|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
CHICK-FIL-A BOWL: TEXAS A&M v DUKEDecember 31, 2013David CutcliffeATLANTA, GEORGIA TEXAS A&M – 52 COACH CUTCLIFFE: All right. First thing that I want to just mention, and I don't know really anything about it, whatever occurred out there on the field at the end of the game, someone fell ill. I just want whomever that person is or people they're connected to know that our prayers and thoughts and heart's with them. I don't know, but I could tell it was somewhat serious. I'm going to mention that and keep everything else from this point on in perspective. As far as the football game, the most difficult part of the game for me was to tell our seniors good‑bye in that locker room. I mean that. There were a lot of difficult things in that football game. But telling this group of seniors good‑bye was very difficult. They played their hearts out today. We did some really good things. We continued to move the ball in the second half; just didn't generate points. We played against a great football player. They didn't turn it over and we did. That ended up being the story of a high‑scoring slugfest. Oftentimes when you watch any game in the post‑season you will see that turnovers ultimately can be the difference. I told our defense at halftime, I said, We got a chance. There's probably seven or eight possessions left in this game. We get a couple turnovers, we'll win the football game with that alone. As it ended up, we turned it over. Unfortunate. Things we did well, we did run the football well. We prevented some of the big plays for a while defensively, made them work, which is difficult to do. We had our moments in the kicking game. Offensively the last touchdown drive we had, converting third downs was special. But outside of that, again, we got beat by turning the ball over and got beat by a great football player in Johnny Manziel. He truly is. He showed today he may have played as well as he's played all season as he played today. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: No. Four seconds left, to be real honest with you, shouldn't have been four seconds. To be real honest with you, I thought we scored a touchdown and I don't know why it was reviewed more closely. I'm going to go ahead and say that. I wasn't very pleased about that. When you're given four seconds right there, we're going to get the ball first in the second half with intentions of scoring, you go ahead and kick the field goal. Q. You got a lot of young players in the stable, be back next year. How is playing on this big of a stage going to help you build? COACH CUTCLIFFE: There's a lot of guys that made a lot of plays. As I'm looking at it, we had 661 yards of offense. We actually had more offensive yards, I don't know if we've had that much this year. It grows our program and it's going to continue to grow our program. Our seniors just said to our underclassmen, this is something we believe, all of us, me included, are responsible for leaving our football program better than we found it each year. That's been a commitment that all of us have made. Our seniors asked our young players in there, if they can understand that commitment. They feel like they're leaving it in a good spot, which we are, this group of seniors, and now it's up for our young people to take it another step. That step can be taken. We just have to continue to push. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: We had, on tape, seen things that we thought we had a chance to gain possession of the ball. I think we have a better than 50% chance, and we've been perfect in practice with that particular play. We've had a lot of on‑side kick plays. I felt like our kicker was executing it well. Knowing that we were getting the ball first in the second half, I thought it was a good time to kind of put a hammer on the situation. Even if we didn't get it, they get the ball. If they score, we're still getting the ball back. Maybe then with some time left in the first half, then again we're going to get it back first in the second half. Sometimes that's a good time to go ahead and take a shot and take an advantage if you think you have a good opportunity. Q. The kicking game, you had a great kicker throughout the year. You had two kickers. Was there an injury? COACH CUTCLIFFE: No. Ross has not had as good a year as he had as a freshman, our place kicker, and he's really good. All of them are going to miss them at times. Jack Willoughby, strong leg guy. Late in the season, kickers get a little leg weary. They kick so much. I thought Jack was giving us better hang time and better chance to cover kickoffs, so that's why we made that change. Ross is fine. He's going go be fine. I'm excited about Ross' future. As we come back in spring practice and move forward, I think he's going to be great. I think he's going to have a great 2014. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: Anthony Boone is back for us. He is not a final. Don't graduate him just yet. Anthony Boone had a good football game. Unfortunately, you know, he made a really bad decision on the interception that was returned for a touchdown. We had a look that we were looking for. We didn't get the look. We really should have run another play. He took a risk that was calculated, and it didn't work. Unfortunately, you know, he just got hit. Didn't get time to get off of the last interception. I really believe if we don't turn the ball over there, we're going to go down and score. I haven't seen any tape, but I think we had a guy open for a touchdown on that play if he'd have seen him earlier. Q. Talk about the execution in the first half. Five touchdowns on your five possessions. COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, we were running the football well, clicking. Obviously hit the big play to Jamison. We were scoring touchdowns. We were still moving the ball the second half. We weren't scoring touchdowns. We converted key fourth downs. We did all the little things right to get the ball in the end zone. I thought our backs were fresh. As it ended up, Josh Snead got banged up, Juwann was banged up. Shaquille Powell came into the game with a strained medial collateral ligament. It got a little harder than I thought it was going to without Duncan, to be honest with you, to have the hammer we needed in the second half to score in some difficult circumstances. Our running game really helped us a great deal. We had 234 yards rushing tonight and 427 yards passing. With that kind of balance, you'd like to think you could score 60 points. