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jimsumner
11-15-2016, 02:49 PM
Duke football notes 11-15-16
Coming off a huge upset, Duke travels to Pitt to meet a team coming off a huger upset.

Curiously, the road team has won each of the three games the teams have played since Pitt joined the ACC.

A good trend to continue.

For this week, anyway.

Curiously, Pitt Has scored 58, 48 and 31 points in those games.

Well, the points allowed has decreased.

So, that's a good trend to continue.

Still, Duke hasn't exactly shut down Pitt.

How does that change?

David Cutcliffe. "They're so big, they're so physical. You can sit there and say 'stop the run, stop the run,' which you have to do. But they're very capable of throwing the ball. The first thing you've got to do when you look at Pitt is their explosive plays. You've got to align well. They do a lot of shifts, motions. They steal your eyes. . . . You've got to play your position. You've got to be gap sound. You can't give up the number of big plays that we've given up to these guys. A lot of this is their talent. A lot of it is we can benefit by being better. Being aligned and being where we need to be. You can't do more than your part. . . . You have to play your position because these guys use the interior, they use the width of the field, they'll throw it down the field."

Ben Humphreys on the same subject. "They're hitting on all cylinders at the same time. You've got to do your job, play your gaps and trust that the coaches are going to put you in good positions. One of the biggest keys in this game is tackling. You've got to gang tackle. . . . Hit him [James Conner] low, hit him hard, hit him with all you've got."

Cutcliffe on Conner. "One guy is not going to tackle him consistently. I don't think you can stop him. I think you have to minimize the damage. The best way to minimize the damage is to get more than one person to the ball. When he gets rolling and he feels it, it is increasingly difficult to do this."

Johnathan Lloyd has been practicing against Mark Gilbert all season says that he wasn't surprised that the true freshman was able to step in for Breon Borders on short notice.

"He's a guy who likes to compete. He's confident. Being put in that position is difficult and it will only help him in the future."

Duke had the ball almost 37 minutes against North Carolina.

Austin Davis on how that happened.

"It was just continuing to execute whatever plays were called, whatever the offensive coordinator called, we were just making sure we executed. It was us up front trying to move them around and give us a chance to run the ball and keep the ball on third down and stay on the field.

Cutcliffe says time-of-possession is magnified with this young team.

"It's something that we've always thought about. This particular team is capable of being that kind of team. I like big chunks of yardage but right now it sets our team up well to try and stay on the field."

Cutcliffe praised his staff's ability tp adjust to injuries and new players. "Has adjusted to the circumstances better than any staff we've had."

Bob Green
11-15-2016, 04:02 PM
No talk of injuries from the Carolina game? I'm going to take a no news is good news attitude. At least until Thursday.

BigWayne
11-15-2016, 09:09 PM
Hoping that the Pitt boys are still celebrating the big win at Death Valley and underestimate our guys.

devildeac
11-16-2016, 12:09 AM
Hoping that the Pitt boys are still celebrating the big win at Death Valley and underestimate our guys.

Clemson hangover? ;)