Duke coach David Cutcliffe said you could use the words “frustration” and “anger” to describe the mood in the locker room following his team’s 14-10 loss to No. 12-ranked Virginia Tech last weekend.
Cutcliffe was spot-on, at least according to linebacker Kelby Brown.
“It’s terrible,” Brown said. “Anyone who watched that game, we had the momentum the whole second half. I was sure we were going to win. That’s just the worst feeling I can remember. That was probably one of the hardest losses I can remember for me.
“When it hurts is that Saturday night, watching the highlights on ESPN,” he said, “but come Sunday morning, we had one of our best Sunday practices this week and right now as far as I can tell, we have more energy than I can remember. We always play Miami hard. We know it’s time to finally get that victory in the end.”
That’s what Miami should be afraid of. Duke has come painstakingly close this season to turning the corner, losing three of its games by no more than four points each. Duke lost the season-opener to Richmond, 23-21, and has lost back-to-back games to Wake Forest (24-23) and Virginia Tech. Ten more points and Duke (3-5) would be bowl-eligible by now. The good news, Cutcliffe said, is that emotions like anger and frustration -- which are to be expected -- “can be turned into positive emotion.”
“Discouraged we're not,” Cutcliffe said. “We're not going to be. We have nothing to be discouraged about. We're playing well.”
Cutcliffe knows, though, that they’re not playing well enough.
Duke has struggled with turnovers in recent weeks, the offense is averaging just under 23 points per game, and they’ve come up short too many times on third downs and in the red zone. Self-inflicted wounds like four turnovers against Virginia Tech and six penalties against Wake Forest are the kinds of things that will keep Cutcliffe up at night.
“I have my private moments like anybody would,” he said. “I've never gone through anything like this in my career. I've been relatively spoiled. I get over here really early Sunday. I kind of dive into the tape. Before I go to church, I get a little look at the opponent. Then I find sometimes some way, somehow, I'm going to find some peace in that morning. By Sunday afternoon, I'm generally ready to go once I see the squad. I have my mind set on what we have to do.”
And his players have picked up on that.
“We look to our head coach,” Brown said. “It’s difficult for him, obviously, more than anybody, but he turns the page so quick, because he knows it’s so vital we move on to the next team. Every week we have a great opportunity, and we have a great group of guys, too. It’s never easy to lose, especially the last couple of weeks like we lost, but we move on quickly, and we’ve done that with Miami so far.”
It’s not going to be easy to win on the road against a Miami team that is also looking to rebound from a disappointing loss. Instead of backing down, though, Duke continues to believe it can finally get over the hump.
“We’ve felt like that the last two weeks, like we’re going to seal it this week,” quarterback Sean Renfree said. “It’s certainly heartbreaking to lose the last couple of weeks like this, but I think are guys are as confident as we’ve been in the last two weeks, that we’re going to go out and get a win and there’s no way we can come home with a loss.”
What does Duke have to do in order to actually do that? Brown said the defense, which has allowed just one second-half touchdown in each of the past two games, has to bring the same level of intensity to the first half.
“It usually seems like we’re one big play away, you know?” he said. “If we could just get that one big turnover, whatever it be, we’re right there on the edge of it.”
Offensively, Renfree agreed the Blue Devils need a faster start.
“Offensively, I’m going to have to play a little bit better and we’re going to have to get off to a little bit quicker start,” Renfree said. “The last two weeks we’ve kind of come out to a slow start and we’ve been playing catch-up. We have to score in the red zone more effectively. Those are the three biggest things I see, but I think our defense has been playing lights out. If we can do those three things, we’ll have a much better chance of actually getting the W.”
Renfree said the team is as close to being where it wants to be as the scores in each of the past two weeks have indicated.
“We’re right there,” he said. “The last two weeks have been a pretty good indicator. It’s just one or two plays here or there and our record for the season could be a winning season. If we go make a couple of plays, it can turn the whole season around. We’re very confident we can get three or four more wins. It’s definitely not going to be easy, we’re playing great ACC teams, but that’s the way we want it. I know that’s the way we want it. We want to be playing the best teams in the ACC to finish off the season. It will make it that much better.”
