September 4, 2025 • 8 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sports Radio ninety two seven w f n Z, Queen City.
We appreciate you being with us live from the Chandler
Volta Studios. The Carolinas Personal injury Lawyers go to CV
Injury Law dot Com. Packed week. Don't forget Panthers Jags
on Sunday. We've got pregame coming up eleven a m
as the NFL returns here in Week one. Last week,
it was a massive Week one in college football, and
(00:23):
one of the n State teams, of course, got a
big win. Manny Diaz and Duke emerging victorious over Elon.
He's become one of our favorite guests on the show
and he's back with us on the hotline. Head Coach
the Duke, Blue Devils Manny Diaz back on a Thursday
afternoon Coach, congrats on the win.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
How are you doing great? Appreciate having me back on.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Of course, so you you know, in your debut things
were a little bit tight into the second half then
you start to pull away. I love Week one because
you know, for a talking head like me, we get
to have all this fun guessing what we think we
know about these teams based on one singular football game.
You don't really have to guess though, you get you
get to watch the tape and such. After you watched
the tape of Elon, what did you learn about your
(01:00):
own football team?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You learned it takes a while to get in the
flow of the games, and you know, and it's funny
with with us playing on Thursday and then being able
to watch a lot of the games on Saturday. I
think you saw a lot of similarities all across Conchootball
week one. Offense is a little slow to go early on.
Everybody kind of relaxes, gets in the flow the game.
You know, everybody sits around for eight nine months, you know,
(01:23):
thinking about how this thing is going to go, and
and games is just so different than practice. And I
thought our guys did that. I thought I thought it,
you know, took a deep breath, regrouped and you know,
and dominated the second half the way that we should.
But you just got to get into that. You got
to get into that game environment to really see what
it's all about.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, I'm glad you said that, you know, one of
the things that you have been I think really our
conversations have been memorable for me because you brought up
a lot of ideas about how to fix the game,
how to better the game, how to restructure the offseason,
things like that. You talked about going into Week one
it's a little bit slow. Would college football benefit from
a preseason in your opinion? Could you pull that off?
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, think about this. We're the only sports, even in
cause athletics, that doesn't play an exhibition, right, I think
something the irony of cany, of course we can. Every
other sport does it. Basketball does it, Baseball does it, soccer,
Volleyball is shoe they'll play games in the springs. So
we've actually talked about it as a as a coaching
community of of you know, do we get to whether
they're preseason games? Even the joint practices you see in
(02:21):
the NFL that could end in a scrimmage something where
you're at least getting a little bit of the speed
of the game. And if you've got a real experienced team,
you know, with a bunch of guys back, you may
maybe you don't need as much. But with all the
turnover you see now in college football, think about all
the new parts that we had on our offense, you know,
it doesn't make any sense to think that just from
the from the open kickoff that you're gonna be up
(02:43):
and running and sustain that for those sixty minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I watched a quarterback in the post game. Obviously I
watched them all game long, but it's really impressed by
his postgame interview. How did you feel that they're in
mensa played in his duke debut.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, he's sharp. I thought it was a really good debut. Again,
a lot of expectation, not even talk about outside of
the building, just just inside, just a lot of waiting
around to get out there for the first time. And
same thing I think, you know, like everybody was a
little bit uptight in the first quarter and then kind
of relaxed and you know, showed what we've seen in practice,
(03:16):
you know, the accuracy, a wide variety of throws, movement skills,
and more than anything, just I thought, I thought, just
you know, work the offense the way it was designed
to be working.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
What as far as the way that you wanted to
take year one into year two, Like I know you
every week you try to win. Football is not that
complicated at the end of the day. But I know
there's also an evolution of your program from year one
to year two. How did you want to continue molding
this thing big picture?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, we're trying. You know, we were pleased at the
way year one went, but we thought there was successful
and we didn't necessarily feel that it was excellent. Sure,
you're always chasing that standard of excellence, and I think
that's what's a great thing about this opportunity this weekend
is to have another you know, top ranked team especially
come here to Durham and to be the program we
want to be, we have to challenge ourselves in these
(04:02):
type of games and learn about ourselves, you know what
I mean. It's it's not all or nothing. It's just,
you know, everything is a step in the direction of
where you want to get to. So I think that's
that's been a big focal point for us all off season,
and now we get the chance to test ourselves against
one of the best teams in the country.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Mandy Diaz, head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. He's
with us here on a Thursday afternoon, So let's go there.
