After a 47-10 loss to then-No. 25 Clemson last Saturday, Duke hopes to regroup for its final home game of the season against Georgia Tech. Head football beat writer Matthew Iles caught up with offensive coordinator Peter Vaas to discuss the offense's recent struggles and his plans for helping the Blue Devils secure their first home victory in two years.
Matthew Iles: What is your scouting report for Georgia Tech's defense?
Peter Vaas: Well, they're different than a lot of teams we've played in the sense that they are an extremely aggressive team by scheme. We've played a lot of teams that have aggressive people, but Georgia Tech actually has both.... Put that into simplistic terms, they will probably blitz us 75-percent of the time, and not because it's us, but because that's what they do.
MI: What have you been working on this week in order to prepare for that?
PV: It becomes a lot of things. It becomes your offensive line picking up pass twists, it becomes your wide receivers blocking with a safety coming down from up high, it becomes your backs picking up extra linebackers, it becomes your quarterback getting rid of the ball quickly, and, as much as anything, it also becomes a mental frame of mind. You know when a team blitzes you that you have to be patient. They can make you look ugly on a number of snaps, but at the same time you need to be patient and then all of a sudden-boom-they blitz and a big play breaks through. I would anticipate it being much more of a big-play kind of game than a ball-control kind of game.
MI: A big theme this year has been your team being one missing piece away from getting over the hump. How can you close gaps and eliminate the lack of execution?
PV: This will sound extremely simple but it's the truth. Number one, you have to continue to stay positive. Number two, you have to continue to practice. There isn't anything that improves execution better than practice. And you can't do anything but stay positive and stay excited about playing the game.
MI: From your standpoint, how do you make sure your players don't check out with three games left?
PV: Make sure that they still enjoy playing the game. Listen to those words. Playing. Game. Those things are important. I know that when our players finish our season, what are they probably going to do? They're going to go to the gym and play a pickup basketball game. The reason you play is for the enjoyment of the competition. You have to love to compete, and when you love to compete and you love to challenge yourself, what happened on the last play or in the last week doesn't matter.
MI: Do you almost feel you're playing for the offseason now?
PV: No, not at all. Listen to the words I just told you before. I mean this sincerely and it's so important, you play the game because you want to play the game. We've got a game this Saturday. That's an exciting thing. You get to compete as an individual. If you have any ounce of competitiveness in you at all, you look forward to that and you get excited about it. It's as simple as that. It doesn't get any more complicated than that. There's no more depth, no more magical things, there's no more media twists you can put on it, we get to play a game. Do you understand that part of it? Our kids get to play a game on Saturday in front of the largest crowd of any spectator event in Durham. Our basketball team, our lacrosse team, nobody else gets to play in front of 20,000-plus people. What a thrill! And I mean that wholeheartedly. That's what it's all about: playing those things, challenging each other and being challenged every week. I guarantee you, when February rolls around and recruiting is over, you'll see me playing basketball in the gym, you'll see me playing golf. Why? Because an athlete likes to compete. He likes to challenge himself. He thrives on those things. I don't mean to lecture you, but you're getting me excited.
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