Opening statement
Yeah, happy Halloween, everybody. That was a treat right there. That's maybe as complete of a performance as we've had in the two and a half years that I've been here. Starting with the defense, I can't say enough about him: he took a team that ran for 400 yards a week ago and held him to 50, 60, maybe even less when the starters were in. We looked fast. We did a great job communicating the back end, made it hard on him to get explosive plays, took a really, really talented quarterback and just eliminated him from the football game. Dominate on possession downs, continue the momentum we've had in the first half of the season. And then offensively, it was just kind of getting into the flow of the game, finding our footing. Obviously,
Nate Shepherd getting the end zone five times- what an accomplishment, what a player. Can't say enough about him.
I think everything that can be said has been said, but yet he still does things that no one has ever done. And again, it's not even November. I think he's got the school-record touchdowns of the season, and we've got four left to play, plus wherever they send us after that. So there will always be something that we've got to get better at. And I thought the biggest thing to me is that the team got better from last week. And what happens is when you have a big win, you can start to feel good. It might be what happened to Boston College. They had a dominant win last week. Everybody tells you how great you are, and then it just doesn't happen the same way the following week. So on one hand, we can be proud of what we did and what we accomplished, but if we think we've arrived and we've done it all, we're not going to have the outcome going forward that we won.
So got to stay humble in victory, but also proud of the way that they prepared. I thought you saw it very well. Coach did an unbelievable job, as a staff, of getting our guys ready to go and really taking it to Boston College.
On defensive effort against BC’s offense
So it's really option football. And so everybody has to play well because you've got the dive. I thought our defensive ends did a great job of being fast and aggressive. We just worked fast on defense. And yeah, so whether it was Goppers, whether it was the other guys, whether it was corners setting edge, Evan Smith making some good tackles down the perimeter, Dylan Flowers, it's the ultimate: everybody really has to stand up and be accounted for because they create another gap when he pulls the ball, and formationally they arc different guys to try to get an extra lead blocker out there. So every time they tried to change the math of who they had in front of them, we had a guy for all their guys. So, like I said, I thought Coach Patke and the staff did a great job of getting to get the team prepared.
On the only two points coming on special teams
My heart is broken. The scoreboard didn't say zero, and that it says two because they deserved it. It is a shutout to them, but unfortunately for the stats, it's not counted as a shutout, but that's a Duke shutdown. And like I said, that's big-time defense against an outstanding quarterback, a phenomenal tactician and play caller and Bill O'Brien. And like I said, that's as complete of a game as we've had in the time I've been here.
On taking advantage of big moments (stop on 4th down) in first half
Yeah, there's always moments. There's always moments, and I thought that was a massive moment. And then we get to stop. And then I also thought Nate's touchdown, to think, put us up three touchdowns, I thought that was a big blow where it just really felt like a game that maybe was, maybe we had control, but still in the balance, and all of a sudden, bang, it's three touchdowns. And I thought that was huge as well. And then also I'm really proud of how we started the third quarter. I didn't love how we finished the second.
But we came out, we knew they had the ball, we got to stop out of the locker room, and then we went right down and scored. I think that made it 34 to two. From that point on, it was just a matter of how many we win by. So I thought it was a very mature performance in the second half; we got a lot of guys in the game, which will really benefit us, as we'll need that depth in November. I think it internally just provides more evidence of what this team can be. I mean, you've got six wins. I mean, the guys understand that the two that went against us came down to a play or two and how close we be to being sitting on seven or eight or whatever. But post losses are losses. And so I think the team has confidence that when they prepare like they did this week and everybody just does their job and trusts their teammates.
And again, I keep saying with us, play fast, play free, don't worry about expectations. We start worrying about where we're going to end up at the end of the year. That's what trips us up. We have to just, like I said, stay humble, and we play fast. We're pretty good.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Duke head coach Manny Diaz said after win vs. Boston College
