Tag Archives: Duke Football

Duke Football

Another recruiting success story for Cutcliffe in Walter Canty

[private]Coach David Cutcliffe and his staff turned up a jewel in soon to be freshman Walter Canty.  If you haven't heard yet, Canty turned more than a few heads with his play in the North Carolina-South Carolina Shrine Bowl game where he was tabbed the MVP.

Here is another link on the games Defensive MVP and talks of the 118 yards creditied to Canty.  Some knew Canty was a do it all athlete before the game even started.  And in this link ESPN raves over his versatility where he even played quarterback.[/private]

Duke Football

Duke Football Coach David Cutcliffe gets a contract extension

[private] 
DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke head football coach David Cutcliffe has signed a two-year extension that pushes his current contract through the 2015 season, Vice President and Director of Athletics Kevin White announced on Sunday.
 
Terms of the contract will not be released.
 
"Coach Cutcliffe has clearly established himself as an elite player within the entire college football coaching community," White said.  "Without question, David is one of

Cutcliffe spends time with his youngest daughter during his initial signing day
Cutcliffe spends time with his youngest daughter during his initial signing day

the premier coaches in the country.  Not surprisingly, in a relatively short period of time, David has implanted his strong and determined leadership all over the Duke football program.

"David has hired a phenomenal staff, and the efforts of the coaches have already paid dividends both on and off the field," continued White.  "To be sure, David's unqualified commitment to the comprehensive development of the student-athlete, as well as to the mission of this highly unique University, underscores the fact that this is indeed yet another great day for Duke!"
 
"David Cutcliffe is a great coach, a great teacher and a great citizen of the University and the community," said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead.  "He and his team have restored confidence and excitement in Duke football, and I look forward to his leadership on the field for a long time to come."
 
Hired on December 15, 2007, Cutcliffe guided the Blue Devils to a 4-8 record this past season -- equaling the victory total from Duke's previous four seasons combined -- while facing the second-toughest schedule in the nation and competing in the top conference in the country according to the Sagarin Ratings.  The Blue Devils faced 10 bowl eligible teams along with the top-ranked FCS team in James Madison.
 
"I am grateful to Dr. Brodhead and Kevin for their confidence in our staff as we build on something really special here at Duke," Cutcliffe said.  "As I have said many times

Cutcliffe and his youngest daughter
Cutcliffe and his youngest daughter

over the past year, Duke is a fantastic place with outstanding people, and we are thrilled to be a part of this institution."
 
Under Cutcliffe's direction, Duke showed significant improvement in all three phases in 2008.  On offense, Duke bettered its totals in total offense (+32.7), rushing offense (+42.2) and sacks allowed (-23) from the previous campaign while quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and wide receiver Eron Riley both earned All-ACC honors.  The defensive unit was led by All-America linebacker Michael Tauiliili and All-ACC defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase as the Blue Devils made marked improvement in scoring defense (-9.8), total defense (-67.4), rushing defense (-28.7) and passing defense (-38.7) and held three opponents to less than 10 points for the first time since 1976.
 
After making a combined seven-of-22 (.318) field goal attempts over the 2006-07 seasons, Blue Devil kickers booted 13-of-18 (.722) field goal attempts in 2008, posting the highest field goal success rate in a single-season at Duke since 1998.  Nick Maggio (28-of-28) became just the third kicker in Duke history to make 25 or more PATs without a miss in a single season while punter Kevin Jones ranks third in the ACC in punting (40.8 avg.).
 
In addition, Duke saw an increase of 60 percent in season ticket sales for 2008 and had four home crowds of 30,000 or more fans for the first time in school history.  Duke's average home attendance of 28,727 in 2008 was the largest since 1994.[/private]

Duke Football

Duke’s Michael Tauliliili Named 2nd Team All American

[private]

