What Jeff Hafley Said After BC's Loss to Duke

** Hafley congratulated Duke as a good, physical football team, which is what he expected from evaluating them on tape. He said it's disappointing to lose. He said up front that he appreciated the BC students who filled the section and made the Eagle Walk a positive. That's appreciated "especially in a time like this, which says everything about BC and I appreciate that."

** This was Emmett Morehead's first start since his junior year in high school so he probably had some nerves. They didn't have good field position and he was in tough positions but he showed leadership and poised. He got rid of the ball and made some good decisions. He showed some athleticism, had big plays, and drove the team down.

** Hafley noted Morehead hasn't had reps in two minute situations so it took a while to settle in but his first game playing went well. 330 yards, four touchdowns, and no turnovers is a big deal. His leadership was impressive.

** Did Morehead show enough to make it a quarterback competition? Hafley said Phil Jurkovec is the quarterback but he's hurt. He respects the question, though.

** Morehead really doesn't have many reps. He and Joe Griffin had a connection with some good competitive catches. Griffin was one of the best players on the field Friday night and it was impressive. It shows a pretty bright future for those two.

** The receivers blocked really well. That was as physical as Hafley has ever seen them block. That's the sign of a team that's fighting. Griffin was blocking downfield 10 yards off the ball and that's impressive for a freshman.

** Thought Alex Broome shined. He was fast, explosive, and made people miss. Averaged nearly five yards per rush. Those three young guys stood out.

** Hafley said the offense just executed at a higher level. They were able to run the ball a little bit, which they weren't able to do. Lots of checkdowns to Broome and Garwo. Mostly the execution was just better.

** The most impressive thing was the fight in the team, Hafley said. Talking about attitude and effort, playing for each other, and they did. It could have gotten ugly when they were down 17 but they really fought. He's obviously disappointed but he loves that they didn't quit and just kept coming. Duke didn't let up. Hafley was proud of how hard they played.

** However, Hafley said they didn't tackle well. They weren't getting the same push on those explosive runs. They seemed fatigued. It seemed very unlike them but they did bounce back as a unit and stopped them multiple times in a row at the end of the game. That gave them a chance to make a surge late but they have to play better defensively.

** Field position was not good enough tonight. The return game hurt them. The holding calls on kickoffs backed up the offense and made it a lot harder. It felt like they had a short field almost every other drive in the first half and they were backed up. On a lot of those 3 and outs they were backed up and you have to call the game more careful.

** Have to start faster on defense. Have to tackle better early in the next game.