he's got to make sure he's aligned better. I'm not inside his head. But what happens to any specialist? You can't take the field wondering whether it's going to be a good kick or a good punt. You don't need to wonder it. I mean, can you imagine a quarterback worrying every time he threw the ball, whether it's going to be a good throw or not? It's thoughtless. It's the mechanics. What I've always taught them is that you do the same things in practice a million times, and then you don't worry about the result. If you're striking the ball and you're in the same rhythm, it's no different than a golfer. I doubt there are many big time golfers that ever started shaking right before they swung a club. I don't know whether he's doing that, I'm not in his head, but I'm telling you what I tell him. Practice well. Practice really, really well. Then you go out there and play, period, let it go. So, that's kind of where it is."
Â
(Ref.: On Coach K's final season at Duke)
"Well, I talked with him not too terribly long ago, actually he and Mickey, both. We were somewhere together, and I just asked him, I said, how does this feel? Are you enjoying this process? Because if anybody ever deserve to enjoy a final year, and I think what you might think about him, he said, I'm enjoying the players more than ever. There's a purity to that. He may well be the most accomplished coach in any sport in the history of sports. Everything's arguable, but from every aspect of the accomplishments with Duke basketball, accomplishments with USA basketball, with the people that he's surrounded himself with coaches and players, the quality of people. I just don't think you could do it any better. I'm like everybody else that's a Duke basketball fan, I hate to see him go, but I'm also excited to know that Jon Scheyer is extremely prepared for this. I've visited with him on more than one occasion, and he's a great young man of character and talent, and he's had a pretty dang good mentor. You think? That's maybe more than you wanted, but that's my thoughts."
Â
(Ref.: On if he thinks his team has their backs against the wall)
"No, I don't really think that. I mean, I'm being serious. I think they've reached a mentality that we got more. We got more. We know we have more and we're not in the tank, not even close to empty. Or there's nobody feeling pushed against a wall because that suggests panic or anxiety. I think hunger is a better term. I'm hungrier than I've ever been, for lots of different reasons. I hope our team certainly does and I believe they do based on how their work and feel the same way."
Â
(Ref.: On taking the blame on losses and where he got that mentality)
"Well, Coach (Bear) Bryant, really. I learned important lessons from him. I understand exactly what he meant when he told me personally, when things aren't going well, it's the only time you say I or me because it is your fault. If you look deeply into what's going on around you, you'll see that. As a young coach, I didn't really want to hear that. As I've grown in this business, I do realize that. In the same sense, when you have a team that's winning championships, you better realize it's them. You really better realize that you're doing nothing special or different, that they've taken it. You've got one sitting right in here right now that's got a coastal division ring, and I have the utmost respect for him and his teammates. I struggled with that one, too, when Coach Bryant said that. Then probably the best advice he gave me, he said, don't get into this business of coaching college football because you think you love football. He said you only get in it because you can't live without it. I concur. Otherwise, don't get in it, they're going to be too many tough times, you'll start questioning. And I have no doubts that 46 years ago chose the right path."
Â
"I felt it, like I said. I didn't really lock into that early on. But I go back and I look at losses that I've had as a head coach. I get on the bus occasionally after a game and the loss, and I can hear he and Coach (Johnny) Majors yelling at me and like, why didn't you listen on the front end? OK, I'm sorry. That's real."
 Â
(Ref.: On Gunnar Holmberg's impressive completion percentage as a first year starter)
"I think it's the person he is. He is a young man of character. I think he's a really good listener. He's not a chatter box by any means. I think people that choose their words carefully are probably better listeners than the rest of us that may talk too much. I really think he grasps words and takes them to heart. He has been fearless in the pocket, and his pocket movement has been solid and he's kept his eyes down field. Then he's got a group of receivers that work with him and for him. If you'll look, I mean, those guys are there to make good catches. They're getting that little bit of edge and the difference sometimes is this much him being that much more accurate and them being that much more separated. So, it's a combination. And then the offensive line is, you're talking about great effort, those guys are battling. It's not an easy place to be. We got about eight of them playing a lot and they are battling. So just the combination of all of those things."
 Â
(Ref.: On what makes quarterback Brennan Armstrong and Virginia's passing game so dangerous)
"Because they create explosives, he's good down the field. He's got a big arm from hash to sideline. He's a good vertical thrower. He's a good deep out thrower. You don't average that many yards without getting chunks of yardage and they've got speed, size and quickness, that whole combination at receiver and tight end."
 Â
(Ref.: On Jake Bobo and Jalon Calhoun leading the receiving corps and how to get production from others)
"There's a lot of football teams built that way. A lot of teams in the NFL are built that way. I've seen these guys run these numbers way up. I mean, when the 49ers had Jerry Rice, you would have thought they'd cover him, wouldn't you? You understand what I'm saying. It's easier said than done. You're putting the people on the field. We're going to play guys more and more and more, and we got confidence in those receivers. But, we can design concepts that give these guys the ability to move around and play different circumstances. So yeah, we always want to use all our weapons and we've done that pretty well. But everybody in every offense is going to have go-to guys."
 Â
#GoDuke
Â
Players Mentioned
WR
/ Football
RB
/ Football
QB
/ FootballCoach Diaz Media Availability: NC State
Wednesday, September 17
Aaron Hall Media Availability: NC State
Tuesday, September 16
Justin Pickett Media Availability: NC State
Tuesday, September 16
Coach Patke Press Conference: NC State
Monday, September 15
