On Loss to Notre Dame
“Obviously hard-fought game. Came up short, you know, at Notre Dame. Proud of our guys for their resilience and toughness of finding way to battle back down 24 to three. And, uh, just at the end of the day, just not enough. But, uh, again, credit to them. Credit to Notre Dame. They, uh, they won the game and they earned it. Um, and then we quickly turned our attention to Duke. Great football team playing at a really, really high level. uh ACC play for us is playoff football and we have a tremendous opportunity this coming Saturday.”
On Lofton’s Controversial Play
“I think you know I said what I said after the game very frustrated and obviously very at that moment brings a lot but I think it's I don't want to take away from the fact the most important thing is respect for the game of football. Okay. Uh at the end of the day that's gone. Not won the game and you know what they deserve to win the game and they're a great football team. They have a great coach and they earned that win. So I like to lean more on, you know, that's whatever my opinion is or anything. That's it. It doesn't matter. You know, credit to them and we move forward and very important that we got moving forward right away due to the caliber of football team that's coming this weekend. This doesn't matter much either next year obviously but now that playoff is going 24.”
On Defensive Effort in Second Half
“Those last five possessions, they played really, really well. I think allowed one touchdown. The last five possessions, um, third down percentages just completely slipped from the first half to the second half. Coverage was tighter, communication was better. I just think they got their feet in the ground. They were playing with clean eyes, communicating at a high level. They were getting the football and being physical when they got there. We've done a really good job against the run all year. Just thought we really tightened up against the passes in those last five. How much does that challenge started.
Travel, Illness and Defensive Line
“I think everybody's got to deal with it. You won't you won't find anyone complaining about it. It does have its comes with issues, you know, guys get like for example, Samson couldn't practice until Thursday, you know, he got knocked out by the flu. We had three or four guys knocked out by the flu. But that's part of I think every team deals with that. those does that travel compounded? You know, it's part of it. You know, to me it's, you know, the beauty of college football and the regimen that comes with it, man. You know, you're you've got to protect your preparation the best that you can. You've got to get to bed at a certain hour as players, right? You've got to put the right stuff in your body. You have to hydrate the right way. you're always, you know, you're a miss night sleep or a miss meal from, you know, yanking a hamstring or, you know, whatever else might getting you sick. So, and our guys done a really good job with that, but it's good to be back home for a three-game stretch.”
On Facing Duke Star RB Nate Sheppard
He's very different than the rest. He really is a different level athlete, runner. He runs with I think very underrated power. He runs through people. He runs around people. He diffuses angles to the football. Um things that are bottled up become massive explosive plays. They do a great job shifts with their shifts and motions uh to create light boxes um to try to catch you with numbers and leverage to their advantage. And when he gets a crease, he goes, he's very dangerous out of the back field. They use in their screen game, the passing game. A check down to him is as dangerous as any down the field throw. Um he's one of the best players in college football.
Duke Scouting Report
“I think especially their last two games they've allowed a total of five points. Two of them on a returns um you know extra point that was blocked and run back. Uh just playing really physical um being really they play really fast and physical on both sides of the ball and their levels of communication on defense is impressive. They get there they get there in a hurry. It's an experienced group. All those guys have I don't know how many starts we count up in the secondary, but it's it's tremendous. You know, a lot of movements and pressures, so the communication levels have to be high. I think on the offensive side, you know, we the running back is obviously a great player. Um the offensive line probably doesn't get enough credit. They've only allowed four sacks all year. They're physical. They finish blocks. They run their feet through contact. Their tight ends are explosive. Big guys are wide receivers are explosive playmakers. Their quarterback is one of the ones in the country as well. Just an extremely well-balanced team, very talented team that's playing at a high level.”
On Cooper Barkate
“He's flashed throughout the year and obviously got a ton more action on Saturday. I think that he's just he's just getting started. I think he's just starting to, you know, scrape a little bit of what he's about to about to get going. He uh he's explosive. He's smart. He can block well. Um the entire route tree is something that he is very good at. You know, he can play inside, outside, he can play all over the place. um really excited about we've always been excited about him, but you know, really proud of him for the way he played on Saturday.”
On Elija Lofton
“His first 100 yard game, you know, last play that last catch notwithstanding, but you know, made one of the plays of the year, I think in that the third down where he like stopped on a dime and everything. How have you seen him? I mean, we talked asked about him a lot this year, but he's gotten better and better, but you know, how has he kind of progressed this early portion of the season. He’s health you know, was the biggest thing. We like to use our tight ends in the run game so sometimes to get banged up what he went through last year in the postseason was really difficult. So to see him bounce back like he has he had a great summer was healthy so improved everything his body fat he improved our body composition he reduced his body fat. Hewas a guy that's again can run the entire route tree as well. Can play in the back field on the line of scrimmage, detached, really smart, tremendous feel for the game, physical, tough. You saw his balance and body control and his ability to make the contested catch.”
