There were many things said at Monday's press conference about the way Duke performed on Saturday night, but when it came down to it, everyone was expressing the same sentiments.
"It was just a bad, bad football game," head coach Fred Goldsmith said. "I don't think I've been around too many worse. I think we've got some better ones in us."
While the players believe that things can get better, the general sentiment right now was to forget everything they could about Saturday night and move forward as quickly as possible.
"I was so disappointed after the game that my first thought was to just forget about it," senior defensive tackle Mike Stallmeyer said. "So you try to forget about it Saturday night, and then Sunday you have to go in and work out. As soon as you go in, there are people watching the film and you start watching it and you get pretty angry at what happened."
"I was just in shock," junior flanker Marc Wilson said. "I just couldn't believe it. I'm sure everybody kind of felt the same way."
It's difficult to look at the broader picture of positives and negatives from this game because there were just so many negatives and so few positives. Navy was able to execute everything it wanted to, while Duke never seemed to be able to find its game plan.
"I'm very disappointed with the circumstances after Saturday," Goldsmith said. "Other than Tommy Cochran kicking and some decent special teams play, I didn't really see anything that I was real pleased with on the film. We have to go on from there, try to move forward fundamentally, if anything, and prepare ourselves for Georgia Tech."
The Navy game and next week's match-up against the Yellow Jackets have become hurdles that the Blue Devils never thought that they would have to jump. After an early season loss to Florida State, most expectations were for Duke to dominate its early schedule like last year and enter the game at Virginia with a 5-1 record and second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference on the line. Instead, Duke is currently fighting for a winning season and a bowl game, any bowl game.
Six wins are required to receive a bowl bid, but it may require Duke seven wins to reach one this year. With games against Virginia, Clemson, North Carolina, and N.C. State remaining, the game against Georgia Tech becomes more important than ever. While everyone wanted to rest over the weekend and lick their wounds, the Blue Devil coaching staff has already been trying to figure out a way to get this team back on track.
"We didn't just come in this morning," Goldsmith said Monday. "We came in yesterday and worked till very late last night, and said good morning at about a quarter till six this morning. But we've discussed all of the questions I had with the offensive staff, with the defensive staff, and asked them for some answers this morning to some of the questions I asked yesterday. We're trying to do that, but you can't panic. We're in this situation for the long haul."
While the offense certainly didn't help the outcome of Saturday night's game, it may have the more correctable of the problems. Quarterback Spence Fischer threw for 253 yards, but just could not find the end zone. If Fischer begins to connect on the deep route with wide receiver Corey Thomas, who is coming closer to full speed after suffering an ankle injury in the beginning of the season, the Blue Devils should be able to produce enough points to throw Duke into a close game.
The responsibility then would fall on the defense to hold down opposing offenses as effectively as it did last year. With the blitz becoming less and less productive, Duke's other weaknesses have become more apparent and have led to an all-around weaker defense. Duke's defense will have to start from scratch quickly in order for the Blue Devils to turn this season around.
"I think as long as we get back to fundamentals, getting off blocks and making tackles, we're going to be OK," Stallmeyer said. "We had people in position Saturday to make tackles. We were just missing the tackles."
With some hard work, Duke should be able to improve enough to give Georgia Tech--a team that finished at 1-10 last year--a run for its money. And while the Blue Devils may have bad things to say after this week's game, it is doubtful that it will be as bad as anything heard after the Navy game. The best thing that Goldsmith could say about this game was that he had never experienced anything like it.
"I know in the last seven years, we always beat the people that we were supposed to beat," Goldsmith said. "I always really took pride in mentally getting a team ready for those kinds of games."
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