It's a big opportunity for you and the conference, you know,
for the Duke fans out there listening right now as
you study up on Illinois what do you expect? What
should they expect in this ball game?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, very very experienced team, very similar to us. They
won nine games in the regular season last year, and
I think we're five and one. In one score games,
I think we were six and one. So a lot
of similarities, a lot of fourth quarter comebacks, which means
that they believe right And you know, Brett Bielman was
one of the top program builders in the country and
and we you know, my last year at Penn State,
(04:53):
we went over to Champagne and played them over there,
and you know, got after him pretty good, and you
could see they improved, They got better and better as
that year went on. Then they came back the next
year and early in the seasons lost to Penn State
again but in a closer game. And then they're big
break to the big Michigan in the middle of the season,
and Michigan wasn't, you know, as good as maybe they'd been,
but they're still defending national chance that I think you
(05:14):
could see from that point on they got a lot
of confidence. Finish the season really strong, beat South Carolina.
So this is a team with really experienced guys who
have played a lot of ball and then they have
a belief in their program because they you know, of
what they've been able to accomplish as as Breast been
able to build it there. So it's a great model
for us in addition to a great challenge this weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, and one of the core identities of your teams
that have I think we've all noticed over the years
something you preach is being tough upfront in the trenches. Clearly,
that's important every week. As I talked about earlier. You know,
football is not that complicated, but in this matchup in particular,
you know, it seems like that's got to be part
of the messaging this week that we have to win
up front early and often.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right. Yeah, And it's a great challenge against a big
ten team. They have five offensive linemen all returning. We
think the strength of our defense is our front, and
so you know, that'll be a test that it's not
one of those where you know, anybody wins or loses
them in the first round. It's it's it's gonna it's
gonna be a long game, you know, in the heat
and see who can sustain that excellence over the course
(06:12):
of four quarters and then and then on the other
side of the ball. You know, they've got an All
American pass rusher. So that's a great threat, right because
if you know, if you the best way to disrupt
the passing offense is to disrupt the guy holding the ball.
So it's a great challenge for our protection. And you know, again,
both teams are going to try to have to run
the football to try not have the quarterback have to
do it all.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Coach, a couple quick things, we'll get you out of here.
You mentioned watching a lot of football on Saturday. You
had that benefit having played on Thursday. But you know,
I was there in your press conference for the ACC kickoff.
There was a lot of conversation about not just in yours,
but a lot about the depth of this conference, what
people thought of it, Uh, just early on. I know
you're always probably gonna, you know, stump for the conference
to a degree everybody does. But what are your thoughts
(06:51):
on the depth of the Atlantic Coast Conference in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, I think I think it's on display, you know,
I mean, a couple of big top ten wins I
think is huge. The profile the conference, you know, and
then a high profile game comes in the LSU played
a you know, one score game that was tight right there.
