Opening statement
It's an identity win in a few different ways. It's an identity win in terms of how we play to our strengths. We knew who we were. We were able to impose our will on a football team with them on both lines of scrimmage. I think it was massive. Seeing how we played defense, for the most part, taking away the big plays. Again, doing a great job versus the run. There's an outstanding effort for that. And then offensively, getting big, multiple tight end groups, getting behind our offensive line and just pounding the rock. We played to our identity, and our identity was enough. But there's another piece to it too. It's the identity of Duke football. And what I would say in college football, your tactics can change from year to year,
but your identity of really your core of who you are, doesn't. And we've won at Duke with vastly different football teams.
I mentioned how we won differently in ‘24 than we did in ‘25. And we're 1-0 tonight because we found a way to win in ‘26 with what we have. Now that said, we get a ton better. Obviously, we left a lot of points out there in the red zone that could have put the game away much, much earlier, but that's football. I mean, everybody wants things that they can change in an opener, especially. But at a time in an off-season when nobody really believed in Duke football, and it was easy to suggest that we would take a step back- not that we're proclaiming anything, but what I can proclaim is the guys in that locker, they pushed back on that. They believed in themselves. They believe in this program. They believe in how we win at Duke. And like I said, the tactics might change, but the how doesn't change.
And tonight was a testament to that. So really, really proud of this football program and happy to be one and know.
On establishing the team’s identity in the first game
We're going to do the thing we say we're going to do. And I think our guys understood that. And I think the first drive was massive. We took control. And I have to make a point: after a 90-minute delay, you never really know how you're going to respond. We knew we wanted to take the ball, which is something we haven't done a lot here in two years. And to go on a, whatever it was, 18-play drive, 10 minutes, finish with a touchdown, we exerted game control. Really think about it from that first drive, we never really relinquished it. It was just a matter of what the score would be. So yeah, massively proud.
On the defensive effort and what he’s most proud of
I'd just say their pride, because everybody told them it's impossible for them to make the improvements that we knew that they were going to make inside. And so starting with the staff, Coach Patke and staff and how they came to work every day, how they game plan, like I said, the things that we saw in practice, but you got to go out there on the field and play. And just again, setting edges, running the football, tackling. And then when the score dictates being able to get up to the quarterback when it turned into a pass game. And keeping in mind, really flying blind with offensive schematics, we were going to face almost and really face two different offenses from the first half to the second half. So really to be able to adjust, to recognize, it was really almost like totally flipping script of what type of plays we were seeing, and for them to just do their jobs and to not allow a touchdown was, man, what a proud moment for all those guys and coaches.
On Nate Sheppard’s performance
Well, and I think the thing is this, again, and we heard them talk about it, they knew the key was to stop number 20. I mean, it wasn't a secret. Our identity, it's not a secret in terms of what was important for them to do. And for them, the game plan to stop him and then to be unable to stop him is really the sign of a great player when everyone knows that they're going to go to you and they still can't stop that. But again, if you're going to credit Nate, you've got to credit the offensive line. It felt like the offensive line, the tight ends, playing with three tight ends for a large portion of the game is something we really had not done. But again, we felt like that was playing to our strengths and the way those guys blocked, the way our wide receivers blocked.
Because look, everybody in the program knows when we hand the ball to 20, he's got a chance to go all the way. And so there's just that heightened sense of awareness when he's in there.
On Walker Eget’s performance and putting Dan Mahan in
I think Walker, it's easy to forget what he's coming back from. And I thought he, number one, managed well. We didn't have procedural issues in terms of calling the plays and whatever. So I was proud of him for that. We're going to get better in the passing game. We're going to get more in sync. Obviously, we had a couple off the fingertips that really could have created a lot of separation in the scoreboard. We had a plan to get Dan in the entire time, and where the game was and how they were starting to defend and really sell out versus the run. We felt like Dan's legs could provide us a spark. And I'm really proud of the way he played when he was in there. He played fast. And so I think that's something that we're going to be able to utilize as time goes on.
Is there a quarterback competition?
To me, like I said, it's an identity game. We know what our identity is and then we grow from that.
On the performance of Bryce Davis
Relentless. Huge play early on in the old offense when they ran the quarterback, you know what I mean? And we had them; they were in that fifty-fifty where they can really take a field goal or go for it on fourth down. He created a big tackle for loss and put them out of field goal range, and they had to punt. So not just making great plays, but timely plays. And like I said, we've seen that in practice, and I think he's just getting started. I really do.
On the 90-minute rain delay and getting the ball first
We knew during the week that we were going to take the ball. You have to have a mature football team because we're still regimenting the schedule. We took the game two hours before, went through this, whatever. And I think it was fortunate that we didn't start warmups and then stop. We kind of knew we didn't take the field, and I think the staff did a great job. Right before we kind of went out, we sort of grabbed everybody and just made sure that their minds were focused. But I'd be lying if you said you know for sure how teams would respond in that setting. But again, the way we took the ball and went down the field showed that the guys were dialed in, locked in and really took this game personally.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Duke HC Manny Diaz said following the Blue Devils' 17-3 win
