Chris Rumph II on Duke's Lack of Pass Rush Against UVA

Blue Devils had just one sack after excelling in first two games

Duke had seven turnovers in Saturday’s loss at Virginia, but defensive end Chris Rumph II said that the defense didn’t feel any sense of frustration or letdown having to go back onto the field so often.

“We enjoy going on the field,” he said. “Any time we get to play football with our brothers on the defensive side, it’s a blast. We have fun out there. With all the turnovers, we don’t even pay attention to that. Like I said before, our job is to stop the offense at any given moment. We have to do a better job of that.”

Duke was beaten for long runs and passes in giving up 38 points to the Cavaliers.

“You have to give credit to them,” Rumph said. “This is high-level competition. Teams are going to make plays. We’ve just got to respond better.”

While Duke’s pass rush did well in the first two games, the ends, including Rumph, struggled to reach Virginia’s quarterback on Saturday, combining for just one sack.

“He got the ball off quick,” Rumph said. “They did a good job making sure they got the ball out of their hands. You’ve got to give credit to the defensive line for putting pressure, but he got the ball off quick. They made plays. We’ve just got to tackle better. Overall, as a defense, just play better.”

Rumph also praised the play of the defensive line’s backups late in the game.

“I don’t know if you saw Christian Rorie and R.J. Oben out there making plays at the end of the game,” he said. Oben and Rorie each had 0.5 tackles for loss, and they combined for three tackles.

“That’s the type of guys we have,” Rumph said. “We’re never going to quit until the final whistle blows. I definitely have to give a shout out to those guys fighting to the end, especially given what the score was.”