On players getting rest the last two weeks due to big leads
Yeah, it doesn't change our preparation for this week. I mean, you're in the middle of November, and you still played a lot of ball, but we have guys who normally take 60 to 70 snaps that took 35 snaps over the last two weeks. So it's almost like you've played one game over the course of two games. So yeah, that's massive. There's not a number to quantify what that means in terms of freshness and whatever, because everybody's still carrying something. But those things are certainly very welcome this time of year.
On what makes Darian Mensah so good
With Darian, it's decision-making and accuracy. His ball placement is outstanding, and he knows where to go with the ball. And so that's a challenge
for your pass defense because when you play quarterbacks like that, they can put the ball where other quarterbacks don't, so they can punish mistakes and whether it's leverage or eye discipline and things like that. So yeah, I mean, obviously it's a tremendous challenge.
On second-half defense and adjustments made
Well, I mean, there's a lot that goes into that. There's no one thing. No two half-times are the same because what the team needs at halftime is always dependent on what happened in the first half. But I would put the credit back on the coaches of their ability to identify how people are trying to attack us. Really, both sides of the ball, we've been really, really good in the third quarter this season. I mean, both quarters, I think we're 133 to 30 or something like that in the second half. I think David Feeley and his staff get credit on that just in terms of the shape and the conditioning that we're in to play at the same level for 60 minutes. So you said halftime is fast. There's no magic speech. If there's a magic speech, you'd give it before the game. There's just a lot of things that are involved.
And the credit of all the things just goes to the players of identifying what's happening and able to maintain a level of play when they come out of the locker room.
On the defensive numbers being so much better this season
Year to year, things can change so dramatically now for so many different reasons. Our numbers were way better in 24 than they were in 25. And as you mentioned, it's been a big turnaround. I think it's no one thing. There's some personnel in some places we got older. We have some new faces that have joined the defense. You're always looking to make schematic tweaks to keep up with the trends of the game. But I mentioned before, Chris, I think the biggest thing with this defense is that we're just a more connected unit than last year's team was. College ball, with the changing of the rosters and the reshuffling of the deck, you just never quite know when those pieces come together and when you get into the season, how those guys are going to respond when adversity hits, because adversity always hits every week, and this team just stays together, and they play much harder for each other in a way that last year's team couldn't quite match.
On this team being closer after what happened with Darian Mensah, Cooper Barkate in January
Yeah, that's hard for me to say definitively. You know what I mean? I just do know that this team is a very close team. I think our identity has been pretty clear since our first game in September, and they're a fun team to coach; I'll tell you that.
On third-down success on defense
Yeah, I mean third down is, again, another major turnaround from where we were a year ago. Historically, we've had pretty good numbers on third down. It's always about getting the quarterback off the first look and then, can you win a pass rush? And I think our guys have gotten better over the last three weeks of getting after the quarterback and affecting him. And again, your ability to how you mix up your coverages, because every coverage has a little bit of a stress point, so you just can't stay in one thing. There's no one scheme that works all the time, but just to try to make the quarterback just hold onto the ball, maybe an extra count or two, to create some sort of disruption back there where he's either as inaccurate or he's on the run and where you have a chance. Obviously, the trick with Darien is that he's very accurate and very good when he is moved off the spot in the pocket.
So last week's team we played against was outstanding on third down. They were over 50% coming into the game, so it's another big time challenge for us.
On keeping the team’s identity the same this week
Well, yeah, I mean it's important, but as you mentioned, the challenge to do that this week is as hard as any we've had because of their success of running the football. And look, when you make somebody one-dimensional, it's very hard to sustain that over 60 minutes. And so both teams are going to have to be patient in the run game and try to do some things to take the onus off the quarterback to have to do it down after down. But like I said, we've done a good job of staying out of negative plays. It's something that they're outstanding at creating. And so I think it's one of the fun things in coaching ball is how do you get your guys better from what we did a week ago and rise to whatever challenge the next opponent presents.
On his Miami background and if this game is personal
I don't know. I mean, we kind of went through that two years ago, the first time going back. I think this one's just a little bit different. I think the stakes of where both teams are. But for me, it's just, I don't know, we got a team that's on a little bit of a roll and just trying to find us a way to get better to give us a chance to win a game. So when you're a head coach, you spend the majority of your time thinking about everybody else in your program, and so you spend the least amount of time thinking about yourself and all that type of thing. So we're just trying to go win a ball game.
On offensive line’s success
Well, I thought we made some outstanding additions in the portal, which really helped us because we were old on the offensive line last year and lost a few starters, and bringing in two tackles really solidified us. I think our offensive staff does a really nice job schematically of protecting our quarterback in the passing game. And then when you have a back like Nate, you ain't got to cover him up for very long. If you can get the front-level guys blocked and get him one-on-one with somebody on the second or third level, you have a chance to be explosive in the running game. So those guys have played with a lot of confidence because they are old, they're highly intelligent, they can adjust, make very, very few mental errors of cutting a guy free or getting on the wrong guy.
But like I said, this will be by far their biggest challenge they've had so far this season.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Duke HC Manny Diaz previews matchup against Miami
