What Went Wrong in Duke's Loss to Virginia
Duke coach David Cutcliffe gave his initial reaction to what happened in the 38-20 loss to Virginia immediately after the game in Charlottesville.
“Certainly, I take responsibility for what we see done out there on that field,” he said. “I do have concerns. In all three of our games, we have not played well late. I do have concerns there. It looks like there’s some fatigue. We’re trying to play catch-up in the conditioning mode, so I am concerned. A bigger concern is taking care of the football on offense. We have 12 turnovers now in two games, which gives you no chance to win.”
Cutcliffe also pointed out the positives in the game.
“We had our moments,” he said. “We took a lead in the second half after being down at halftime and couldn’t finish the work. We’ve got to evaluate the kicking game. We’ve got to evaluate the defense, and without question, we’ve got to evaluate what we’re doing on offense, how we’re doing it and what’s happening there. We’ve had very little practice time. This is our third opener. You weren’t sure what you were going to get offensively from Virginia or defensively. Defensively, they’re a very complex pressure team. We didn’t handle it very well. We’re not going to run from the hard work. I believe in this staff. I believe in this team, without question. We’re going to attack this week and prepare ourselves to play a game. We’ve only played three games. We’ve got a lot of football in front of us.”