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili has been named Second Team All-America by the Walter Camp Foundation, the organization announced on Thursday evening.
"Given the history behind the Walter Camp Foundation, I know this is a prestigious honor," said Tauiliili. "I know it dates back a long time and it is an honor and privilege to be named an All-America. I commed my coaches, teammates and everybody surrounding Duke football in helping me make the transition physically, mentally and emotionally from last season into the player I was this year."
auiliili, a 5-11, 235-pound native of Houston, Texas, becomes the first Duke linebacker to receive All-America honors since Mike Junkin was a second team selection in 1986.  Other Blue Devil linebackers to garner All-America accolades include Bob Matheson (1st team in 1966), Dick Biddle (3rd team in 1970) and Keith Stoneback (3rd team in 1974).  Tauiliili is Duke's first All-America choice overall since punter Brian Morton was honored with a second team citation following the 2000 campaign.
In 2008, Tauiliili led Duke in tackles (140), interceptions (4), pass breakups (5), quarterback pressures (5) and caused fumbles (3).  His 140 stops led the ACC and matched the eighth-highest single-season total in school history.  He added 13.0 tackles for loss and one fumble recovery and was a primary reason that Duke made significant improvement in scoring defense (-9.8), total defense (-67.4), rushing defense (-28.7) and passing defense (-38.7) while facing the second-most difficult schedule in the nation -- a ledger that included 10 bowl eligible teams and the top-ranked FCS squad in James Madison.
A First Team All-ACC selection this season, Tauiliili finished third in the league's Defensive Player of the Year voting after captaining a Duke defense that held three opponents to less than 10 points for the first time since 1976.  He is the only linebacker in the ACC to rank among the league's top 10 players in four defensive statistical categories.

Tauiliili played 46 career games at Duke and finished with 434 tackles, 46.0 tackles for loss, 6.0 quarterback sacks, seven interceptions and eight pass breakups.  On Duke's career charts, he ranks fourth in tackles and third in tackles for loss.[/private]

Duke Football

Tauiliili named ACC Player of the Week

[private]

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke senior linebacker Michael Tauiliili garnered ACC Player of the Week honors after registering a career-high 20 tackles and his team-leading fourth interception in the Blue Devils' 28-20 loss to North Carolina this past Saturday.
The league accolade is the second this season for Tauiliili, who also was honored following his 16-tackle, one-interception outing versus Virginia.
A native of Houston, Texas, Tauiliili posted the most tackles in a game since Terrell Smith had 22 hits versus Rice in 2003 and his 20 tackles are the most by an ACC player this year.  Also against the Tar Heels, Tauiliili added 2.5 tackles for loss to push his season total to 13.0.
Tauiliili closed the regular season as the ACC's leading tackler with 140 stops, a total that matches the eighth-highest single-season total in Duke history.
The conference's complete list of weekly honorees includes Tauiliili (Defensive Lineman), N.C. State's Russell Wilson (Rookie), Georgia Tech's Roddy Jones (Offensive Back), Virginia Tech's Ryan Shuman (Offensive Lineman), Boston College's Robert Francois (Defensive Back) and Boston College's Billy Flutie (Specialist).

[/private]

Duke Football

Cutcliffe Teleconference – Tauiliili, Lewis, Virginia Tech, UNC and more

[private]Opening statement -  We've been in the training room before going out on the practice field.  We were a beat up team going into Blacksburg and a beat up team coming out, but not emotionally.  I've never been around a more unselfish team or a team that plays any harder than this team does.  There is no finger pointing - 100% together.  I'm very saddened that our seniors qwon't get to experience a bowl game and they have one game left to play which is a big one with rival North Carolina.  We're going to pick up the pieces after a hard fought and difficult game against Virginia Tech.

On Michael Tauliliili - He's the best defensive football player in the ACC.  He continues to play at a high level every single snap.  He's a great leader off the field.  His recovers fumbles, causes fumbles, makes plays nobody else can make.  He's all over the field.  I feel he should be the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

On Zack Asack - Obviously, his confidence is not good right now throwing the football.  He hasn't had a lot of success and didn't throw the ball well against Virginia Tech.  He has a lot of work to do, but he is capable.  We've got to help him a little bit more and he will continue to work and we will continue to evaluate Thad as the week goes on.  Zack was effective in our triple option offense.  We had tons of opportunities to make big plays but we didn't take advantage of it.  I know I can count on Zack to come to work.

On Thad's chances to play vs UNC - I'm very hopeful.  He continues to get treatments.  In fact we were here at 2:00 in the morning after the game administering treatment to a lot of players.  Thad was in here earlyy this morning - so a lot of work going on in that regard.

On his teams defensive effort and physical play against a team that's had their way in the past - We did a great job.  We thought we had a great match up.  We tackled well, we were very aggressive in coverage.  We pretty much put a lot of people in the box to slow down their running game.  We shortened the game which was the plan and going late into the fourth quarter we had a chance to win the game.

We had five take aways and that was huge, we were solid in the kicking game.  Offensively, I could not believe how many missed opportunities we had looking at the tape this morning.  Whether we called the wrong play or a snap issue or a penalty ... just unnecessary things.  We won the field position game and became a more physical team on both sides of the ball.  We not only want that  momentum to carry into the Carolina game, I want that to carry into Duke Football.

