Courtesy The Atlantic Coast Conference
The two coaches fielded questions about the rematch, adjustments, their quarterbacks, what a championship would mean, the pressure to win and a whole lot more:
2025 ACC Football Championship Game: Virginia vs. Duke
Friday, December 5, 2025
Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
Bank of America Stadium
Virginia Cavaliers
Tony Elliott
Press Conference
TONY ELLIOTT: Good afternoon. On behalf of University of Virginia football, our administration and staff, excited to be here. Looking forward to a fun night tomorrow night.
The team is about to arrive here in a few minutes. We’re going to walk the field, and then we’re going to finish up our prep and hopefully be ready to put on a good show tomorrow night.
Q. You guys sacked Darian, I think, four times in the last game. Your pass rush had a really good day at stopping the run as well up front. What did you do in that game that was so successful against their offensive line?
TONY ELLIOTT: Good question. I think it started with the opening drive. We were able to keep their offense on the sideline for a good amount of time. 15-play drive, and that obviously is never good for an offense when you’re sitting on the sideline that long.
Then the first play, brought a little bit of pressure that forced him to step up. I think from there it just bred confidence with the guys, and they continued to just be confident in the plan and were able to win some one-on-ones.
I think the ability to stop the run helps you in defending the pass and getting a pass rush, but we also understand that it’s not going to be that easy this go round. We’re not assuming that we’re going to have the same outcome. We understand that we’re going to have to do a really good job because they have a really good offensive line. We were just able to make a few plays that day.
Q. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten an injury update. Last time we saw McKale Boley on crutches, Cam Ross with the hamstring. Any update on those guys?
TONY ELLIOTT: Cam looks pretty good. He’ll be ready to roll. Boley is going to give it his best shot. Any time you’re dealing with an ankle that’s nagging, but he was able to get some work in practice this week. So we anticipate that both those guys will be available and ready to go and that it will be more of a how they feel once they get into the game.
Q. Tony, you guys had that string of games during the middle of the season that were down to the wire, the double overtime game against Florida State, the overtime game against Louisville. How do you think those close, end-of-game wins helped your team this year as you built toward this championship game appearance?
TONY ELLIOTT: I believe it helped us build an understanding that in our league and throughout college football you’ve got to be prepared to win one possession games. So going into this one, we’re anticipating that’s going to come down to the final possession in the fourth quarter. Hopefully, if that’s the case, then your guys will have confidence in themselves to be able to go out and make the plays and not be hoping that the opposing team doesn’t make the play.
Q. J’Mari Taylor, when you see his highlight reel, you’ll see the 78-yard run against Duke, but how important was the dirty runs? The two, three-yard gains he hit in the first half when he wasn’t getting the big numbers but kept you on the field?
TONY ELLIOTT: What it does is allows to you stay in the chains and stay in convertible situations so you can stay on the field to keep pressing to be able to hit one of those home runs.
As a running back coach, I’d always tell my guys, hey, it’s the base hit. It’s the base hit. You want to hit for average, and if you do, then eventually you’re going to make contact and hit one out of the park.
I think he has a great understanding of that, but those dirty runs are what allow to you move the chains to get yourself into field positions that may be more advantageous for you to get a favorable call to create an explosive play in the run game.
Q. It’s not lost on Virginia fans that there’s a doubleheader here tomorrow with the basketball team playing at noon. Have you had occasion to talk to Ryan Odom this week and thank him for the confidence he had in your team to schedule a basketball game on the same day?
TONY ELLIOTT: I’ll tell you what, man, it’s been fun getting to know Coach. We text a lot. He’s very, very supportive of what we’re doing. I had a chance to watch him the other night for the first time. Man, they’re fun to watch. Hopefully what they’re going to bring is some of that run and gun to help us get off to a fast start in the game, and maybe we can play a little basketball on grass offensively.
No, it’s been fun to get to know him, and I’m excited about the direction already for what I’m seeing. Looks like he’s brought a lot of energy, different style of play that’s exciting to watch.
He’s got kind of a similar situation to us. He’s got a bunch of new guys that he’s bringing together. So I’m excited. I’ll get to watch a little bit of it, but also too, I think he’ll be pulling for us as well.
Q. First of all, congratulations on winning the Conference Coach of the Year.
TONY ELLIOTT: I appreciate that, but that’s really a program, staff award, players award. I’m the guy that gets to do this, but really the real work is done by the staff on a daily basis down to the players, and then the players responding to the coaching that — and the instruction that’s being provided by the staff.