Cutcliffe was spot-on, at least according to linebacker Kelby Brown.
“It’s terrible,” Brown said. “Anyone who watched that game, we had the momentum the whole second half. I was sure we were going to win. That’s just the worst feeling I can remember. That was probably one of the hardest losses I can remember for me.
“When it hurts is that Saturday night, watching the highlights on ESPN,” he said, “but come Sunday morning, we had one of our best Sunday practices this week and right now as far as I can tell, we have more energy than I can remember. We always play Miami hard. We know it’s time to finally get that victory in the end.”
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Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images"We're right there," quarterback Sean Renfree said of Duke. "The last two weeks have been a pretty good indicator."
Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images"We're right there," quarterback Sean Renfree said of Duke. "The last two weeks have been a pretty good indicator."“Discouraged we're not,” Cutcliffe said. “We're not going to be. We have nothing to be discouraged about. We're playing well.”
Cutcliffe knows, though, that they’re not playing well enough.
Duke has struggled with turnovers in recent weeks, the offense is averaging just under 23 points per game, and they’ve come up short too many times on third downs and in the red zone. Self-inflicted wounds like four turnovers against Virginia Tech and six penalties against Wake Forest are the kinds of things that will keep Cutcliffe up at night.
“I have my private moments like anybody would,” he said. “I've never gone through anything like this in my career. I've been relatively spoiled. I get over here really early Sunday. I kind of dive into the tape. Before I go to church, I get a little look at the opponent. Then I find sometimes some way, somehow, I'm going to find some peace in that morning. By Sunday afternoon, I'm generally ready to go once I see the squad. I have my mind set on what we have to do.”
And his players have picked up on that.
“We look to our head coach,” Brown said. “It’s difficult for him, obviously, more than anybody, but he turns the page so quick, because he knows it’s so vital we move on to the next team. Every week we have a great opportunity, and we have a great group of guys, too. It’s never easy to lose, especially the last couple of weeks like we lost, but we move on quickly, and we’ve done that with Miami so far.”
It’s not going to be easy to win on the road against a Miami team that is also looking to rebound from a disappointing loss. Instead of backing down, though, Duke continues to believe it can finally get over the hump.
“We’ve felt like that the last two weeks, like we’re going to seal it this week,” quarterback Sean Renfree said. “It’s certainly heartbreaking to lose the last couple of weeks like this, but I think are guys are as confident as we’ve been in the last two weeks, that we’re going to go out and get a win and there’s no way we can come home with a loss.”
What does Duke have to do in order to actually do that? Brown said the defense, which has allowed just one second-half touchdown in each of the past two games, has to bring the same level of intensity to the first half.
“It usually seems like we’re one big play away, you know?” he said. “If we could just get that one big turnover, whatever it be, we’re right there on the edge of it.”
Offensively, Renfree agreed the Blue Devils need a faster start.
“Offensively, I’m going to have to play a little bit better and we’re going to have to get off to a little bit quicker start,” Renfree said. “The last two weeks we’ve kind of come out to a slow start and we’ve been playing catch-up. We have to score in the red zone more effectively. Those are the three biggest things I see, but I think our defense has been playing lights out. If we can do those three things, we’ll have a much better chance of actually getting the W.”
Renfree said the team is as close to being where it wants to be as the scores in each of the past two weeks have indicated.
“We’re right there,” he said. “The last two weeks have been a pretty good indicator. It’s just one or two plays here or there and our record for the season could be a winning season. If we go make a couple of plays, it can turn the whole season around. We’re very confident we can get three or four more wins. It’s definitely not going to be easy, we’re playing great ACC teams, but that’s the way we want it. I know that’s the way we want it. We want to be playing the best teams in the ACC to finish off the season. It will make it that much better.”
Heather Dinich | email
College Football- ESPN.com ACC blogger
- Joined ESPN.com in 2007
- Wrote for The Baltimore Sun
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Heather Dinich
Dinich covered ACC and Big Ten football for five seasons before joining ESPN.com in November 2007. She's an Indiana grad but somehow her favorite day of the week is Saturday.
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