Our physicality is going to change as a team.  We were in the weight room on Sunday.  Coaches know that Duke will be physical and how we played in the past ... those days are gone.  I talked to Coach Beamer about that before the ball game and he said that they could see the difference on tape and were shocked.

These seniors are leaving the program better than they found it.   A lot more has gone on than the play on the field.[/private]

Duke Football

Duke comes up short vs Hokies

[private]

Blacksburg, Va. -- The Duke defense forced five first half turnovers, but it wasn’t enough as the Blue Devils fell 14-3 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

The Blue Devils (4-7, 1-6) had their final chance to mount a game wining scoring drive with 1:31 remaining but Zack Asack was intercepted on first down from the Duke 18 by Victor Harris who returned the interception 23 yards putting the game out of reach for Duke.

“We carried the game into the fourth quarter, had a chance to win... The thing that I want to focus on is that you will never see a football team play together better than you saw Duke today,” David Cutcliffe said. “It was an unbelievable feeling, not just today but all week long fighting back after not really playing well against Clemson.”

The Duke defense put forth a valiant effort the entire game forcing five first half turnovers and surrounding just one scoring drive to Hokies (7-4, 4-3) for the entire 60 minutes as both teams dealt with temperatures in the 20s.

Led by Vincent Rey’s 11 tackles, the Duke defense put their offense in a position to come away with points throughout the game by the Hokie defense responded every time forcing stop after stop.

Both Catron Gainey and Matt Daniels forced two turnovers each, an interception and a fumble recovery, with Gainey recording seven tackles, one for a loss and Daniels chipping in with three.

It was the second consecuative game that the Blue Devils recorded at least four sacks with Greg Akinbiyi, Vince Oghobaase, and Gainey all recording a solo sack while Michael Tauiliili and Marcus Jones combined on a sack.

Rey also had a forced fumble and a pass breakup, while Tauiliili added nine tackles, broke up three passes, assisted on a sack and recorded his third interception of the season as the Blue Devils held Virginia Tech to 334 yards of total offense.

The Blue Devils ran the ball 40 times on the day gaining 116 yards. Duke ended the day gaining 136 yards of total offense.

“I just kept hoping that we would bust a run, and boy we came close over and over and over to busting a run,” Cutcliffe said.

After a scoreless first quarter the Blue Devils notched the first points of the ball game with 14:50 left in the second quarter. Nick Maggio connected on a 39-yard field goal from the left hash to put the Blue Devils up 3-0.

The drive was set up thanks to a fumble recovery at the Virginia Tech 43-yard line by Daniels. The freshman pounced on the football for the Blue Devils second forced turnover of the game. Tyrod Taylor was credited with the fumble on the pitch to Darren Evans.

The scoring drive for the Blue Devils lasted 6-plays highlighted by a 19 yard rush by Asack, who finished the day with a career high 87 rushing yards on 24 carries.

On the ensuing Hokie possession, Daniels intercepted Taylor, who threw slightly behind Jarrett Boykin, at the Duke 37-yard line returning it nine yards to the Duke 46, but the Blue Devil offense was unable to capitalize.

On the very next play after Duke punted, Taylor fumbled the football as he took off down the field with Gainey recovering the football at the Virginia Tech 40. Rey forced the fumble on the play. After three offensive plays the Blue Devils were forced to punt once again.

Sean Glennon replaced Taylor on the next series in the second quarter faring better than his teammate as he led Virginia Tech completing 12-of-20 for 132 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Though Glennon had his struggles early throwing an interception in his second series, with Gainey coming up with the interception after Tauiliili deflected the pass as he rushed the quarterback. Duke took over at their 40, but once again were unable to turn the Hokie mistake into points.

Glennon found his grove with 3:02 remaining in the half orchestrating the Hokies on an 86yard drive that spanned 2:24 finding Jarrett Boykin on a skinny post for the 19-yard touchdown strike with 38 seconds left in the half. The touchdown would be the only one the Duke defense would surrender all game, but it was the only one the Hokies would need in the end as Duke entered the locker room at the half trailing 7-3.

Neither team’s offense could get into a grove in the second half as both defenses prevented either offense from driving the football down the field. The longest drive by either team in the second half was 27 yards, twice by Virginia Tech and once by the Blue Devils.

The interception return for a touchdown by Harris with 1:23 left sealed the victory for the Hokies , but Cutcliffe walked off the field proud of the effort his team put forth.

“This Duke team is a pretty special football team,” Cutcliffe said.

[/private]