I know my name may be on the award, but really I don’t see it that way. That’s really a tribute to the staff, the players, and the program as a whole.
Q. You kind of answered my question already, which was it’s been a pretty stunning journey over the course of a few years. It sounds like you’ve taken some time to reflect a little bit, but what does that journey mean to you now being in the championship game and having the award which is the programs award?
TONY ELLIOTT: It’s a little bit surreal, to be honest with you, because I showed up with the staff back in ’22 — overzealous, big dreams, not really knowing how it was going to come to fruition, really relying on the players and staff to believe in something that they couldn’t see.
Then we went through a time that was unimaginable on many different levels but still everybody maintained a belief when the outside world probably was telling them not to. But because they maintained that belief and they stuck together and they just kept showing up every single day, now they’re having an opportunity to kind of bring it full circle.
So it’s really, really, really cool just to be a small part of that. I don’t take too much credit because it was just a vision, but really it’s the folks that grab hold of that vision and work every single day to bring it to life.
Really, really happy for our players, our staff, our administration, our fan base, our university, the Davis family, the Chandler family, the Perry family to be here in this moment because it took everybody. It truly does take everybody. So that’s why I’m excited that everybody is getting an opportunity to be a part of this.
Q. Curious your review of early signing period, and if you could draw up the calendar, what do you think it would look like?
TONY ELLIOTT: That’s a tough one. I’m kind of in football mode right now to be honest with you.
I don’t know when is a good time. We’ve got so much change going on in college football right now. I don’t know when the right time is.
But happy for the high school guys that were able to sign and really, really happy because it’s still a developmental sport. We’re always going to have to really invest in the high school student-athlete.
Also, my heart hurts a little bit too because I know with the transfer portal and clock extensions and things of that nature, some guys aren’t being able to sign in this early signing period. So I don’t know the answer to the question.
Truth be told, I’ve gotten to a place where I’m not trying to figure it out. I’m just whatever you say, this is what we’re doing these six months, this is what we’re doing these six months, and then just trying to do the best that I possibly can based off of the things that I hold true from a core value standpoint.
I know that’s probably not the answer that you were looking for, but I really stopped trying to figure it out because the moment you feel like you’re making a little bit of progress, something changes. Then I also have enough understanding to know that I’m not in the room with the decision makers. I don’t have all of the information. I’ve learned that over the last couple years as a head coach.
When I was an assistant, I thought I knew what the head coach should be doing, but I had no idea. I don’t know all the strings attached for the decision makers, but I do know that stability is key, but times are changing. We’ve just got to figure out how to adapt and what is right.
I don’t know what’s right because there’s so many different components and it’s very complex.
Q. Going through the unimaginable and the way your first season ended, when you look back on that now, how do you feel that changed you as a person?
TONY ELLIOTT: That’s a great question. I’m a better father, better husband because of it. My faith is stronger than it was. Got a lot more empathy. More humility. I understand I don’t have all the answers, and my way is not the only way or necessarily the right way. This made me a better coach, a better boss. It just made me better all the way around.
Now there’s a lot of pain involved in order to get to that place, but I also know that the good Lord doesn’t make mistakes. While it was very difficult for everybody and it’s not something that anybody would sign up for, it’s what He had in store for us to get to a moment or an opportunity like this. Had we not gone through that, then we might not be here today.
But you never know that on the front end. So I’ll just say that I’m grateful for the experience, as hard as it is, and I know that my experience is different than everybody else’s experience. Each person has got to go through that, and it takes — it has a different timetable for everybody.
I wish it wasn’t as hard for the Perry, Davis, and Chandler families. I really do wish there was another way, but also too I know that I serve a faithful God that it happened according to His plan. Every day I wake up, I’m just trying to not lose sight of that because we can get back in the flow of life, and then things like this start happening and you can get to the good times and you can quickly forget some of the hard times. That’s when you’ve got to be humble.
I tried to make sure that I stay in a space where, man, I’m grateful, I’m humble, I’m appreciative, I’m enjoying, I’m present in the moment. That’s another thing that’s changed. I’m a lot more present in the moment than I was prior to everything that happened.
Q. You won the first matchup. You’re the favorite in this game. You’re the ranked team. Does it feel like there’s a lot of pressure on Virginia to win particularly knowing a Virginia win would lock up a CFP spot for the ACC?
