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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 7, 2011

David Cutcliffe

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: We have had certainly a huge challenge with a very, very fine Stanford team coming in here, coming off a great season a year ago at 12 and 1 and certainly off to another fast start with a dominating 57-3 win, and they are that good. They could certainly be a top five team just as easily as being a top ten team.
But we've had really good days in practice. Sunday night I thought we responded well. We had an excellent day yesterday and an excellent day today, a lot of good work, and that's the point we're at right now is Duke has got to improve, and we have to come to that realization. For us to compete, we have to be at our best. So we're looking forward to the challenge.

Q. Just wondered if there are any -- if there's anything that you learned from the Alabama game there last year that could apply to a high profile team like Stanford coming in?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, I think certainly our players, that was new to them a year ago, something that maybe I didn't pay as much attention to as I should, because it was pretty ordinary for me for my career. I think the lesson that I learned in that regard is to realize a lot of people are talking to our players and there's a lot of focus surrounding the opponent, and one of the things I think we did is we really didn't perform, we were just flat tight and not very confident, and even though we had prepared well, I don't think our players performed because of that anxiety. So we've tried to handle that a little better this time around, and hopefully they will respond better this time around.

Q. You have naturally been around a lot of terrific quarterbacks in your time. What are your impressions of Andrew Luck, and what makes him special?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: The first thing is the physical gifts. He is an extremely strong, fast athlete. He's big, big and strong. So he's just physically able to do whatever he wants to do. He's got exceptionally quick hands and exceptionally quick feet. So he is a threat in a lot of different ways.
The thing I've liked the most about watching him all summer and watching him this week is just from a pure quarterback standpoint, I love his poise, his ability to keep his eyes downfield even when he's scrambling. He is in control. You just never see him lose control of what he's trying to accomplish each play. He is one fine football player.

Q. Comparisons will be made this week with the academic standing of the two schools. Is it a fair question to ask why Stanford can get to national prominence in football, why can't Duke, and as you look at how Stanford has done it, do you see a model for Duke getting there, too?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, I don't think Stanford ever went to the depths of Duke. Stanford had -- right before Harbaugh came in they had a pretty bad dip, but they've had some modern history where most of our history goes well back where apparently a pretty conscious decision to minimize the importance of football was made at Duke. So we're in a much different situation as far as recovery.
To compare the two, can we do it, absolutely. Where we're headed is going to do it.
I think it's a tribute to college football what Stanford has done. They do it with quality young men that are great students, and we're going to do the same thing. We feel very good about the track we're on. We're recruiting very well. Only thing we don't feel good about right now obviously is our opening game performance, and that's my responsibility. But what we're doing in recruiting and what we're doing in facilities and focus of taking a program to another level, we're absolutely on that same path, and there's no question in my mind we can do what our basketball program does, compete nationally with Duke-quality student athletes.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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