David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Pittsburgh

DURHAM – Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe met with members of the media on Monday afternoon for his weekly press conference.

The Blue Devils host Pittsburgh on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network with Wes Durham, Roddy Jones and Taylor Davis on the call. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. The game can also be heard on the Blue Devil Sports Network from LEARFIELD through the Varsity app or GoDuke.com.

David Cutcliffe Duke Football Head Coach
(Ref.: Opening Statement)
"I'll just start with Pittsburgh. They're as good as advertised. A balanced football team. Their quarterback certainly playing like a first round draft choice. I remember how impressed I was with him when he was young and we didn't play him a year ago and now studying him, he has really developed into a special player. They've got a receiving corps, whether it's wide receivers, tight end, running backs and a good offensive line. Defensively, they don't get talked about near as much, but a really big physical front like they always have and they're playing very effectively. They have been a third down nightmare for quite some time now. So real handful there and a real handful in the kicking game.

"As far as us, like people might imagine, people said, what are you working on? I mean, I don't think it's unfair to say everything. You look at every aspect of the program. You look at what you're calling, how you're doing it, how you're teaching it and who you're doing it with. I've been very impressed with our players being bought in and working hard and staying focused. People that think they're not fighting, that's not accurate. We're not fighting well enough with the technique and the things that they have to have to be successful. That's where a coach comes into play. I have to be responsible to see that those things are happening and you put people in position with great effort to make plays. It's a lot of work. But I'm very appreciative of our players' spirit and attitude yesterday. I don't even know what day it is, to be honest with, so its Monday. Yesterday, our practice was spirited and quick, intense. There were a lot of good things that happened out there, and you just have to keep believing. If you look at everything, if you turn every dial, if you detail every part of your program, if you keep working, then there's an end result that you're looking for that you want. So, nobody's going to quit being intentional or quit working. That's what you have to do. Obviously, it's my job to make sure that we're all working as smart as we possibly can."

(Ref.: On adding redshirt senior cornerback Leonard Johnson as a captain)
"Yeah, I think that's a great question about Leonard, and he's deserving. He had caught my attention just being more verbal and enthusiastic at practice. Even when he had a little time where he was hurt, he was just into every play at practice. When he's practicing, he's in every play, encouraging his teammates. It was on my mind and then I don't have the minds these three young people have, but I'm glad I was thinking something like them. They say great minds think alike, well, I can't match theirs. But the captains came to me and had seen and felt the same thing. It was just a matter of timing. I think coming off the Virginia game, it was a good time to try to infuse even more energy and enthusiasm, which it did. What occurred at Wake Forest was not part of unenthusiastic approach or down. Leonard was the same way yesterday as he was before. In my mind, proving he is that material. It's probably the hardest thing to do, is to be energized and positive when nobody thinks you should. Some people think in defeat you should be hanging your head and acting miserable. Some people can think that if they want to, that is not the way you approach it. That's what a captain and/or a coach is supposed to do. I'm really proud of Leonard. Leonard is from not far from where I'm from. He's got great parents, and they've tried to put Leonard in every position they could to be successful. He's done a tremendous job as a student, as a person and a football player here. So, I'm proud he will go on that board forever as a captain of a Duke football team."

(Ref.: On why the good practices are not translating to game performances)
"Yeah, I think from a player's perspective, because of that energy they're displaying, they really think they're good practices and they are good. But when you're not winning, they have to be better than good. They have to be great. They have to be fundamentally great. There can be no assignment errors. It's not just the energy, you understand what I'm saying. I can't sit down with all of them and watch film. I sit with the coaches and watch film. There are still things we have to correct to do better if we do the details a bit better. If as a coach I put them in better positions, then that energy and those practice habits will become extremely successful. That line sometimes is about that thin. It really is. It goes everything from feet, to pad leverage, to timing, all of those things. As a coach, when something's not in sync – you're the orchestra, right? You could have a guy playing the best he's ever played and with more enthusiasm than he's ever played individually, but if it's not in sync with the rest of the orchestra I bet it sounds pretty bad. I don't know if that's a good example but, I mean, it's just that close and we're not going to back off till we find that sync. That's what it takes to win. I've known that my whole life, not just as a coach, but as a player. There's a fine line and you have to be energized, focused and determined to never back off to get it where you got to get it. If I sound redundant and wound up from before, I am. What else can you do? It's a matter of grind and work, but work smarter, better. When you've got a lot of fires, guess which ones you better put out first? The biggest ones. I'm not going to tell you what the biggest ones are because that's a scouting report for an opponent. But yeah, you bring out two fire extinguishers if you have to."