TONY ELLIOTT: Those are the things I talked to the guys about, but not from the perspective of pressure, from the perspective of the reason why we started Game 1 as the most important game on the schedule was so that, when you get to a moment like this, you’re not trying to change who you are. You’re just trying to be who you are but a little bit better.
We talk about this pressure is a privilege. So we look at it as a privilege. We’ve taken the approach that we wanted to take control of our own destiny. So all of those things that we’ve talked about throughout the course of the season is really what we’re relying on.
But we don’t live in a bubble, so I wish I could get the guys to get off their phones. That was the instruction early in the week. Just cut your phone off. Tell your family you’ll be back next week. But they live in that world.
Pressure is a privilege. We’re not putting that type of pressure on us, and then we’re also not looking, taking the approach that because we’re the favorite, because we won the last matchup, that we’re entitled to win. This football team has a good understanding that victory is earned, and it’s earned through your preparation.
One of the key points that we’ve been talking about is I know you’re going to be ready, but it’s not about being ready. Everybody is going to be excited. There’s going to be juice. There’s going to be energy. The lights are going to be a little bit brighter. That stuff is going to be there. What it’s going to come down to is which team is better prepared. That’s really the approach for us.
If we take that approach, we believe all the other things that may be perceived as adding pressure will take care of itself.
Q. Your quarterback Chandler Morris has been really successful this year after coming over from North Texas. Just talk about what he means to you and your team.
TONY ELLIOTT: Chandler’s brought a ton of confidence to our football team. He’s brought a grit and a toughness. He’s been able to galvanize the locker room to get both sides of the ball to follow his lead. He’s brought a lot of fun. If you’re around Chandler, especially out at practice and on the game field and during the game, he’s a lot of fun to be around.
So he’s just brought a ton of energy, a lot of fun, some tenacity, some toughness, a refusal to be denied. It’s just become contagious within our locker room.
Q. You’ve talked a lot about this season, just the belief that this team has in each other and how much they believe that they could get to this ACC Championship game. How have you seen them approach practice this week with that same mindset, and how much can that belief help them win the title tomorrow?
TONY ELLIOTT: Great question. There really hasn’t been a different approach this week with our guys because, again, that belief started back in the summer. So they approached the summer workouts that way. They’ve just been consistent week in and week out.
This has been an extremely fun team to be around because they show up every single day. I’ve been around teams where you’ve got to pull teeth a little bit to get them going. Tuesday, all right, it’s a workday. Now these guys, they just show up. Every time I walk in the team room before a team meeting, then the guys just erupt with joy. They’re excited to have this opportunity.
So there hasn’t been a different approach. I think the messaging has been let’s not change who we are. Now that we’re here, let’s not change. What we need to do is we need to be who we are and then find a little bit more because that’s what it’s going to take on this stage.
In the championship game, you’ve got both teams fighting for what they believe is theirs, fighting for an opportunity to call themself a conference champion. We know it’s not going to be easy. So that’s why we’ve talked about being who we are, but let’s find a little bit more.
Q. You mentioned the impact that Chandler has had. I’m curious what it’s been like to have his dad around the program so much this year. How much is he Dad versus Coach, and what has he meant to you in your career as you’ve come up?
TONY ELLIOTT: Great question. I’m not standing here without the impact that Chad Morris has had on my life. Taught me the offense when I was at Clemson, and that gave Coach Swinney the confidence to pass it down to Jeff and I to run it and carry it forward.
Then having an opportunity to be here, it’s kind of full circle. Our first year together we won an ACC Championship, he was a coordinator, I was a running backs coach. It was kind of similar to this in that we had to beat a team twice, the same team, once in the regular season, one in the conference championship. To do that with him and that would be the first one in 30 years for that institution, and now here we are with an opportunity for the first one in 30 years and his son and I in a similar situation.
So there’s a lot of similarities, and I could say that’s only the work of the man above.
Then I’ve tried to really just let him be Dad. Let him be Dad. You know Chad, he loves ball. He’s always talking about it. He’s always drawing up a play. I know he’s been around the offices at times, respectfully in the right way, just kind of being a fly on the wall and learning and growing and preparing for maybe another opportunity next year or years to come.
I know Des and Taylor and the guys on offense have appreciated that, but I’ve kind of tried to keep it more like an I just want you to be Dad. Make yourself — I open up the program to everybody. He’s not the only parent who’s out there at practice. There’s several parents that come to practice every single day. That’s the environment I wanted to create at the University of Virginia, truly a family atmosphere.
