Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe held a press conference Thursday addressing the Blue Devils’ upcoming matchup against Indiana in the New Era Pinstripe Bowl. Duke (7-5) faces the Hoosiers (6-6) Dec. 26 at 3:30 p.m. at Yankee Stadium in New York. Here are some of the more notable sound bytes from Cutcliffe’s press conference:
Duke redshirt senior strike safety Jeremy Cash will miss the bowl game after recently undergoing wrist surgery. Cutcliffe said that Cash—the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus first-team All-American—suffered the injury against Virginia Nov. 21, and things got worse during the Blue Devils’ final regular season game at Wake Forest the next weekend.
Defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will now rely on redshirt junior Corbin McCarthy to fill in for Cash. McCarthy started against the Demon Deacons while Cash served a one-half suspension following an ejection for targeting against Virginia. Redshirt sophomore Phillip Carter will also see added playing time in Cash’s absence.
"[Jeremy’s wrist injury] is a real unfortunate thing for him. You’re going to have things happen and you have to deal with it and we’ll deal with it and manage it. Jeremy had a consultation following an MRI. During that MRI, he really was not given a choice."
After starting the season 4-0, Indiana lost six consecutive games, but three of those defeats were by one possession against then-No. 6 Iowa, then-No. 1 Ohio State and then-No. 14 Michigan. Led by quarterback Nate Sudfeld—who has thrown for 3,124 yards, and registered 24 touchdowns against just five interceptions—Indiana is averaging 490.8 yards per game and has scored fewer than 30 points just once this season.
"This is a very gifted Indiana team. Indiana had a really tough schedule. They had three or four top 15 teams that they played against. They played well and could have won any of them. They have a great quarterback, a lot of skills on the offense. They didn’t turn it over. They don’t give up sacks. They just don’t do much wrong."
Cutcliffe announced that redshirt junior quarterback Thomas Sirk will take most of the Blue Devils’ snaps under center in the Pinstripe Bowl. Although backup quarterback Parker Boehme likely will not be in for entire drives, Cutcliffe said that he will enter the game in certain situations.
After missing Duke’s matchup against Pittsburgh Nov. 14 with an upper-body injury and rotating with Boehme against Virginia, Sirk separated himself again against Wake Forest. The Glen St. Mary, Fla., native completed 26 of his 39 passes and threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns in Duke's 27-21 win against the Demon Deacons despite continuing to battle through an upper body injury.
"Thomas is much, much better [from a health standpoint]. Parker can play. And he’s going to have his spots. We’re not afraid to put him into the game and give him an opportunity to make plays in situations. I was very pleased with Parker’s performance."
Although Cutcliffe has now led the Blue Devils to four consecutive bowl berths, Duke has not won a bowl game since defeating Arkansas in the 1961 Cotton Bowl. In each of their last three bowl games, the Blue Devils struggled to maintain late leads. Duke held a 38-17 halftime advantage against Texas A&M in the 2013 Chick-Fila Bowl, but wound up falling 52-48. In last December's Hyundai Sun Bowl against Arizona State, the Blue Devils came from behind to lead 31-30 in the fourth quarter before the Sun Devils scored the game-winning touchdown late in the game.
"We have prepared well for all of our bowl games. We have played well in all of them. We’re doing a lot of the same things preparation-wise. We easily could have won all three of those games."
Keep up with the Blue Zone for full pregame analysis of the Pinstripe Bowl as Duke goes for its first bowl win in more than 50 years against the Hoosiers.
Hank Tucker contributed reporting.
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