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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 1, 2010

David Cutcliffe

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome Duke head football, Coach Dave Cutcliffe. Ask for a brief opening statement and go to questions. Coach?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: We look forward to playing. It's been a fun camp because we have worked, worked really hard, had a lot of time on the practice field, a lot of physical time, probably more live snaps and scrimmage snaps than I've had in my career in camp. Certainly necessary, because we have got so many people that haven't played before.
Starting out with a really good, really team that knows how to win, extremely well coached in all phases, certainly kicking game as well as offense and defense, and one of the better players that we might play against in Scott Riddle, their quarterback, so a big challenge for us in the opener.

Q. In your third season now at Duke, where do you see thing biggest improvements in the program, in general, and then as you look at the offense and defense, how things progressed on each side of the ball.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Right. Well, in general, I just think we are more athletic. We are certainly faster. We are much more conditioned, a faster football team, and a lot more athletes, which it affects you, certainly, offensively and defensively, but I think it's going to have a really good effect on us in the special teams area where we have more athletes to play in that area.
But defensively, we are replacing a lot of people up front, particularly over the last two years, guys that have been mainstays and played good football. So a lot of new faces up front, and we do have some experience in the secondary. I'm anxious to see how well we play, Marion Hobby is obviously new leadership calling our defenses, and I'm excited for him and excited for the defense to go test the waters against a really good team.
Offensively, I think everybody knows what Duke has to do to get better; become more physical and find a way to run the football, which we haven't done, really, in two years. But you know, that's -- I think certainly our offensive line is better, and I think we are much more equipped in the backfield than at any time by far and away since we have been here.
The other big factor for us is breaking in a new quarterback, after Lewis (ph), who is one of the most prolific passers in the history of the ACC. So a lot of question marks, but a lot of excitement and opportunity that's out there for us.

Q. What do you see in the running game that you like, where those improvements are?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, biggest thing is we have some speed that can provide more explosive runs, no question, and then our backs, we are going to play four or five guys a good bit; that they are capable of taking the ball all the way. We really haven't had a lot of that.
And then a bigger, more physical offensive line, much more athletic and a little deeper. We are going into this game, unless things change, we will probably go at least eight deep and actually really play people there, which I think is going to help us, particularly early in the season, with this hot weather.

Q. Have you made a decision on your place kicking yet?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: No. I'm going to visit with our staff this afternoon. I'm getting closer on that, and when we do the lineups, or when Art does the final lineup, we will include that in there. Unless I get cold feet and make a game-time decision.
But no, I'm getting pretty close on what I think is the best thing for us to do. I just want to sit down with Ron Middleton and Zac Roper, who work directly with that area, and make sure that they are on board and feel the same way I do.

Q. You had said last week that Maggio had out-kicked Snyderwine up to this point in camp. Has something changed in the last three or four days in practice?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: It's gotten pretty competitive over the last -- since that time, which has been interesting. And you know, it's what I wanted to have happen to be honest with you. I like people to take challenges, and so it is -- it's a close battle, but it's a battle about quality. You know, it's not the worst of both worlds; it will end up being the best of both worlds, both guys are pretty quality kickers.

Q. Last year you lost your last four games, and sometimes teams that are not as deep get worn down during the season; was depth a factor last year? Looking at your two-deep; how do you feel about your depth going into the year?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: We are better no question. There's no question, the last two Novembers we have come apart a little at the end and I think there's a lot of reasons. Our guys have really performed at a high level and a lot of pressure on just a few players, and it takes its toll on the number of snaps; just like a baseball pitcher and the number of pitchers.
There's no question we are deeper and we are going in, and we are going to play -- and I'm not talking about just an appearance. We are going to play over 40 people on offense and defense going into this opener and plan on continuing that as long as the young men prove themselves worthy of getting playing time, and that's what we have had. We are getting some competition at certain positions for starting positions, and we have not had that. And that's going to do nothing but continue to improve, and the way we are going about improving this program, is it is a little bit of a process because of where we began. But I'm really pleased with what we are seeing out of our young athletes right now.

Q. Last year against Richmond in your opener, how many players do you think you played total on offense?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Oh, actually, played, playing time in the game, we probably played 14 on offense and probably 16 to 17 on defense.

Q. Significantly fewer.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Yes. We just didn't have guys ready. Last year was a little bit of an unusual animal, anyway, just coming out of the swine flu camp, but we would not have played any more than that anyway, more than likely.

Q. You have three years to look at on Scott Riddle, I guess a variety of competition from Presbyterian all the way to South Florida in 2007, Wake Forest last year, do you find, is it more helpful to concentrate simply on the games against I-A opposition, or do you look at his stuff against everybody?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: No, you look at it against everyone. He's great player, and he's got a great, quick release, and very difficult to sack because of it. He's a quick decision maker and a good decision maker and it doesn't matter, you know, what the brand of football is. I'm putting the clock on him and he's getting it out unbelievably quick.
You know, so he's very difficult, and he's strong, powerful, very athletic, obviously. I think he's one of those guys in the backyard that was always the best player. He punts, he runs, he throws, he does it all. And I'm sure he probably place-kicked, too, probably just from looking at him and I'm really impressed with him.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Look forward to talking to you next week.

End of FastScripts

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