It’s cool to see him around, and you can tell he’s enjoying it. I know it’s hard for him to watch the game. He has to go sit up in the top rows. Other than that, I know he’s having a blast, and it’s really cool for him and Chandler to have this time together, and for him to just be Dad and watch his son have the season that he’s having.
Q. Tony, you had so many new players on the roster this year. At any point in the season, did you and your staff just marvel at, hey, this is coming together much quicker and much better than we thought? If that was so, what was that point?
TONY ELLIOTT: I don’t know if there was a particular point, but I know I remind the staff a lot just to embrace this group of young people because they’re special. What they’ve done is special.
It started with the core nucleus of guys, I call them the forefathers — Jah Carter, Noah Josey, Boley, James Jackson, Trey McDonald, Stevie Bracey, Antonio Clary, guys that have been around the program for a long time. They were the ones that really helped it come together as quickly as it did because those were the guys in the locker room who said, hey, this is how we do things. This is our standard. And they held the guys accountable.
It’s been really — it’s really changed my perspective, if I’m being transparent, about where we’re kind of headed in college football. Like I didn’t know. I came from an environment where it was done a way where you brought high school guys in. You developed them. You didn’t want to bring in guys from the outside because guys had been in your program for multiple years, now it’s their opportunity, and you bring somebody from the outside to compete.
I didn’t understand it because I lived a different mode of operation for so long, but this group right here really brought me some peace and some confirmation that you can do it. Now, it takes the right guys. It takes a group of unselfish individuals. Really it’s what’s necessary in our sport because football is the ultimate team sport. You have to be unselfish.
Externally there’s some changes in maybe the approaches to the game and making it more about an individual or two, but it’s really a team sport. So I was a little apprehensive, but this group has been awesome. To have 54 new guys come in and really not have any issues from a locker room standpoint — and I think that’s evident from the way these guys play, how they play for each other, how much they like being around each other.
So I don’t know if there’s a specific point, but when it started to happen, you could feel it. You could see it. Then I’m also mindful to make sure that I’m grateful and appreciative because it could have been different. Fortunately, it’s worked out for us.
Q. Along those lines, you’ve kept your staff in place throughout most of your tenure. Most of those guys are still the same. How has that benefited you this season with all those new players? Then as this year’s gone along, to get here?
TONY ELLIOTT: I think what it’s done to help create consistency for the players that are in the program so that, when we got to the point that we were in January of this year, those players are able to go out and articulate what the messaging is for this program, what the standards are, what the core values are. I think it’s important for the young people to have as much consistency as possible.
Then also for me, loyalty is big. Those individuals were loyal when they really didn’t have to, when they easily had an opportunity to say, you know what, this isn’t my fight. So I think I owe them that same sense of loyalty. Most importantly, I wanted to create consistency for our players so that they knew day in and day out what they were going to get.
Then also too, when you’re building a program, you’re bringing together a new staff and the new staff’s not coming with you from your previous place, there’s a time of teaching, right? You have to teach, and you have to develop while you’re still trying to win football games and get your program implemented.
Q. Will Bettridge, it was announced on Monday, he’ll receive the Jim Tatum award. I’m just wondering what’s your feeling about Will as a team leader, a high school teammate, as we know, the No. 41 he wears? Can you talk a little bit about Will and what impact he has on this team of yours?
TONY ELLIOTT: Will is one of those guys that I would put kind of in that forefather category. He came to University of Virginia because of the relationship with D’Sean. I went to him with a big ask, and I asked him to wear, if he’d be willing to wear that number because I wanted to make sure that 1, 15, and 41 were always visible within our program, and he chose to do it.
I know that’s a heavy ask, so I would imagine that every time he goes out on the field or goes into the locker room and sees his jersey number, he’s reminded of the responsibility that he has to his fallen teammate, to the Perry family, and he’s got all that pressure and got to kick too. I don’t know what that’s even like, to go out there and have to hit those field goals.
He’s done it with humility and grace and just kind of a quiet confidence about himself. Like James Jackson wears No. 1. James is always going to be vocal. He’s going to be one of those loud guys. That’s not Bettridge’s style, but he’s just going to show up every single day. When he sees an opportunity, he’s going to remind the guys who No. 41 was because he knows him better than anybody because they were high school teammates.
Just super proud of him and the way that he’s accepted that responsibility. He didn’t have to. He chose to, and he’s done it with grace and humility, a quiet confidence about himself. It’s well-known amongst the team just who he is, what he’s meant to the program, and the responsibility that he’s carrying.