And so even Virginia Tech and South Carolina was a
two point game whatever late in the second half of
their So, yeah, I think our league is getting better
(07:17):
and better. It's still early, I always laughed, nobody knows
how good anybody is. Yet it's easy to make the
over reactions and and but I just I believe in
the coaching in this league, and I know the way
that the league is acquiring talent, and and I think
you're going to see the results competed to say the
agency going forward.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, again, we have very different roles. Week one over
reactions of the peak of my experience as a sports
talk radio host. I love it. It's the best. But
I do want to ask you real quick. The the
news this week about the Atlantic Coast Conference uh molling
either a non game conference schedule, obviously that's a big
national talking point versus a potential mandating of a non
conference power for opponent every year. What are your thoughts
(07:56):
on that?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, you know, it's it's here. There's a couple of things, right,
it'd be weird to be the only conference to not
play nine. And then if you mandate a Power four. Well,
guess what the problems were all the Power four conferences
if they all went to nine games. If we're going
one nine and nine games, is it going to be
easier or harder to find Power four teams to play
non conference? Right? My suspission would be harder. And so
(08:20):
what happens if you can't find somebody? Right, because schedules
a book loans avancy of robbery games that are already set,
you know, teams that they want to play a group
of five school or two or even an FCF, so
you know, certain both options sound like they're the same,
but they're really not the same. And so you know,
I think the best thing for our league is to
is to play our league the same way everyone else
is doing in theirs.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Love it. Mandy Diaz, head football coach Doke Blue Devils
with us on a Thursday afternoon. Coach is always thank
you for making the time. Good luck this weekend, all right,
thanks for having me on
Sports Radio ninety two seven w f n Z, Queen City.
We appreciate you being with us live from the Chandler
Volta Studios. The Carolinas Personal injury Lawyers go to CV
Injury Law dot Com. Packed week. Don't forget Panthers Jags
on Sunday. We've got pregame coming up eleven a m
as the NFL returns here in Week one. Last week,
it was a massive Week one in college football, and
(00:23):
one of the n State teams, of course, got a
big win. Manny Diaz and Duke emerging victorious over Elon.
He's become one of our favorite guests on the show
and he's back with us on the hotline. Head Coach
the Duke, Blue Devils Manny Diaz back on a Thursday
afternoon Coach, congrats on the win.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
How are you doing great? Appreciate having me back on.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Of course, so you you know, in your debut things
were a little bit tight into the second half then
you start to pull away. I love Week one because
you know, for a talking head like me, we get
to have all this fun guessing what we think we
know about these teams based on one singular football game.
You don't really have to guess though, you get you
get to watch the tape and such. After you watched
the tape of Elon, what did you learn about your
(01:00):
own football team?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You learned it takes a while to get in the
flow of the games, and you know, and it's funny
with with us playing on Thursday and then being able
to watch a lot of the games on Saturday. I
think you saw a lot of similarities all across Conchootball
week one. Offense is a little slow to go early on.
Everybody kind of relaxes, gets in the flow the game.
You know, everybody sits around for eight nine months, you know,
(01:23):
thinking about how this thing is going to go, and
and games is just so different than practice. And I
thought our guys did that. I thought I thought it,
you know, took a deep breath, regrouped and you know,
and dominated the second half the way that we should.
But you just got to get into that. You got
to get into that game environment to really see what
it's all about.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, I'm glad you said that, you know, one of
the things that you have been I think really our
conversations have been memorable for me because you brought up
a lot of ideas about how to fix the game,
how to better the game, how to restructure the offseason,
things like that. You talked about going into Week one
it's a little bit slow. Would college football benefit from
a preseason in your opinion? Could you pull that off?