(Ref.: On if it is still a learning curve for some of the staff coaching new positions)
"Everybody's pointing at the staff. I mean, we're all responsible, but it's all responsible to me. We've got outstanding minds. We've got outstanding football people. We've got incredible character, work ethic, all of those things. The same thing can happen. It's not a matter of not knowing what to do. That goes back into a sync in both staffs. I just got through a meeting with Kirk Benedict. I mean, that close from being what we want to be in the kicking game, but we're not what we want to be there. I meet with both the defense and the offense. There's a lot of willingness and a lot of ears, and I don't have all the answers, but I have a lot of the things that have to be talked about, work through and done, and that's the process. You go back to those coaches, they're incredibly gifted people. Smart, football knowledge is outstanding. How much they care about the players is phenomenal, which is a big part of coaching on and off the field. People are going to criticize you, right? You get in this business knowing that and I tell them that's expected. I think I said it after the game, when people start throwing bricks at you, all I've ever known is to pick them up and start building a foundation with them. I don't want to waste them. Some of them hit you. They hurt, but you pick it up and you start building. I mean, anybody else got a plan then tell me about it. I don't know what else to do with them. So that's where it is."

(Ref.: On the discussions he has with the defensive staff)
"I don't know exactly what you're asking. I'm not going to go into details about the discussions I have with them. I mean, the obvious is we can't give up the points, the yards, the explosive plays, but it's much more detailed than that."

(Ref.: On the differences between Kenny Pickett, Brennan Armstrong and Sam Hartman)
"Well, different kinds of offenses all the way around. They're all gifted passers. That's about all you're seeing in the ACC these days. They're all really gifted players. He's doing a great job of taking care of the ball because in their offensive system, he owns it. I mean, it's built around him. He was a part of the development of all of this, so he's taking great care of the ball. The thing that makes all of those guys special is great accuracy. People always ask me, what's the first thing you want in the quarterback? Well, if he needs to throw it here, he throws it here. If you need to throw it here, he can throw it here. Accuracy is always number one, but it looks to me like also, he's got all the intangibles and then he can move and run. He's a very athletic young man, so very difficult to defend."

(Ref.: On quarterback Gunnar Holmberg's progression after injuring his hand at Wake Forest)
"Yeah, I mean, he practiced yesterday. He's like a lot of people this time of year, more going on than you want to have gone on. He's just got to push through it. People ask me, what's one of the first things a player learns. We don't scrimmage like we did. I think I brought this up maybe after the game or maybe in an interview. I don't recall, but when you have a guy learning to play. Dave Harding sitting right here, if you got an offensive lineman all of a sudden first time he ever goes out and plays 80 plays in a game, he's never experienced anything like it. You know what you learn first over a period of time and same with Gunnar, you understand what the difference in pain and injury is. You really do. People use that term forever, but that's real. The more you play the game, because we don't get the scrimmage like we used to scrimmage, you learn how to push through things and do what you have to do to be successful. When a player gets to the point of injury and he can't do the things he has to do to be successful, then the trainers communicate to me and it's our job as coaches to have to sit him until he's better. So, I don't think we're at that point. Obviously, I want Gunnar to be healthy and being able to play at his highest level."

(Ref.: On what is preventing Gunnar from his highest level of play)
"I think it's still in the process of kind of us putting him in the system best for him and then him owning the system, you understand what I'm saying. We were really successful for a while on third downs, but we have to be. It's a combination of timing of mental, of just commanding the entire offense. But it's also my job to make sure that the offense he's in is best suitable for him. Why Tom Brady keep playing at the highest level that he plays now at this age, do you think he's better physically than he's ever been? No, but his experience level helps him make better decisions. Same thing happened when Peyton [Manning] went back after the surgery. I don't know what percentage of himself physically, but it was not near 100 percent and he had the best single season, I think, in the history of the game. Because of experience. I talk to all of them, talk to Gunnar and everybody we've ever had, it's a weekly process. You should get better by the week, but that's as long as I'm putting them into situations that they need to be in to be successful. That's part of coaching and part of evaluating. That's where we are. And that's the beauty of this game is that you can continue to do that and challenge yourself, challenge everybody around you to participate in that. That's not a one person show. That's not a coach show, player show. It's a collective show, to use experience and grow. Finding that magic to get the results that everybody wants."