Q. How tall are you?
TONY ELLIOTT: Well, I used to be 6’2″ when I was in college, but now I’m about 6 foot, 6’1-1/2″. They say you shrink over time.
Duke Blue Devils
Manny Diaz
Press Conference
Q. Can you speak on the importance of Jeremiah Hasley and how he’s come on in the month of November? He had the injury last year in the Northwestern game, and the month of November he’s just been a big help offensively.
MANNY DIAZ: Really I think the catchers have shown up in November, but what he’s done all season long has been, in my mind, at an All-Conference level. He’s certainly a great pass receiver down the field. Darian has got great trust in him. But the dirty work he does in the run game — when you talk about our run game and what our offensive line does, he’s really an extension of those guys.
Tight ends are such great chess pieces. They’re matchup issues. Jerry just gives us a lot of flexibility with what we can do on offense.
Q. J’Mari Taylor had, I think, 133 against you guys the first time that you played. He’s been sort of the backbone of their offense and what they want to do. Did you learn anything from playing against them the first time? Not to give away state secrets here probably, but that you would maybe want to do a little bit differently in this second meeting against them?
MANNY DIAZ: The majority of that was on the one option on a third down and short, which we didn’t play very well. But I think the lesson from that is he’s got great explosive potential. You knew all along, you watch his whole body of work: Runs with great power. He’s a tackle breaker when he gets into the secondary. He can run guys over. In our game he shows that he’s got the speed. If we just misfit one play, he’s got a chance to go all the way.
We felt like we played the run well in the first half, but that was really a back breaker in the second half. You’ve got to do it every down because he’s got the ability to punish you if you don’t.
Q. What did you see with Mitchell Melton? You guys have prepared for him twice now, the Virginia defensive end. He’s been in the backfield quite frequently for them. What do you see that makes him a tough matchup and a tough player to prepare for?
MANNY DIAZ: We think both of their defensive ends were a difficult matchup, in a matchup we felt like they won in the first game. The first thing is you see high motor. Those guys play extraordinarily hard. They can beat you, number one, with their athleticism and their ability. But even if you have a chance to slow them down, they don’t ever stop. They’ve done a nice job with their coverage and making your quarterback hold onto the ball, and then they’re able to finish with effort sacks.
We lost the sack game in the first game. That was a big deal. Again, they’ve got a lot of guys, their defense has been outstanding. The last six games of the year, it’s hard to get to 20 points on these guys, and I think the front play is a big part of that.
Q. You have a chance to win the ACC this year. This would be Duke’s first ACC title since 1989 and their first outright since 1962. You seem familiar with the history of the program, a lot of similarities between this year and ’89. That team was 6-1, they swept the state, high powered offense. As a guy who, again, seems to respect and understand the tradition and excellence of this program, what does it mean to you to already be in year 2 in the upper echelon of Duke football head coaches and be up there with guys like Steve Spurrier?
MANNY DIAZ: It was pretty cool to get a text from the Old Ball Coach — well, a voicemail from the Old Ball Coach to start the week. Trust me, he’s fully aware it was a split with Virginia in ’89 and can actually recite all the things that made that happen.
Look, I’m really proud of this team because we have endured some difficult things. As I mentioned before, we stayed in the fight. We’ve been persistent and resilient, and we’ve earned the right to be here. Six conference wins, which also has not been done at Duke in a long time.
Again, when we say has not been done at Duke in a long time, we have a lot of seniors in this program who have done a lot of things that have not been done at Duke in a long time and take immense pride in being told what they can’t do or where they don’t belong or what they’re not supposed to be able to accomplish. I think that’s really been a lot of fuel for us in preparation for this week.
Q. You dominated the fourth quarter against Virginia the last time, 28 points. What did you learn in that fourth quarter that’s going to help you tomorrow as you continue doing that domination you did in the fourth quarter?
MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, I would dial it back from domination. We played well in the fourth quarter. All that showed me is that we had heart. Our guys have a team — we are together. We finished the game. But when you’re down by 28 points, it’s hard to say you’re dominating anybody.
So it’s hard to judge, right? I’m sure Virginia probably turned the knob down a little bit, which they’re probably not happy with. There’s nothing when we watch that tape, that we said, yeah, let’s do what we did in the fourth quarter, and that would solve our problems.
