David Cutcliffe On Miami
The ‘Canes are a big challenge for the Blue Devils
“Play for the people around you, play for building [for] next year and try to go out with a win.”
That’s what it’s come down to for Duke senior safety Dylan Singleton.
There are a lot of subplots in Saturday’s game against Miami. There is a scenario in which a 5-7 Duke team could qualify for a bowl but Duke has to get to five and that’s a long way from a sure thing against a Miami team described as deep, athletic and skilled.
It’s the final home game for the seniors, Senior Day for guys like Singleton, linebacker Koby Quansah, quarterback Quentin Harris, guard Zach Baker and others. Duke will announce 21 guys as playing their final home game Saturday.
And it’s Thanksgiving weekend, a time when almost all of Duke’s student body is away from the area, along with much of the geographically-dispersed fan base.
In other words, a small crowd. Duke didn’t handle the combination very well last year against Wake Forest and got pounded.
“I don’t think it’s an outlier,” Cutcliffe said of the 2018 Wake game, “I think it’s a challenge. I didn’t do a very good job a year ago of preparing us and it’s something that we’ve already talked about and we’re going to be fine.”
With no classes Wednesday, Duke will practice later, allowing some extra sleep. The team will lunch together Thursday and then the players will be released to be with their families if possible, or with teammates who live off campus.
Back to normal on Friday.
“It’s pretty easy to focus [with the students gone],” Harris said. “You’re just with each other. It’s a good time to build some camaraderie.”
“I’m happy that people are going to be with their families,” Cutcliffe added. “I’ve done it a while, a bunch of different ways. The best way is to realize that after we practice on Thursday, it’s okay to celebrate families.”
And as he always has in public, Cutcliffe chose to praise the fans who do show up rather than criticize the ones who do not.
“I do know this, we have the most loyal, consistent crowd in America and I’m very appreciative of that.”
Singleton, Quansah and Harris all three echoed generations of earlier players.
“One last ride together,” Quansah said. “It’s still surreal that it’s all coming to an end.”
“It hasn’t quite hit me yet,” Harris said. “We want to sent all the seniors out on a high note. A lot of love for the seniors in our locker room so the guys have a little extra pep in our step this week. I want to go out on a high note.”
In order for that to happen Duke has to build on the few things it’s done well over the last few games and plug the holes that have developed.
“I thought we had some more explosive plays,” Harris said of the offense, “a couple of plays down field, some great runs. We have to finish drives with touchdowns not field goals.”
Cutcliffe cited the lack of explosives, especially in the running game, and mentioned advice he received from Dick Vermeil earlier in his career to “keep calling the run. If you keep calling it, you’ll get those 60 and 70-yard runs and then your average will look a lot better. . . . We’re not getting those.”
Singleton and Quansah acknowledged that there has been some slippage on the defensive side of the ball.
“Stay in our gaps, run to the ball, tackle,” Singleton said. “We missed a lot of tackles the last two weeks. Getting back to the basics, being in the right body position.”
Quansah agreed.
“Go back to basics, play as hard as we can for 60 minutes, at times we lose sight of that and lose motivation. Guys not finishing, got to finish, finish, finish and having everybody run to the ball. One thing we’ve kind of lost sight of, depending on one or two guys to make the tackle.”
Cutcliffe added another perspective.
“It’s an interesting era of tackling. Everybody does the rugby tackling. You still have to hit with your shoulder and then grasp. We’re reaching and then trying to deliver a blow. There’s a huge difference. . . . First contact has to be with the shoulder and then you lock up. Not reach. We worked hard on that today.”
It doesn’t help that Duke’s defense has spent an inordinate amount of time on the field, almost 40 minutes last week against Wake Forest.
“We emphasize conditioning,” Quansah said. “Getting out of the mindset that you’re not tired, got to keep going, got to find that extra gear.”
Basically it comes down to pride. No one wants to end their career with a loss, no one wants to end their season on a six-game losing streak.
“We just weren’t able to finish some games at the end.” Singleton said of this lost season. Some of them came back to bite us.”
A win against Miami? “A high note for the seniors,” Quansah said. “One last victory in Wallace Wade.”
And the possibility that the season might not end.
“We’re finally down to one game,” Cutcliffe said, “to maybe have a prize .We’re focused on that. If we win one game, we might go to a bowl.”
NOTES
It’s always interesting to look at the list of players recognized on Senior Day. Like Caesar’s Gaul, they are divided into three parts; the players who have used up their eligibility, redshirt juniors who don’t play often enough to justify a fifth year and redshirt juniors who do play often enough to justify a fifth year but for whatever reason elect to graduate and get on with their life.
Two players highlight that final group, placekicker A.J. Reed and wide receiver Scott Bracey. Safety Javon Jackson hasn’t played much at safety but has contributed on special teams. Other recruited players leaving with eligibility remaining are safety Damani Neal, offensive lineman Liam Smith and safety Antone Williams.
Aaron Young has elected not to pursue a sixth year, at Duke, at least. No one has entered the transfer portal yet but any of these players with a year of eligibility remaining could play elsewhere as a grad-student.