(Ref.: On Pittsburgh's defensive identity and their elevated offensive play)
"Well, if you know Pat Narduzzi and his defensive mentality, that's not going to be lost. They've had other good offensive teams there, and different ways of defeating people. But you're right in the fact that this is a team that's producing mega numbers in the passing game. But what they're doing is doing it with the people they have available to them. They're using them to the maximum to get that performance. So, hats off to Pat, but they're not ever going to lose their identity defensively, and I don't see them losing it and their mentality of an offensive front. I mean, it is very Steeler-ish. And yeah, I mean, I go back to the days with Coach [Johnny] Majors used to talk to us about his time at Pittsburgh and other coaches that were with them used to talk to me. There was just a mentality of the city, of the fans, of both teams up there. So, it's an interesting phenomenon that they've held on to that and added this twist of high powered pass offense and they run it, too."

(Ref.: On if he feels like he has lost some of his voice within the team)
"No, not at all. I mean, it's an interesting question, meaning the players aren't listening to me. That's the only ears that I care about, to be honest with you. You can ask the players that question, no, I don't feel that there is a disconnect or not listening. There are a lot of issues that are not so obvious to the people that think it's obvious. A lot of work to be done, but I don't feel that."

(Ref.: On if he has thought about his job security for the 2022 season)
"I don't think about job security. How could I do that and do justice to the players that I'm coaching right now? Gary Patterson is a really good friend of mine. I know the story there, but I'm not going there. I'm not upset that you ask the question. That's a normal and natural question to ask. But why would I even consider focusing on that when I have a job to do that is directly related to how well I do my job in relationship to putting those players in position to win?"

(Ref.: On the failed fourth down conversions after watching film)
"Nothing directly. They were all independently a little different. I call the little bootleg and the way they transferred that off, kudos to them. Gunnar came out and did exactly what he should have done. We've had a lot of success with that through the years. The home side tight ends, not even a part of the route. He's igniting a run read and the safety instead of playing a run read absolutely jumped coverage. So, good job there. Do I think we could have executed better in the run game with that circumstance? Absolutely. Again, that's kind of a when you look at it and I was going to go for them, period. One of the things you do is that you have to believe it's a team game. If you're going for it on fourth down, knowing you need touchdowns to win the game and you're going to leave the ball wherever it is you choose, then your defense, and we talk about this as a staff and a team, has to accept the responsibility to get the job done right there then and get the ball back. Don't give up a first down. There's such a balance there and trying to develop what you want as an aggressive game plan. But I met with the entire staff – I do weekly about strategy and everybody in the press box and everybody on the field knew exactly what we were doing. When you're unsuccessful on both ends of that, you don't make it on offense and then you don't get to stop on defense. Absolutely it can hurt you. But I still would try again because I felt like strategically it was the right path to take."

(Ref.: On Duke's struggles and drives stalling in the red zone)
"I think red zone has been a huge factor for us offensively and you have to address it. Again, that goes back to not only what play, what happened on the play, but it's what personnel are we in? What formations are we in? What did we call? Who is in the game? When you get in the red zone, my line of thinking has always been it's you're getting more and more like a backyard. You think people at that point, and you've got to have the right go to people. If you look at any successful offensive football team, they're going to go to the right people in the red zone and you've got to design better around that. That's again my job."

(Ref.: On the decision to go for it on fourth down rather than kicking)
"It's just what you do. It's analytics. It's studying you against them. It's studying the numbers, it's crunching numbers. Most everybody's hiring people to give input to it and then you make decisions from there. I've always been interested in analytics, always been interested in every part of that. A lot of this stuff comes up from being put through a computer that we have, everybody has the ability to do this and these companies that have this software, they can take 1,500 examples of what you should do and what happened in the long term of a game. So, I read all that stuff until my eyes burn. Then I also use my experience. Then realize it can change during a game and it always changes by the even score ahead or behind that's going to change the analytics. It's an interesting thing. I think I've always been that way before it was ever popular, trying to just study the game and results and field position and what you're trying to do to win a game. I've been blessed to be around some great people that were just naturally good at it before the word computer was even used."

(Ref.: On if the poor play is frustrating and how to find the answers)
"Well, you know how I feel about frustrating, because that means you can't do anything about it, it's concerning. Big time. It is, again, a product of not just the physical, it's a product of putting ourselves mentally in a better approach. Putting the study in is done but you got to come up with results. A big part of that is what I just talked about was red zone. A big part of that has been penalties. That's on me. A big part of that has been untimely turnovers. If you just look. Does that bother me? Absolutely. If I had easy answers, I get a lot of easy answers. But if I had easy answers, we would apply those much sooner. But you're not going to quit believing midstream in your players or your coaches, so you go to work. That's the bottom line. A lot of people want to look at it a lot of different ways, but I know how to work and I know how to find results. We've found them before right here at this place when it was tough. So, you just keep believing and you go about your work that way. I would say any business that would be the total approach."

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David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Pittsburgh

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David Cutcliffe Press Conference Quotes: Pittsburgh

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