Things don’t get any easier for Duke this week as the Devils play Virginia, in a game many at the first of the season thought Duke would be favored.<\/p>\n
“We have a huge challenge playing arguably the hottest team in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Virginia,” Duke coach David Cutcliffe said. “They\u2019re winning football games like you\u2019re supposed to win them. They\u2019re running the football, playing great defense, playing great in the kicking game.<\/p>\n
“When a team\u2019s playing that solidly and soundly, it\u2019s very difficult to beat them. So a huge challenge. Biggest challenge we face is obviously us playing better than we played a week ago. Hopefully we will take that challenge or we will have a long day in Charlottesville if we don\u2019t.”<\/p>\n
Q. Yesterday you told us y\u2019all had a really physical practice Tuesday morning. You said there would be another one Wednesday. You explained to us why you thought you needed to do that. Did you come out of it okay physically in terms of not banging anybody up?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: Yes. We have not had an issue at practice. As I said earlier in the week, a little tougher in the ballgame than we had hoped. But we have not reinjured anybody, to answer your question. It\u2019s been great work, work that we needed. We\u2019ve dodged that bullet at this point.<\/p>\n
Q. When you look at your young defensive front, you were really happy with the way they played against Virginia Tech. It looked like they got manhandled against Miami. Can you address the ups and downs. Was that a function of youth or something else going on?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: Part of it is matchups. It was a little tougher matchup in two or three slots for us down there. The other part of it is that it is a function of youth to be inconsistent. Without the work, without keeping it on point as well as we were able to, we had a lot of them beat up. They didn\u2019t get the technique and formal work we would like to give them for a couple weeks. It took its toll. We weren\u2019t given a choice but to go back to a little spring practice atmosphere. I know it\u2019s helped us and hope it will help us on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Q. Coach, Michael Rocco, the UVA quarterback, as you\u2019re getting ready for this game, studying tape from game one all the way up to now, are you seeing a different quarterback? What is your analysis of what his maturation is? Are you seeing that as well?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: I think he\u2019s a talented player, for one thing. He\u2019s got a nice arm. He\u2019s got good vision, good feet, all the things you need to be successful. When you\u2019re running the football as well as they\u2019re running it, a quarterback can play smart and mature and grow. He\u2019s taken advantage of that. He has taken care of the ball better, picking his spots. He has become a much better third-down quarterback.
\nThe more you play at this level, if you got talent, the better you\u2019re going to get. He\u2019s got talent and you see it happening.<\/p>\n
Q. You\u2019ve been able to win the last three against UVA. Is there something you guys are consistently doing against Virginia football allowing you to come out on top?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: No, not really. There are other teams in our league that if we would have played a little better in those particular games, we might have won all three of those games against those opponents. We\u2019ve had two really close games against Virginia that fell our way, and probably more than anything else just a little luck of the draw. It just happens sometimes. But I\u2019m not a big believer in one season to the next or any circumstance like that playing in a ballgame. As a player, I never thought about that. As a coach, you don\u2019t ever think about that during the heat of a ballgame at all.<\/p>\n
Q. David, last week there was a lot of talk about Virginia becoming bowl-eligible, of Maryland having to win out to become bowl-eligible. It\u2019s now mentioned you have to win out to become bowl-eligible. Do coaches give any thought at all to becoming bowl-eligible?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: Sure. I think it\u2019s got to be one of the goals of your program when you\u2019re in a BCS conference. Everybody hollers for a tournament all the time. You\u2019re watching it. We\u2019re in a playoff system. Got a lot of big games all year long. In November, the stakes get higher. All of us want that opportunity for our players. Particularly when you\u2019re in my shoes here, I\u2019ve been so fortunate in my career to have been a part of so many bowl games, I would love for these great young men we have to experience it sooner than later.
\nSo, yeah, I think we all do pay attention to it.<\/p>\n
Q. Last year (Brandon) Connette, your backup quarterback, did some good things against Virginia. Is he being redshirted or is he just behind at this point?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: He\u2019s injured and out for the season. He had a major shoulder separation. Just has not been able to make it back. So he played very little at the beginning of the year. Obviously our hope would be with him being unable to play the rest of the season that he may get the year back and serve as a redshirt year. That\u2019s what I would hope would occur.<\/p>\n
Q. Coach, mentioning Donovan, what has he meant to the program in the four years since he started there, the kinds of things that he has added to what you\u2019re trying to build?
\nCOACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, the first thing is his durability. He brings it every practice, every game. I don\u2019t even know what he weighs, 170 pounds. He is just a physical warrior as well as a great speed guy. It\u2019s just every day. You look for Donovan – I\u2019ve thought about this already – you look for Donovan in practice to create energy and excitement. He loves to compete. Every game, you just heard the statistic, he\u2019s there every game catching balls, making conversions on third down. He\u2019s really quite a special young player.
\nThere\u2019s been a lot of great small players all through different eras of college football. He is very much one of the fine small players of this era of college football because he has been so consistent as a true sophomore. He led the ACC in receptions. He\u2019s continued to play well, particularly as we spread the ball around, have better players around him, he has still remained a big factor in our offense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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