David Cutcliffe on Duke's Open Date, Wake Forest Game

Blue Devils had physical practices during bye week

Duke had an extra week to think about the 56-24 blowout loss to North Carolina. The Blue Devils had their second off week of the season following the game.

“I’m proud of this team,” coach David Cutcliffe said as the Blue Devils returned to game week. “As resilient as it’s been. The challenges mount. Obviously, we didn’t play well at all against North Carolina.”

Duke took a different approach to the off week.

“We had a bit more physical open date than we had on the first one,” Cutcliffe said. “We felt like we needed to address a few things on both lines of scrimmage. We got better during that time.”

Next up for Duke is a Wake Forest team that nearly matched North Carolina, score for score, in last week’s 59-53 shootout.

“It’s a challenging season when you're playing 10 conference games,” Cutcliffe said. “You’ve got to be at your best, take care of the ball, create opportunities in the kicking game and on defense. The only way you’re going to do that is to do it on the practice field. That’s how you have to win big games, and every week is a big game.”

The Demon Deacons have give Duke trouble in recent years, winning two straight and three of four.

“It’s a huge challenge with Wake Forest, a team that’s very veteran,” he said. “A team that’s playing extremely well. They take great care of the ball. They’re very explosive, can score a lot of points, as we all know. Their defense is very system oriented. They’re veteran. They know what they’re doing. They have an outstanding kicking game. So a big challenge.”