Duke's David Cutcliffe: I Believe We Can Play All 11 Games

Head coach knows risks but is confident

Duke has an 11 game schedule for the upcoming ACC football season. Whether the Blue Devils, or anyone, reaches the end of that schedule is still anyone’s guess. Duke head coach David Cutcliffe is confident, but he knows the risks of trying to hold a season during a pandemic.

“I think it’s really difficult to say,” he said. “I’m very proud of our players. A very difficult circumstance across the country is going to be the fact that when students come back on campus, you’re not going to live as you once have. College students are college students. They’re very social, but its 2020.”

Cutcliffe knows that he, and his staff, can only control what goes on with their team, and all the other teams involved have to be just as vigilant of the risks.

“Contact tracing at a football game could be a nightmare,” he continued. “Everybody has to be obviously aware of that. So at this point, I think the focus is on mitigation and the bubble, so to speak. We don’t have near the same circumstances that an NBA team has, but I think our players are very aware of what their responsibilities are to each other, as is our staff. So in my heart of hearts, I believe we can play 11 games, and we’re going to get it done. I feel really good about that, but I can’t speak for everyone else, because I don’t see what their day to day operation is. But we’ve been testing twice a week.”