Given Duke's first of two bye weeks, head coach David Cutcliffe has a chance to watch football in a different way-as a fan.
"I'm sure I'll watch Tennessee-Florida," the former Volunteers' offensive coordinator said.
And he finally can. After starting the season 2-1, Duke has an off week before it begins tackling ACC opponents, starting with Virginia next weekend.
The opportunity to relax on a Saturday afternoon is not one necessarily shared by the players. Cutcliffe said a few of his players were "extremely frustrated" at not being able to continue the team's momentum into its conference slate. The Blue Devils are off to their best start since 2004 and have outgained their opponents in yards and bested them in turnover margin.
But Cutcliffe has a warning for the players who think merely playing well is enough to succeed.
"We've been good at times, but good will get you beat in the ACC," Cutcliffe said. "Just because you've had a little success and you've tasted it-it means nothing on your way to success in the ACC."
With that in mind, the Blue Devils have hit the practice field, focusing on themselves rather than the upcoming matchup with the Cavaliers. Even with Duke's emphasis on preventing the big play last weekend, Navy scored two touchdowns on a 73-yard run and a 68-yard pass, causing Cutcliffe to challenge his defense to improve its tackling and prevent long gains. Meanwhile, on offense, the running game will look to improve on its paltry 2.3 yards per rush from last week's game.
But by far the most important thing Cutcliffe has stressed in this week's practice is conditioning, exactly what he has preached from the minute he first met his players. Cutcliffe noted, however, that a few of his players-especially some of his linemen-were beginning to tire out from the general wear-and-tear of the regular season.
"We're going to have to fight cumulative fatigue," Cutcliffe said. "Your conditioning level helps you with injury prevention and body maintenance. Cumulative fatigue can take over an individual."
That fatigue caught up badly last year against Virginia, as shoddy tackling let the Cavaliers rack up 133 yards on the ground and tired offensive linemen gave up five sacks in a 24-13 loss.
But with two weeks to prepare for its first conference foe and amplify its conditioning level, Cutcliffe has no worries about his team's performance come next Saturday.
In fact, he might even be able to relax.
"I would like to play as I'm not a fan of open dates," Cutcliffe said. "But it is what it is. We have a pretty good system of open dates and we got a lot of good conditioning done, so I'll sleep well this weekend."
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