What it did show is the fourth quarter is why we were able to win the next two games. That showed the heart of our team, the leadership of our team, and that’s what’s carried us forward and now the reason why we’re here in Charlotte.
Q. Manny, your team has been in the spotlight this week with words like doomsday scenario and all sorts of negative things because you made it into this championship game. I’m wondering how you address that with your team in terms of trying to block that out or embracing the fact that there’s a lot of people who maybe don’t want to see Duke win because of what could potentially happen with the playoff in the ACC?
MANNY DIAZ: We love it. Doomsday scenario, nightmares, this, that, and the other. Our guys deserve to be here. I think that’s the first thing. I think there’s a notion like we won a scratch-off lottery ticket type deal to get here. We won by the most objective metric possible. We won the second most games in the league, and everybody else who won the same amount of games that we won, we had the hardest schedule.
It’s funny, we complain all the time about the subjectivity in college football and rankings and committees and whatnot, and this is the most objective way to determine who the champions are, and the two teams are here that deserve to be here. It’s ironic that the game that will be playing at the same time, it was pointed out to me today, the point spread in the Indiana-Ohio State game is the exact same point spread as in our game.
Those guys in Vegas, they tend to know things. No one is talking about how Indiana doesn’t deserve to be in the Big Ten Championship game because of course they do. I think Duke deserves to be here the same exact way. We’ve got a chance to play a lot better than we did the first time we played against Virginia, but our guys are really, really excited. We’ll worry about what happens next next.
Q. First off, what did Coach Spurrier say in the voicemail?
MANNY DIAZ: He was just really proud. Shared some memories of ’89. They were both 6-1 in the league in the shared title. Duke means a lot to him. He was actually on our campus three weeks ago, actually, the night before the Virginia game. He was on campus, was honored during one of the TV timeouts.
Duke means a lot to him. His children have come through the school. I know he’ll be rooting for them tomorrow night.
Q. What would it mean for you guys to do something and win this championship, as something that would mean so much to Duke, but in the same breath, if the committee deems that you’re not worthy to be in the 12-team bracket?
MANNY DIAZ: We’ll deal with that afterwards. We didn’t win the last two to get here by thinking about getting here. We won the last two by worrying about just winning a ball game, and because we did the things it takes to win a game, we ended up getting here.
There’s a whole story in terms of what happens next, and I’ll put our resume up against any other type of school we’d be compared to. Right now the task in front of us is so important and so monumental of just find a way to beat Virginia. That’s really all our guys are consumed with.
But the part about winning the league, for our senior class and where Duke was when they first got here and to endure two coaching changes and to leave the winningest class in Duke history, a lot of these guys think that would be the perfect way to go out for the program, from where it was when they found it to where they are when they left it. The fact they’re here in Charlotte, they have immense pride in that, and they want to finish it the right way.
Q. What is the most challenging part about preparing for a rematch against a team you just played three weeks ago?
MANNY DIAZ: Well, you can definitely outsmart yourself, right? There’s things certainly that you can do better. Schematically, well, okay, we tried this, and now we can do that. You know they have the right to do the same thing, right? Then you’re trying to match wits, and you can start to think three or four chess moves ahead, and you can start to chase ghosts a little bit. Maybe if we do this, we can do this and make it look like that.
The most important thing is that you just play well, right? We didn’t feel like we played well in the opener regardless of what was called and whatever. Now, again, they’re a big part of that and how well they played that night.
So, yeah, I think it gives everybody a rethink, but there is a danger. We talked a lot — the NFL deals with this a lot more. We talked to our cohorts in the National Football League and how they handle divisional matchups where they’ll play two every four weeks or something like that, and got some good information that we felt like has gotten us prepared better than we were the first time.
Q. Coach, you guys have won the turnover margin in that streak you had versus Cal, versus State, and versus Syracuse. How important is that to continue tomorrow after doing it versus Wake Forest?
MANNY DIAZ: Yeah, it’s part of — I told the team this morning, we’re plus 16 in ACC games. That’s why we’re here. Everybody talks about it, this, that, and the other, turnover margin everybody understands. We’ve done a phenomenal job in league games of taking the ball away and not turning it over. That’s going to be a big, big deal tomorrow night.
We won the turnover margin the first game, but really the second turnover we got was after the game had been decided. So it was really more even on the context of the game.
Our guys understand that. Now, how do turnovers happen? In that game we’ve got to play a lot better on third down than we did in the opening game. That’s a great challenge because the quarterback is a really, really special player, and on possession downs he takes his game to a whole different level.
