UVA defensive coordinator John Rudzinski and offensive coordinator Des Kitchings comment on Virginia's loss at Duke.
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00:00What do you need to do to slow that offense and what did you do tonight?
00:05Yeah, no, there's some third time opportunities for
00:08us to get off the field would have liked to fit the run better.
00:11Did you think he'd hurt you as much with his feet as he did?
00:15Yeah, we knew on film that he was super athletic.
00:17He's done a nice job all season.
00:19John, some of the undisciplined penalties, especially early,
00:22kind of dug you a hole.
00:23What was your reaction to those?
00:25Has it been an issue that you've seen through games or practices or
00:28kind of just flare out?
00:30Yeah, no, it's one of those things that we can't have penalties,
00:34we can't give opponents free yards, and we did that today.
00:38And by result, we gave them free yards.
00:42How did having Nick Jackson out of the game in the first half,
00:46how did that throw things off, impact things?
00:48What did you think the guys who filled in?
00:50It didn't.
00:52Where do you think things kind of started to go south for you guys tonight?
00:55You had the two really good plays from your corners early, tackles for losses.
00:59That first drive to get Duke off the field,
01:01what do you think kind of went wrong?
01:04Yeah, no, I mean, we didn't do a great job in the red zone.
01:07We got four steal goals, and again, we can't give them free yards with penalties.
01:11What did you see on, I guess, the first touchdown pass?
01:13It looked like a double move, and maybe Lex slipped a little.
01:16They got behind him.
01:17What did you see on that play?
01:19Yeah, we take a lot of pride as a defense and have an eye discipline.
01:21And so we've gotta make sure our eyes are on the right spot.
01:26What do you think is behind the slow start so far for this year?
01:30You know what, I tell you what, we take a lot of pride as far as going out and
01:34competing, and we're excited for an opportunity.
01:38There'll be another opportunity next week.
01:40Do you, is Cypress' absence likely to be long-term, are we gonna get him back soon?
01:47We hope to get him back soon.
01:48Okay, who was Clary's situation?
01:51Was he available all night?
01:53He was, and he did play this evening.
01:56Again, it seemed like a night where,
01:58when Brennan was cut loose kind of late in the game, he was pretty effective.
02:01But what did they do to limit him early on?
02:04You know, it wasn't so much limiting him.
02:05We were really gonna try to stay ahead of schedule so
02:08we could be in those third and manageables like we talked about earlier in the week.
02:12And that first drive, we did that, and we converted third and threes,
02:16third and fours, got across midfield, still moving the ball,
02:19mixing in some runs, took a shot, missed on that, kind of put us behind the chains.
02:25We got to a third and ten, and those are hard to convert.
02:29So that first drive was good, but we didn't get anything out of it, right?
02:33First half, we only had four possessions in the first half, and
02:38the last possession ended in a touchdown.
02:40So regardless of where the game was, it felt like at halftime,
02:44the guys, we were all in a good spot.
02:46We had an opportunity to come out second half and just put together another drive.
02:51And the first play, had a tip ball, had guys open tip balls, and
02:56that happened a couple times that stalled us with that.
03:00But I'll tell you, Brendan, he had the best week of practice this week.
03:03I love the guys, the competing fours, and he played that way.
03:08He was in the pocket, guys did a good job protecting, and
03:12made some throws, got through his progressions, and
03:13hit some second or third guys in the progression.
03:17It's not the growth we want, obviously, at the time we want it,
03:20because we felt like we had another opportunity to get away from us as a team,
03:25as an offense, so we just keep pushing the guys along and regroup and get ready to move.
03:32Was there any thought to go forward on that fourth and three early in the game?
03:36You guys, I think, had picked up a couple of third downs on that first drive.
03:39You know, it came up, no, we talked about it, but
03:44I'll be honest with you, I don't recall, but it's all a wash right now, truthfully,
03:46I'm sorry.
03:47What do you think about the slow starts right now?
03:50It seems like it's taking y'all a while, maybe towards the end of the half or
03:53something like that.
03:54Yeah, I wish I knew that, cuz I mean, we talk about that all the time, and
03:58part of us as an offense is talking about playing fast, until a fast start.
04:02And I mean, that's something we gotta look at and evaluate, why is that?
04:06We had a good week of prep, and guys had some time to recover.
04:13Considering the late game and all that, I don't know, don't have that answer.
04:18Brennan had a number of balls and knockdowns.
04:20Yeah. I had a lot of scrimmages.
04:22Is that just great defensive plays, or is it a pocket collapse, or
04:26is he doing something- No, but the pocket was good, and
04:30we thought that would be something that would be to our advantage in pass
04:34protecting against these guys, cuz they were more thick-type rushers and
04:37not trying to rush on the edges.
04:39And they did a good job of timing it up when they couldn't get there,
04:43just get the hand up when the ball was coming out.
04:46That hadn't happened all year, really, and it didn't happen tonight, so.
04:49How's Brennan?
04:50We've talked about this kind of just handling the frustration of it not coming
04:54along faster.
04:55No, he's been great, man.
04:56I'll tell you, halftime was great, the week was great.
04:59And talking with him throughout the game, he believes we all was in it,
05:04got a shot, and very encouraging to his teammates.
05:06So- How did Kemp's exit,
05:10you guys were giving the ball to him early, how did that influence the game plan?
05:14It really influenced the game plan from whether it was him or
05:17KT, it's the same type of stuff.
05:20Just being able to take some of the load off of KT early in the game,
05:24cuz the last two weeks, he's played a lot, had a lot of touches,
05:27which is obviously great.
05:29But to have Billy back and just give us another guy in that spot to
05:32distribute the ball to, so that was part of the plan.
05:35To get, whether it be Billy or KT, get the ball to him early,
05:38out of some spacial stuff, see if they can tackle us, and move the ball that way.
05:44What do you guys do as coaches in terms of penalties,
05:47and is it each position coach handles it their own way?
05:50Do the coordinators have a punishment, or how do you guys address it?
05:54Yeah, obviously what we're doing must not be working, cuz we handle it as a team.
05:59We handle it as a unit, and as a position group,
06:05pre-fold there, and just gotta grow up as a team.
06:11And just, it's self-inflicted wounds, the margin there is so small in football.
06:16And when you have penalties, or mistakes that cost you in drives,
06:21it makes that tougher, and you just gotta keep pushing through it mentally,
06:25physically, and have some pride about it.
06:28To not allow me, the individual, to cost our team.