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: Yes, because it's going to. Not going to be given a choice. It's expected by our seniors that are leaving our program for this to have a galvanizing effect, as you just mentioned. I already mentioned in there, our team meeting, we'll report back January 8th, 9:00 in the morning there. I addressed our seniors, then I addressed our returning squad. We're going to work right there having a great January. I think they understand that and they understand the bar's been raised by these seniors. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: By far. I hadn't seen him play ever. I can't imagine he could play much better than he played today. He was accurate. I thought he spun the ball really well. Unbelievably accurate on a couple of outside comeback throws. The one deep ball late. He had overthrown a couple of them earlier. That guy's a good receiver, too. They don't just have one, they have a number of good receivers. But he was special. Just like you knew, he was able to create plays. One of the touchdowns there early in the second half, you know, looked like we had him down three times. He's so strong. I mean, he's really strong. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: Just incredible. Looking at both of them, when I called everybody up in the locker room, they were exhausted. It's what I call emptying in the bucket. Those two do that in practice. They gave us everything they've got. Jamison had 12 catches. What a year he had. I don't know what the total number is, but well over 100. Had a bunch of yards, over 1200 I guess yards. I'm just so thankful that Braxton Deaver is finally healthy. He's been hurt since he's been at Duke. People were able to see what quality of player he is. Q. (Question regarding Johnny's chances in the NFL.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: What I saw today, I watched him on tape, but I think it's different seeing him in person. Seeing him in person today, given the right opportunity, the guy has to fall in the right place with the right coaches, the system. I'm not saying he can't be in an NFL system when I say that. NFL systems are all different. But I think he's poised. He's able to make quick decisions when he needs to. He had total command of the ball today as far as putting it where he wanted to put it. That's what you've got to be able to do to play in that league. And he's fast. Really, really fast. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: Yes. I have a systematic approach I make before each game. Obviously, anything can change in the fourth quarter, even late in the third quarter. But I knew we were going for it in those circumstances even before we got to the stadium today. I think I was proved right. We needed to score touchdowns. Unfortunately we didn't execute. I wished we would have run this. You can't do that. We made two of them that were critical in the first half that ended up resulting in touchdown drives. We don't make that one and it's frustrating, but it is part of it as it all falls in. I don't regret any of those. We came to play to win. That's what we were going to do. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: There's no blame. He's the guy that's got the ball in his hands. What I talked to him about the first one, you play within the system.  The system told him to check the play. That's when you get yourself in trouble. It's kind of like walking out on a thin limb. Usually they break and it catches up with you. That's what I told him. I wasn't angry with him. He played great, competed hard. But you've got to stay within a system. I don't care if you're a 14‑year veteran within the NFL, you better play within the system. That was the message to him. The other one was, I said, Where were your eyes? He tried to deal with that. They had a guy robbing in coverage inside underneath. I think it caught his eyes too long is why he stayed in there. But that's football. That's just football. We were actually talking technical stuff in both cases because it's an opportunity to teach. You just can't focus your eyes in one spot. Both of them were great opportunities to teach. He played awesome. Can't play much better than he played. Q. (No microphone.) COACH CUTCLIFFE: A year ago I traveled to California recruiting right after we got beat in a bowl game. The comment there was for the first time, first time people had seen us play, Golly, you got some good players, y'all are pretty good. I don't think anybody has any question that we can play with anybody. We just have to play well. We have a good football team. We have a good football program. I think it was great we had this time slot. We're recruiting quality people that can really play football well. That's what people saw hopefully tonight and will continue to see from Duke football. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, coach. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|