Q. I followed you when you were in Miami, then you went to Penn State. What does it mean for you tomorrow for winning this title yourself? You went through a lot of stuff between your stops to do kind of all that stuff. What does it mean for you if you get this title tomorrow for you as a coach?
MANNY DIAZ: I’d be lying if I really thought about it in terms of what it would mean for me. As a head football coach, you just don’t spend a lot of time worrying about all that. Also, this may sound crazy, you don’t really think a lot about what it would be like after you win. You’re so consumed with what it takes to win because winning is so difficult.
I’ll just say this. The lesson in all of this and what this team has been so great at is the value of mental toughness. Stay in the fight. Success is not easy. It’s usually not linear. It’s hard to win.
If you look at — Virginia is a perfect example. If you look at our Coach of the Year in Tony Elliott and what it takes to get that program to where he has it right now, there’s no shortcuts, and there’s no easy ways, especially now in college football because everybody’s trying to win games. It’s at a different level than ever before.
And that parity, until we find a way to have both teams win the same game, there’s going to be winners and losers. So you’ve got to reward the people who do stay in the fight and are persistent.
Q. In goal line situations they’ll run the direct snap to Taylor. Why has that, just in your opinion being a defensive guy, why has that worked for them, and what makes it difficult to prepare for?
MANNY DIAZ: In essence, any time — in football it’s 11 versus 11, but if a quarterback turns and hands the football to the running back, he doesn’t really count. So it really becomes a 10-on-11 game. They’ll snap to him, but Morris will still be an option on that play. You’re making 11 guys defend 11. You’re taking the numerical advantage the defense has. The player is a really good player, and he’s hard to stop when it’s a yard or two to score.
But that’s really what it is. You’re just balancing the math. It creates an extra blocker. In essence what you’re doing is you’re blocking a player with your quarterback. In those type short yardage situations, it’s a problem in the fact that he can throw the ball, so you’ve got to be able to account for that as well.
Q. To start the year there was a lot of talk about special teams and kind of getting off to a slow start. Ever since the Clemson game, can you touch on how big special teams has improved and the big plays they’ve made week in and week out to keep you in ball games?
MANNY DIAZ: I think our special teams have really been outstanding the second half of the season. It always starts with your specialists, right? The guys that hold the ball, your kickers or returners, snappers, holders. I think it’s a very underrated matchup in this game. We are No. 1 and 2 in the nation, Virginia and Duke, in kickoff return. Both teams have returned a kickoff for a touchdown. Both teams returned a punt for a touchdown.
They don’t have a specialist under 6’6″. Those guys could play basketball when football is over. All those guys are monsters. The punter, I think, is fifth in the country in punting yardage. I mentioned they have the great returners.
We’ve ripped a — we’ve got runner returned, either to the 50 or past the 50, 4 out of the last 5 games. The one we didn’t was against Virginia because the way they cover kicks is so impressive. It’s a big point of this game. I don’t think there’s going to be a great opportunity for big plays on either side, but anyone who can create an explosive play in special teams, just like turnovers, they have a great chance to win the game.
Q. It wouldn’t feel right to do this press conference and not bring up David Feeley. This late in the season having to play extra games, how important is it to have a guy of his intensity and his caliber of skill to drive these players to continue to want more and be healthy as well this late in the season?
MANNY DIAZ: Dave is obviously a huge part of our success. Again, with Dave, it’s all measured. He can show our guys data — I think our little Friday run through we had this morning was one of the fastest run throughs we’ve had all years. Duke guys want evidence. They like to have evidence. They don’t like to be told things and be forced to believe it.
So when they believe we are faster in week 15 of the season in the first week of December than we even were in September or October, that again gives them the confidence that physically they’re ready to play. Now in the run-up to the game, now it’s about getting mentally ready to play.
Q. First time they’ve moved early signing up to three weeks earlier. Curious your feedback on that and if you had any fixes for the calendar, ideas that you’d like to see this thing change to. Not signing, but the calendar as a whole.
MANNY DIAZ: The signing day the first Wednesday in December is a win because what would happen is we’d all be out on the road this month, and everybody’s trying to steal everybody’s commits, you know what I mean? The kids have all decided much earlier now. They’re able to sign. That gets that out of the way.
We wanted to try to get the portal recruiting and the high school recruiting separated in some way, shape, or form. Our calendar is not going to be right until we get player movement out of the season, and the little lie we tell ourselves is that we’re a one semester sport, and we’re not. We’re now a two semester sport, and that’s what’s changed.
