How Duke Comes Back From 0-2
Duke is 0-2 on the young season, leaving the coaching staff looking for ways to improve things quickly.
“You certainly have to prioritize what you’re doing on the practice field,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “It’s under unique conditions. You start with personnel, always, make sure everything is happening with what you want from a personnel standpoint and that you’re doing the right things that best suit your personnel, in all three phases. Then you put a practice plan together. Then the only way you get better at football is quality rep after rep. Practice—I’ll tell you what it does. It makes permanent. If you practice really well and have a prioritized list of what you’ve got to do, you can improve much quicker than people think in this game.”
Cutcliffe was a bit surprised by the offense’s early struggles.
“We really had some good performances in camp that would’ve indicated an offense that can be consistent,” he said. “We still can be. We’ve got to look at ourselves, what we’re calling, every little thing we’re doing there. It’s no time to punch the panic button, but you have to respond. The players expect some type of response to put our offense back on track to do the things we believe in.”
The freshmen handling placekicking and punting both struggled as well, with Charlie Ham missing a kick and Porter Wilson having an off day punting.
“From a specialist standpoint, Porter and Charlie are extremely talented. They’re great young people. I’m extremely confident in both of them. I want to see us across board in the kicking game be better. There’s a lot of getting better to do in all three phases.”
