At his weekly press conference Monday, head football coach Carl Franks mixed talk of extreme disappointment about Saturday's blowout loss with minimal optimism for his team's final three games. After a day to reflect, Franks said he still believed his side was just not ready to play Saturday.
"As you go through a football season, its hard to hit an emotional peak to play every single game," Franks said. "You're a little more emotionally ready for some rather than others, and maybe coming off the N.C. State game... maybe there was a little bit of an emotional let-down. Maybe we read too many good things about ourselves [last] week. We're a football team that has to be close to perfect every week."
Franks added that he had been in situations as a coach and a player where a team cannot quite get to its emotional peak, and the only way to get back to the optimum point is through the players.
"It has to be a leader on the team to step forth to shake everybody up," he said. "You can try as a coach everything in the world, but it has to come from within."
Franks said several players could fill the leadership gap, and mentioned that part of the problem is that there is only one senior on the team.
When questioned if he had had any conversations with Duke athletic director Joe Alleva about his job for next year, Franks answered "no", but it was clear that it was something on the coach's mind.
With only one senior on this year's team, Duke is set to have its best season in recent memory next year, and Franks implied that he wanted the opportunity to finally have a winning season.
Franks also mentioned that he wants the team to finish strong primarily to have momentum for next year. He said he would be excited to come into a season without having to worry about such things as ACC losing streaks and road losing streaks, as they have been large burdens for the entire squad.
"I think its important to get some wins to carry us in to next year," Franks said. "I think it's important to win for this team this year because they've worked so hard, but it's more important for going into next year."
Perhaps because there was too much disappointment in the air, or maybe there was just nothing interesting about the Duke team, much of the press conference was about the Maryland-N.C. State match-up Nov. 9.
The Wolfpack are undefeated and ranked No. 9 in the nation, while Maryland, last year's ACC champion, is on a five-game winning streak after starting the season 1-2.
The game is intriguing primarily because of the similarities in playing style, and the two schools success has shown that Florida State is no longer a lock for the ACC crown every season.
Franks said that he feels that the team is already back to where it was before the Maryland game, and that Sunday practice had been extra intense.
"I don't think the [Maryland] game will happen again," he said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.