Duke coach Manny Diaz previews matchup vs. SMU, Rhett Lashlee

Duke head coach Manny Diaz met with the media this week to preview the matchup against SMU Saturday night at 7 p.m. CT. Here’s some of what he had to say ahead of the matchup.

Opening statement: “This is a very exciting week in Durham for a multitude of reasons. Coming off the big win Friday night against Florida State When you win games like that, you get the opportunity to play in more big games and we now have two 6-1 teams on a primetime event this weekend. We’re 15-2 at home playing against a team that’s undefeated in our conference and I think has won eight or nine straight on the road, which is quite an achievement. We have such respect for Rhett Lashlee and his staff, who we know well. They do a good job and they’ve got themselves competing for an ACC Championship, but we’re in the mix as well. We talk about controlling our own destiny and that’s a great thing.

“To have this game at our stadium and have our student body do what they’ve done for these other two league games really gives us that boost. The more you win at home, the more fun home games you get and that’s exactly where we’re at. It’s also a special weekend because we’ll be welcoming back a lot of great former teams and great former coaches. Fred Goldsmith, Steve Spurrier and David Cutcliffe, I’m excited to see those guys back here in Durham with all of the former players who really this program belongs to. We’re hoping that we can make them proud with how we play every week.”

On SMU’s offense: “They‘re deep into this system so they know what they’re doing. They‘ve added a lot of talented players, done a great job in the transfer market. And now they‘re really starting to roll with a dynamic quarterback who’s been a winner probably from the first time he ever touched a football. Number one, it‘s the tempo, they‘re going to play very fast. You have to do a great job getting lined up. Similar to what we do, they attach RPOs to their runs and their quarterback does a great job of just letting the ball go where the defense is not. I‘ve always thought Rhett does a great job manufacturing explosive plays. Whether through deceptive plays or just taking shots and how they do that. This is a very different challenge then the previous three teams that we’ve played in the league so far.”

On his defense vs. FSU: “It was really exciting to see. We felt like we had to dominate the matchup against their guards because their guards were inexperienced and I thought we did that. Kendy Charles, by far, played his best game. I thought he was dominant. He showed up by making tackles or just causing disruption and making it hard for them to drive the ball with the run game, which then put the pressure on their young quarterbacks, who ultimately made enough mistakes. They made enough mistakes in their passing game and had a hard time scoring.

“That really is what allowed our guys to tee off on their offensive line and those quarterbacks. If you just watch the energy that we played with on defense on that final drive, and just the relentlessness that Vincent Anthony Jr. or Wesley Williams had in rushing the passer, I think that’s the only way you can play on that drive is because of the depth that you have and the reps that you’re getting out of Ryan Smith and Michael Reese. We went five or six deep at defensive tackle, Christian Rorie and Preston Watson combining for the key fumble in the fourth quarter, so our ability to play a lot of guys on defense up front is what really helped us in that game.”