Quotes Following Tulane's 37-7 Loss to Duke
Sep 4, 2015 | Football
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TULANE QUOTES
Head Coach Curtis Johnson:
Opening statement:
"I'm very disappointed with the outcome of the game. We didn't play very well. Offensively, we were slow starting out and we couldn't get first downs, but I thought Tanner [Lee] settled down in the third and fourth quarters. Defensively, I thought we played well early but had poor tackling in the second half. We had some opportunities to get some picks, but we've got to get some more three and outs on the defense. Offensively, we didn't run the ball. Duke has a good team, my hat goes off to Coach [David] Cutcliffe. I think he's done an outstanding job. We just didn't play well, they're the better team. We shouldn't give up that many points and play like we did."
On special teams…
"Yeah, they [special teams] hurt us again. The punting game wasn't bad, but the coverage games, they have got two guys that have a lot of speed. We put a lot of young kids on special teams and they just ran out of their lanes. It was like the floodgates were opened."
On the offensive struggles in the first half…
"I thought early on, Duke did a great job playing. They were putting on the pressure. Tanner's got to get the ball out a little bit quicker on some of those things. We were backed up from the second, third, fourth series, and that's going to happen. We've just got to get the field position changed. We've got to get some first downs, and we'll do that next week."
On changing QBs…
"I never thought about it. If you come to practice, you see that he's [Tanner] by far the best guy. The interception was a tipped ball that should have been caught. Overall I thought he played decently, he just began to get hit."
On being caught in third downs…
"We lost confidence a little bit, and then the defense kept going back onto the field and got worn down."
On Breaux redeeming himself…
"[Devon] Breaux is that kind of player. I wish he hadn't kneeled on the one yard line, that he'd been a little bit more mature. But that was one of those plays where you can't believe that happened, but then he came back and made a great play. We've just got to be more consistent."
Wide Receiver Devin Breaux:
On the touchdown pass – whether that was something he worked on during the offseason …
"Well we worked on a lot of things, whether it was short routes or deep routes. At the end of the day, we have to make the play for (Tanner Lee) when they're blitzing and he's got to get the ball out of his hands."
On quarterbacks just throwing the ball up and having the receiver make the play …
"That's what we live by. The ball doesn't have to be perfect. We just tell ourselves, at the end of the day, we have to make a play."
More on the touchdown catch …
"Didn't matter where the defensive back was at, at the end of the day we have to make the play for Tanner."
Moving forward to the next game …
"We just have to forget about this game and move on to the next. We have to move on how we ended that game on offense."
Quarterback Tanner Lee
On the start to the season …
"Duke has a good defense. They're a well-coached team. They have an experienced secondary. We just didn't play well enough. It's as simple as that. We didn't do enough things to win. I got to play better. We have to do something to put some points on the board and help our defense out. We got to learn from it and it's on to the next week.
"We just have to focus on the little details and the consistency and making sure everyone is doing the right thing all the time. If we can do that, we can put some points up."
Linebacker Nico Marley
On his day and team defense overall …
"I think the score tells its own story. I can't really focus on my number of tackles. I'm here for wins. I'd rather have zero tackles and a win than 20 tackles and a loss."
"We definitely should have been more disciplined. I should have been more disciplined."
On Georgia Tech game …
"Now our focus is on Georgia Tech. Tomorrow we'll watch film on them and see our mistakes from this game, correct them and move on."
DUKE QUOTES
Head Coach David Cutcliffe
Opening Statement
"Tulane was what I thought they were going to be. They have ten returning starters on offense, and you could tell that they were confident. They should be. Defensively, I have some great respect for some of their front people who can really make some plays. They were a great test for a quarterback on the road starting his first game. I thought Thomas [Sirk] played tremendously. Turnovers and the penalties, particularly the six we had in the first half, are all things that we can correct. I would be willing to bet you that, on the kicking game on offense and defense, we played about as hard as you could play a game. From my perspective, and I'm pretty good at looking at that, I thought we played really, really hard, and that caused some of the problems. I thought our defense had a really good plan. We worked really hard against some of the things they had hurt us with. I thought our front had played well all of August. We are now a quicker and more athletic front, so that had something to do with our success. Certainly, our secondary doesn't disappoint you. When you see what Jeremy [Cash] and DeVon Edwards and Deondre [Singleton] can do from the safety positions to help you in the run game, that has an impact. I thought Jim Knowles did a really good job with our defensive plan. We got after the quarterback a lot. That quarterback is very talented, and I told him after the game to not get discouraged. He told me that he was shocked by our defense, and that's how a player feels right after a game. In college football, you don't play another team for a long time, and when you get out there, some of the things that you may not be doing as well show up. I told our team that we did a lot of things well, but nothing is ever as good or bad as it seems. We will go back and study the tape, make corrections, and take care of our bodies for a couple of days. I'm hoping that we see some number twos that got some playing time eager and anxious. I know we played at least 10 or 11 guys tonight up front on defense, so that's encouraging to a team in their first game. I also thought that our receiving core played very well. I know they were a concern going into this game, and I still think we have a ways to go, but I was certainly very pleased with the start of the night."
On receivers' play overall…
"I had a conversation with Johnell [Barnes]. I thought that he grew up, and that he played like a Junior tonight. That's what I told him, to start playing like a Junior. I told him, "You're not a puppy anymore, let's go." T.J. Rahming, who is a puppy but doesn't play like one, has got a lot of talent. Max McCaffrey is a great leader in that game, and it was good to see Chris Taylor make a play as well as Ryan Smith. That's a great job with a difficult punt return because of the range and difference in what that punter for Tulane [Peter Picerelli] can do. I'm encouraged by that group."
On meaning behind Thomas Sirk's overall play…
"He's in his fourth year with us, so he understand our system very well. He's well coached by Scottie Montgomery, and Thomas Sirk is a winner in every aspect. He studies and prepares very well. I have told people that, if you prepare a quarterback well enough in practice, and if practice is really like a game, tonight shows the results that you will see. The game didn't speed up for him. It was like he was at practice. That's a tribute to his coaches and the way we go about practicing football. He's talented and accurate with that football. People that play man-to-man as much as Tulane did are not going to intercept passes if they are accurate. Thomas [Sirk] had one ball slip, and Tulane was in zone, and their man dropped it thank goodness, but that ball just slipped out of his hand."
Safety DeVon Edwards
On limiting Tulane to seven points …
"There are some things we still need to clean up, we know we are a good team but still some things we need to clean up."
On stopping Tulane on third down …
"Throughout training camp coach put an emphasis on getting off the field so on third down, fourth down we know we need to give it our all because you never know which play will change the game. We try to play every down like it is third down."
On his kickoff return …
"It happened so fast. I picked a hole and went with my gut and it worked."
Quarterback Thomas Sirk
On playing his first game …
"I would say we were more anxious than nervous. We prepared so well for them."
On responding after the early fumble …
"We knew that that was something we had to bounce back from. It was too early in the game to linger on. Our defense did a great job of getting us the ball back all night."
Running Back Shaun Wilson
On whether he felt 100% before the game …
"I was feeling really good. Our medical staff is great and even though I sat a couple practices out I felt pretty good tonight."
On if they were pleased as an offence with how they handled the defense …
"Yeah we were. There were some bumps in the road but ultimately we played a good game
