David Cutcliffe: "There’s Nothing About Being 0-3 That We Dreamed We'd Be
Coach David Cutcliffe thought that Duke’s players were under a great deal of stress after losing their third straight game to start the season.
“I think it’s hard,” he said. “Sure. There’s nothing about being 0-3 that this team dreamed it would be. This team has—like all teams around the country—been through a lot. I’ve got to do a better job of helping them. The only way you can do that—the team psyche—is to help your teammate. That’s one thing I’ve pleaded with them. I said, ‘We need to think about each other not about ourselves.’ When you do that, that’s probably the best healing process I know. That’s what families do in hard times. If we take that approach, we can heal ourselves and we can turn this thing around.”
One area where the team’s stress has shown is in penalties at inopportune times.
“We’re all battling,” Cutcliffe said. “Their stress levels have been high since they’ve been back. Their stress levels were high when they were home. These guys were away 129 days in a row with no organized workouts. I look at that. I want them to have fun. I want them to play free. I want them to take the field confident and prepared. Do we need to stay onside? Absolutely. People are going to use cadence like that. Those little things that come through spring practice and scrimmages didn’t occur. What we’re doing we’re doing all for the fourth time full speed. Our discipline level in all aspects has to be better.”
