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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 13, 2010

David Cutcliffe

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome Duke head football Coach David Cutcliffe.
Coach?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Good morning. Great opportunity for us last week to be open, have a little physical healing and emotional healing and regather ourselves and re-evaluate what we are doing well and what we need to do better.
I thought we had a really good break. We are playing an extremely talented Miami team, one that's probably pretty upset from their last ball game. But they've played exceptional at times and we know one of the more talented teams we will play this season. And they are a huge challenge for us, but we are anxious to get back on the field and compete and see where we are as a team.

Q. David, your kids really came into this season with a lot of confidence and optimism and just really good feelings about this season. It hasn't started the way you wanted to. Has it been difficult to keep that kind of attitude going? Do you still see your kids pretty upbeat?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I think the attitude is positive. I think the confidence was hit pretty hard. You know, it can happen to you, and it did. We didn't play well at all defensively early. We haven't been as good as we needed to be lately offensively.
But, you know, you fight through that. That's part of being a competitor. It's part of playing at this level and kids are resourceful, and they've bounced back. But you have to earn that confidence back. And I think we've convinced them of, that and they're working very hard with great attitude.

Q. From a confidence standpoint, how much did the Wake Forest game take out of you or has it been a cumulative thing?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: I think probably more of the Alabama game hit us and then getting beat by Army, a team that we beat a year ago pretty handedly probably hurt more than Wake Forest. We just played woefully poor at Wake Forest in so many areas.
I don't think it hurt confidence as much as it angered the coach certainly. But I think it exposed just how poor we were playing. I think the Wake Forest game did do that.

Q. This question is kind off the beaten path but one you are familiar with. I'm doing a story on the 1969 Ole Miss-Alabama game. I understand you were there as a 15-year-old kid in the stands?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: That's right.

Q. What do you remember from that game?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Wasn't I 5 then, Ron?

Q. I think so.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: No, I went to the ball game with Bobby Johns who, you know, was a little older than me who played at Alabama and saw Scott Hunter and Archie Manning, both teams, of course. But those guys put on the show of all shows maybe. It was pretty special.

Q. Archie's record still holds up today in the ACC for total offense. Was it so far out of whack when you watched that game -- it was 1969. The SEC was just all about running the ball.
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Sure, it was about defense. Not even just running the ball, there weren't a lot of points scored. If I recall, that might have been the first game televised at night or something to that effect. Or I know there was some monumental thing in that regard.
But neither team could stop the other team. Archie throwing and running and then Scott Hunter got hot and he was pinpoint passing. And I just remember -- one of the things I remember being kind of a football freak at the time was that both teams used the field more than what you were used to.
I think it was really a horizontal game. The game was kind of played a lot between the tackles in that era. Both teams spread the field and just used the field unbelievably well and just a phenomenal game.

Q. I wanted to ask you about offensive line. In terms of pass protection, you guys have given up eight sacks and over 200 passes. It's one of the best rates in the league. It was one of the best rates last year. And that's without a huge running game to take the pressure off. Can you talk about pass protection and the job these guys have done and what makes it so good?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, it starts with Matt Luke. He is a great teacher. And it is what I call a buddy system. It is really understanding rush lanes and understanding the protections. It is being where you can be physical help and mental help. And Matt understands our protection scheme. And then the other part of it is schematic. We have got a great protection scheme, a very flexible scheme.
Then I would go to Bryan Morgan and talk about Bryan. We got a great quarterback in that regard as a center that gets people in a lot of the right places. And then our actual quarterback, Sean Renfree, pitches in as well. So I'm real pleased with where we are in that regard.
It is kind of dangerous to be talking about this before you play Miami because they are going to stress this a great deal, but also, we are benching our running backs, in particular Jay Hollingsworth, who does a tremendous job as a third-down back. So it has been good. And we plan on it being good. And Sean throws the ball on time. That always helps.

Q. I was going to ask you about Sean, in terms he is not the most mobile guy. But you mentioned a couple weeks ago the idea that he needs to learn to move around a little bit better in the pocket. Can you -- has that been something you have been working on?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Absolutely. Worked on it this morning.
You know, it is a feel. And Sean kind of gets solid in a spot sometimes. You know, I don't know if you recall years ago people used to say Peyton Manning had happy feet. What he had, he had a happy coach. He has phenomenal pocket movement. His feet are somewhat alive, is what I call them.
I would like to see Sean display that a little bit more, and subtle movement is what we are talking about. Peyton avoids a bunch of sacks with subtle movement. And if that's happy feet, I want happy feet. Neither one of those guys have any fear. People need to understand what happy feet means is a guy that quits looking at coverage and tries to escape a pocket too early, not that your feet may be moving.

Q. You mentioned the fact that Miami would be a little bit -- probably be a little bit upset. In your coaching experience, does that really make a difference in how a team might play in the next game -- particularly a good team coming off a bad loss?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: They're -- the last thing you just said is the key. We all get mad when we get beat. But when you have a team as talented as Miami, then they tend to have a chance to do something about it.
They will be highly motivated. You know, it affects their season. It affects everything about what they're doing and they're very capable, very capable. And I can promise you that that score is not indicative of those two teams and their matchup.
My hat's off to Florida State. What a tremendous job they did. But they're not that much better at all than Miami, if at all.

Q. Obviously their passing game is prominent in what they do with Jacory Harris. They seem to throw the deep ball maybe more frequently than a lot of teams because they have got a lot of guys who can go get it. Is that accurate?
COACH CUTCLIFFE: Yeah, they do. They are big and fast, and he's big and fast. It is kind of an amazing division those guys with each other. Jacory is a big guy with a phenomenal fluid motion, and he makes football look easy. So he has great skill in the pocket, great skill to see envisioned down field and those guys cover a lot of ground.
When they are 6'3", 6'4" and strong -- and all of them are -- Benjamin is, of course, like a bolt of lightning fast. So just the weapons at his disposal are pretty special.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us today.

End of FastScripts

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