Duke used a massive performance from Nate Sheppard and its defense, plus a dominant second quarter, to pull away from NC State in a 41-3 victory to improve to 7-2 on Saturday in Raleigh.
Here is what Blue Devils head coach Manny Diaz had to say after the game.
Opening statement
Actually, I'm going to start with just expressing our thoughts with the injuries today. Never quite seen a game like this. Very difficult to see guys take on the field in the manner that they were. It's a reminder of the reality of this game and just the courage and bravery of both sides every time they cross the line. So wishing for speedy recovery for all those guys. And again, I'm proud of our team for how we were able to manage getting back into playing. It's hard when
you have those long delays, and I thought we were mature and professional in that situation. For the overall performance, when you have a dominant win like we had a week ago against Boston College and college football, normally there's some sort of letdown. You start to believe things are easy. Winning is easy. It's never easy. I thought the team just improved from last week.
I think that was the mindset all week. Let's find a way to get better. And that's what they did. And to come into this environment, play the way that we played. I thought we absolutely took control of the game in the first half. And then the field goal return was just really just the momentum hammer. And for the second half, you got to come out for two weeks in a row; you got to come out, you got to be mature. They got the ball first, and I think they had 36 yards of offense in the second half. So defense just dominant. I mean, 30 points allowed in the second half of the entire season. So that just shows our staff doing a great job making adjustments. So, like I said, amazing job by our staff, amazing job by our football team. Proud to get this win today.
And now we have to do the same thing going forward: just find a way to get better and enjoy our next game.
On having Pellicciotta back for the field-goal attempt
No, we do. I mean, we have that. That's the type of thing you practice like in training camp. And as soon as we saw them lining up, you knew he was into the wind. It was right on the fringe of whether he'd have a chance to make it or not. And the point we just said, hey Pellicciotta, you're deep. And he already gets a wall return to our bench. So he's already telling the players like, "Hey, hey, wall left, wall left, wall left." And the ball hangs up there, and those guys aren't used to covering kicks. You got all kinds of offensive linemen, a holder, snapper, kicker. Now the strain, I mean, that play must have taken 30 seconds; it felt like, but the strain of all of our guys, not to mention Pelliocciotta, who, by the way, has been out. So that was probably as much exertion as he's had in a long time.
Says a lot about just the effort and the way that our football team is trained under David Feeley.
Ever had that happen in a game you’ve coached before?
No, no, that was a very unusual play. And it was just amazing and just to pull it off, and the manner of the timing when it happened, knowing that they had the ball coming out at halftime, I guess it was 24 to three at that point. So it's still in doubt, and then just to make that play. But then that's a mature football team in that locker room to go in after such a high and still be able to refocus and come out and dominate third and fourth quarters.
Should Nate Sheppard be in the Heisman conversation?
There's no question. I mean, again, how many times do we say it? A team knows that the number one thing to do against Duke is stop number 20, and on the fourth play of the game, he rips off however long the touchdown was. 200 yards, three touchdowns again. Everybody's playing great around him; the offensive line, tight ends are doing a great job blocking. And I thought Walker was really in control of the offense today. Our passing offense is getting better and better, but Nate is the straw that stirs the drink. And in my mind, he is absolutely one of the best players in the country.
On how much the UVA win gave the team confidence over the past two weeks
It had to be. I mean, obviously that game was in the balance towards the end, but I think what's really happening I think we're just learning how to become a complete football team. I think we're just getting better. And we had to learn some lessons from the two defeats at that point in the season. And I don't know, this team has a humility about it that they come in, they just prepare really, really well. They're very unselfish. I think you can see that by the way that we play, how many guys we have contributing on both sides of the ball. And they're just enjoying playing for and with one another.
On slowing down their running game
Yeah, we felt like that was really going to be the key number today for us to win was their rushing yards overall. And I thought we did a really nice job up front. I know they've had injuries, but we did a nice job up front of really limiting their running game. And if you can't run the ball, then it goes all on the quarterback, and that's hard for any quarterback. And again, I think our formula's been pretty... I think it's been pretty true over the last few weeks is that we don't give up explosive plays. We were being hard to run the ball against, and then we've been dominant on possession downs. We were made on third, I think fourth down. We were terrific today. And when you do those things, the score stays down, and ultimately that's where we play fourth-down points. I don't know if my career, I can remember in conference games giving up two and three in back-to-back weeks.
On Jaivon Solomon’s breakout game
Yeah. I mean, he's got competitive greatness, ability to make tough catches. I mean, the underrated play in the game was the Burton catch on the first third down. They're about to go three-and-out with the crowd going crazy, and he makes that, and we're able to tempo and go to Nate. I think we're getting Nicholas back involved. I think what's making us difficult now is we're able to distribute the ball to a lot of different people, and that just lets Walker go back there and just play point guard and just throw it to whoever's open. So we're getting better on offense.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Duke HC Manny Diaz said following 41-3 win over NC State
