Head football coach Carl Franks described Saturday's 27-0 loss to Virginia as "unacceptable" at a press conference yesterday. Franks went on to say that there is a strong chance there will be line up changes before Saturday's game against Western Carolina, including at the quarterback position. Franks was unsure why his team lacked enthusiasm, and felt complacency from having 22 returning starters could have been part of the problem.
Although obviously dismayed with his team, Franks had an aura of resiliency not normally seen from the coach with a 4-41 career head coaching record. He spoke of Virginia quarterback Matt Schaub's 2002 season in hopes of finding a parallel with the 2003 Blue Devils.
Schaub a season ago was booed off the field by the Cavalier home crowd after he only threw for 73 yards in the 2002 opening loss to Colorado State. Schaub eventually rebounded to become the ACC offensive player of the year.
"It's a good lesson for everybody in life," Franks said. "Sometimes you've got to fight back for something. You can't just sit around and feel sorry for yourself."
Franks pointed out that it was only the first game of the season, and that the team had plenty of time to make up for the loss.
"I hope the cliché that a team gets better from its first game to its second [is true]," Franks said. "I'm a big believer in that one right now."
The biggest change Franks hinted at was a shake-up at the starting quarterback position. Last year's surprisingly productive starter Adam Smith had an atrocious game Saturday, throwing only 6-for-20 for 47 yards.
Franks, although hesitant to talk about Smith, expressed his disappointments with the California native while speaking very confidently about back up Mike Schneider's skills.
"The guys that are second team, they're going to get some opportunities," Franks said. "We can't allow some of the guys to continue to play the way they've played and not give somebody else a chance. It's not really the American way of operating.
"I liked [Schneider's arm strength]. The ball came out with a different velocity. I liked the way he handled himself."
Franks hoped the team will get angry about the loss and play with more intensity. In an ominous statement for the players, Franks said he would make practices extra competitive this week.
Franks did point out the few things that the Blue Devils did do well, most specifically kick-off returns and the running game. But aside from that Franks was nothing less than disgusted with the team's execution.
"We did do a few things good, but very few," Franks said. "We didn't get lined-up very well. We didn't tackle well. We didn't execute on offense. And we didn't execute on special teams."
2002 team MVP Alex Wade, who only ran on one play against Virginia because of a hamstring problem, practiced well Sunday, according to Franks.
"He was moving around pretty good," Franks said.
Linebacker Ryan Fowler and running back Chris Douglas also were present at Monday's press conference.
Fowler stressed Duke's big problems containing Virginia's running game were purely from execution, not personnel. The only two starters lost from the Blue Devils' 2002 team were on the defensive line that finished first in the ACC against the run a season ago. Fowler feels this was in no way part of the reason for Virginia's 204 rushing yards compared to its two yards against the Blue Devils in 2002.
"They weren't running on us because of personnel, we just weren't tackling," Fowler said. "We had guys who are great tacklers that were missing tackles. I missed about 10 tackles all last year, and I missed three or four on Saturday."
On the other side of the ball, Douglas blamed Smith's failing Saturday on the entire offense's inability to execute.
"I think what was more unexpected for me was the overall productivity of the offense," Douglas said. "We're all kind of intertwined together.
Both players were extremely disappointed in the team's performance and vowed to do better.
"We were mad at the beginning Saturday, but it became embarrassing," Fowler said. "This is going to piss us off enough to do something about it. It's a wake up call."
Douglas added more.
"Losing is always a bad thing," he said. "Getting beat like that really causes you to look at your program and look at yourself. 'Why didn't we play at the level we're capable of playing at?' You know, reassess the weaknesses. It's better for us to find out about those weaknesses now rather than later in the season."
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