EL PASO, TEXAS—The first major media events for this year's Sun Bowl were Christmas Day press conferences featuring the offensive and defensive coordinators from each team. Arizona State's Mike Norvell and Keith Patterson and Duke's Scottie Montgomery and Jim Knowles showed their appreciation for the hospitality of the Sun Bowl staff then dove into analysis of Saturday's 2 p.m. matchup at Sun Bowl Stadium between Duke and No. 15 Arizona State. Here are the best quotes from today's press conferences:
Scottie Montgomery, offensive coordinator, Duke
On a comparison for Arizona State's defense: "We've seen teams that pressure the way that they pressure. From an athletic standpoint and coaching ability, I don't know that we've seen very many teams that have the ability to execute pressure situations and play base defense as well as they play. We know they're extremely well-coached and have a tremendous amount of talent."
On Duke's balanced attack: "We've been one of the more balanced teams the entire year. That's one of the things we lay our hat on. We have great kids that execute well, do what we ask them to do. It all starts [up front and in the run game] and they do a really, really good job of applying pressure to the run game."
On Duke wide receiver Jamison Crowder: "Rarely have you been around the best player on the field who is also the best person on the field. That's Jamison Crowder. For our locker room and for our kids that have [come] in the last three years under him, they have been tremendously blessed by the type of person that he is. He is what we represent. We're all very, very proud of him. He's accomplished a lot on the field. I can't say enough about him, the way that he's led his position and our team on and off the field."
On what has made Duke good offensively: "I would just say selflessness amongst our players across the board. One thing we try to do a really, really good job of is to protect the football. Our guys [also] do a really, really good job of trying to be the least penalized team we can be, putting themselves in position when they have an opportunity to make plays. But the connection between all that is the selflessness of our players. We have immediate buy in."
On his favorite Christmas gift: "I was six years old. My next door neighbor was my uncle and my godfather. He had bought me a dirt bike. I couldn't ride it, but I was so happy. It was just one of those blue mini bikes. I was the first one around with one. That was a heck of a Christmas."
Jim Knowles, defensive coordinator, Duke
On challenge of Arizona State's offense: "What a tremendous challenge we have. They're a high-powered offense statistically and [are multiple] with formations and personnel. Everything we do will be about stealing possessions and getting the ball back for our offense. That comes through third and fourth down stops and takeaways. And most of all, the biggest stat that we track is points."
"It's going to be tough. They're able to really take the best of the spread teams. Throwing the ball, they're as good as anybody we've faced. What they do with [running back D.J.] Foster is very challenging to any defense because he's their leading rusher and their second-leading receiver also. When he's in the game, you still really have no clue whether it's a pass or a run."
On Arizona State All-American receiver Jaelen Strong: "I know that Jaelen Strong declared for the [NFL] Draft. I'm hoping maybe he might go a little bit earlier and move that up because he's tremendous. We need to know where he is at all times."
On facing spread, up-tempo offenses: "There aren't any kids growing up who want to be defensive coordinators. It's tough to play great defense in the atmosphere of college football [against] wide-open spread teams. What's important for us and I think the reason we've had some success [is] being great in the red zone, holding teams to field goals, third and fourth down [conversion] percentages [and] ultimately the points. It's not about yards for us. It's more about one possession at a time and stealing that possession."
On Duke's approach defensively: "The things that we track on defense are points, takeaways and explosive plays. You can play good to great defense in this day and age if you keep the ball in front and inside of you and you don't make critical mistakes and give up those explosive plays—[when you] make a team go the long haul. I believe we know our defense well enough and have enough weapons in terms of our blitz packages to win and be successful on some third and fourth downs. [We've] got to get there. We have to find a way to make them go the long way."
"We start with a 25 points or less philosophy. When we can stay under that, we believe we have a great chance to win. Those numbers hold up. Our offense is always going to put up points if we do our job on the defensive end by keeping that number down."
Mike Norvell, offensive coordinator, Arizona State
On defenses similar to Duke's: "In the Pac-12, we've seen quite a few multiple fronts. We have seen a couple of 4-2-5 teams, teams like Utah have some similarities. Utah is one of the top defenses in our conference [and they're similar] in how they mix their pressures."
On Duke's defense: "I've got a great deal respect for [Duke head] coach [David] Cutcliffe and their entire staff at Duke. They've done a great job of attacking and they play very fundamentally sound. You can tell they play with a great deal of passion, flying around to the football. They don't give up a whole lot of points. It's going to be a great matchup."
"Each position [is] coached extremely well. They're very multiple in what they do. They do a great job mixing their coverages [and] their fronts. Their pressure packages are very well-timed. They like to get after the quarterback and give the quarterback a variety of different looks, so we have to be on point with our assessment of how they're playing in the back. They're going to be in the right spot at the right time most of the game."
On Duke's different blitzes: "They do a great job with how they incorporate their safeties down in the box. We can tell they want to stop the run and they've got two great safeties that they can play very close to the box. They'll bring safeties, they'll bring corners, they'll bring just about everybody at some point. You have to be aware of every hat and how they're trying to disguise."
On how to have success against Duke: "In any football game, you've got to go in and establish the run. Duke's done a great job throughout the season of being able to take that away and forcing teams to have to play the game on the perimeter. We have to establish the run. We have to force them to bring an extra hat down in the box, then [we've] got to capitalize when [we] get one-on-ones on the perimeter. It's going to be a great chess match."
Keith Patterson, defensive coordinator, Arizona State
Describing Duke's offense: "If you take Kansas State and you take Stanford and you combine them, you'd probably have Duke. We have the utmost respect for [Cutcliffe] and his staff and just the way they're coached. They're very fundamentally sound up front. You see a very disciplined team. You can tell the work ethic is there. They're not going to do anything to beat themselves. All they do is win."
"You better stop the run. They do a great job with their scheme running the football. If you allow them to run the football, that sets up play action and they're very aggressive at taking shots down the field. You've got to make them one-dimensional. If you allow them to set up play action passes vertically, you're going to be in for a long day."
On Duke quarterback Anthony Boone: "You can just tell he's a leader. He doesn't get flustered. You can tell he plays with great experience and great control. [He] is very accurate throwing the football and throws the deep ball very well. We can't let him sit there in the pocket. We've got to get him moving his feet and force him to make some of those throws on the run. Once you do flush him out of the pocket, you've got to have great pass rush lane integrity."
On the Duke offensive line: "They're very well-coached. There [are] no false steps. Their footwork is very impressive. They try to impose their will on you. They try to set a tempo [by] running the football and play very aggressive up front. You can't allow them to do that. We've got to be ready to tee off. We've got to be the aggressor."
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