Our season always ended January 1st, the Rose Bowl or Orange Bowl or whatever, and that was kind of the end, then you had spring. We’re not a one semester sport anymore. We’re a two semester sport, and everybody knows the playoff is going to expand. This has happened — the Super Bowl used to be played on January 20th. It’s the second weekend in February now. If you think we’re not heading there, you’re fooling yourself.
So the whole reason why coaches have to be hired, head coaches — it’s not even head coaches. Now coordinators have to be hired in December and leave their teams that are either playing for bowl games or competing in the playoffs, it is because of the calendar.
Now, the changes we made — and we did a thing we don’t normally do this past year with the one portal window — we made it better, right? There’s an argument when it should be. Normally what we do, when we argue on what’s best, we don’t do anything, and we never get better. So it is better. I think every coach would say one portal window in January is better than the two we had last year.
Now that we have that, it still needs to get better again. The National Football League would not change players and coaches while the playoffs are still going on. College basketball wouldn’t do the same thing in the middle of March Madness, and that’s exactly what we’re doing right now. So we’ve got to get player movement out of our football season to protect the sanctity of our season. That’s what we’re not doing.
And the people who lose on this are the kids. It’s the players who lose because their shelf life is short. Coaches can do this forever. Players have a very limited time they can play the sport. Anything we do to ruin their chance at a championship or even their chance to win a bowl game because of a calendar that’s controllable is unfair to the guys who we’re here to serve.
There is no sport if it’s not for the players. Coaches are here to serve the players. Administrators, the same way. So we’ve got to do that.
Last thing I’ll say on that is the final deal with that is spring practice. There’s only one reason you want to show up in the spring semester, and that’s for spring practice. If we will go — there’s been talk about this. If we will go again more to the NFL model where practice moves after spring — the majority of your practices are after the spring semester. There’s a whole other argument as to whether a young man should spend a fall and spring and complete an academic year at a university. That’s probably not a bad idea. We are still academic institutions.
But if we take the spring practice incentive that guys need to get to their new school in January so they can get their 15 days in spring and move those days more to an OTA/mini camp structure — the NFL has it all figured out. We don’t have to invent it. Why don’t we just copy the most successful sport organization that’s ever been.
So we’re headed there. When will we get there? Who knows? But I think that’s a fix.
Q. I want to follow up to your answer on that because the one thing that the NFL has that college sports doesn’t is the collective bargaining. Do you see that coming for the college athletes?
MANNY DIAZ: Well, that’s the fantastic thing. Who would collectively bargain? Who would be the two people on each side of the table? I hear that. It sounds phenomenal. In terms of who would represent the players? Who would actually be representing the schools?
There’s a lot of — like I said, I’m not pretending these are easy problems, but that one in particular, there’s a lot of layers to that.
Q. A lot was made in the off-season what it took to get Darian Mensah to Duke. I would argue his performance suggests whatever it was was worth every penny. How much do you think he’s impacted the quality of this team, what you’re able to do offensively, and just his leadership in general as you’ve gone through the season with him?
MANNY DIAZ: I would put Mensah and Morris in the same category. I think both players give Duke and Virginia a chance to win against anyone they play any time they run out of the tunnel. That is what Darian has changed in our program. He’s changed our ceiling. Our players truly believe that, when we’re at our best, we can beat anybody, anybody.
I really feel the same way with Virginia. I think Morris, not just his ability, but again, watching him from across the sideline, I feel his moxie, his toughness. You see everyone on that sideline from Virginia believes they can win every game because that guy is playing quarterback for him. That’s exactly how our guys at Duke feel about our guy.
So I believe it’s a very powerful thing. Say what you want to about these two teams that are here, but both these teams have belief, and I think they have belief because of the guys that play quarterback for them. In my mind, this is one of the top quarterback matchups in the country, and I think the reason why the winner of this game absolutely, absolutely should continue playing in the month of December for the championship.
Q. I want to know who is the tallest guy on Duke?
MANNY DIAZ: Tallest guy on Duke might be — might be Justin Pickett our offensive lineman. I think he’s got a chance to be the tallest guy. That’s a good question.
Q. How tall is he?
MANNY DIAZ: I think he’s probably like 6’6″. He’s pretty tall.
Q. By the way, what’s your name?
MANNY DIAZ: I’m Manny Diaz.