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
Well, think about this. We're the only sports, even in
cause athletics, that doesn't play an exhibition, right, I think
something the irony of cany, of course we can. Every
other sport does it. Basketball does it, Baseball does it, soccer,
Volleyball is shoe they'll play games in the springs. So
we've actually talked about it as a as a coaching
community of of you know, do we get to whether
they're preseason games? Even the joint practices you see in
(02:21):
the NFL that could end in a scrimmage something where
you're at least getting a little bit of the speed
of the game. And if you've got a real experienced team,
you know, with a bunch of guys back, you may
maybe you don't need as much. But with all the
turnover you see now in college football, think about all
the new parts that we had on our offense, you know,
it doesn't make any sense to think that just from
the from the open kickoff that you're gonna be up
(02:43):
and running and sustain that for those sixty minutes.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
I watched a quarterback in the post game. Obviously I
watched them all game long, but it's really impressed by
his postgame interview. How did you feel that they're in
mensa played in his duke debut.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, he's sharp. I thought it was a really good debut. Again,
a lot of expectation, not even talk about outside of
the building, just just inside, just a lot of waiting
around to get out there for the first time. And
same thing I think, you know, like everybody was a
little bit uptight in the first quarter and then kind
of relaxed and you know, showed what we've seen in practice,
(03:16):
you know, the accuracy, a wide variety of throws, movement skills,
and more than anything, just I thought, I thought, just
you know, work the offense the way it was designed
to be working.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
What as far as the way that you wanted to
take year one into year two, Like I know you
every week you try to win. Football is not that
complicated at the end of the day. But I know
there's also an evolution of your program from year one
to year two. How did you want to continue molding
this thing big picture?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, we're trying. You know, we were pleased at the
way year one went, but we thought there was successful
and we didn't necessarily feel that it was excellent. Sure,
you're always chasing that standard of excellence, and I think
that's what's a great thing about this opportunity this weekend
is to have another you know, top ranked team especially
come here to Durham and to be the program we
want to be, we have to challenge ourselves in these
(04:02):
type of games and learn about ourselves, you know what
I mean. It's it's not all or nothing. It's just,
you know, everything is a step in the direction of
where you want to get to. So I think that's
that's been a big focal point for us all off season,
and now we get the chance to test ourselves against
one of the best teams in the country.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Mandy Diaz, head coach of the Duke Blue Devils. He's
with us here on a Thursday afternoon, So let's go there.
It's a big opportunity for you and the conference, you know,
for the Duke fans out there listening right now as
you study up on Illinois what do you expect? What
should they expect in this ball game?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Well, very very experienced team, very similar to us. They
won nine games in the regular season last year, and
I think we're five and one. In one score games,
I think we were six and one. So a lot
of similarities, a lot of fourth quarter comebacks, which means
that they believe right And you know, Brett Bielman was
one of the top program builders in the country and
and we you know, my last year at Penn State,
(04:53):
we went over to Champagne and played them over there,
and you know, got after him pretty good, and you
could see they improved, They got better and better as
that year went on. Then they came back the next
year and early in the seasons lost to Penn State
again but in a closer game. And then they're big
break to the big Michigan in the middle of the season,
and Michigan wasn't, you know, as good as maybe they'd been,
but they're still defending national chance that I think you
(05:14):
could see from that point on they got a lot
of confidence. Finish the season really strong, beat South Carolina.
So this is a team with really experienced guys who
have played a lot of ball and then they have
a belief in their program because they you know, of
what they've been able to accomplish as as Breast been
able to build it there. So it's a great model
for us in addition to a great challenge this weekend. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
Well, and one of the core identities of your teams
that have I think we've all noticed over the years
something you preach is being tough upfront in the trenches. Clearly,
that's important every week. As I talked about earlier. You know,
football is not that complicated, but in this matchup in particular,
you know, it seems like that's got to be part
of the messaging this week that we have to win
up front early and often.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Right. Yeah, And it's a great challenge against a big
ten team. They have five offensive linemen all returning. We
think the strength of our defense is our front, and
so you know, that'll be a test that it's not
one of those where you know, anybody wins or loses
them in the first round. It's it's it's gonna it's
gonna be a long game, you know, in the heat
and see who can sustain that excellence over the course
(06:12):
of four quarters and then and then on the other
side of the ball. You know, they've got an All
American pass rusher. So that's a great threat, right because
if you know, if you the best way to disrupt
the passing offense is to disrupt the guy holding the ball.
So it's a great challenge for our protection. And you know, again,
both teams are going to try to have to run
the football to try not have the quarterback have to
do it all.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Coach, a couple quick things, we'll get you out of here.
You mentioned watching a lot of football on Saturday. You
had that benefit having played on Thursday. But you know,
I was there in your press conference for the ACC kickoff.
There was a lot of conversation about not just in yours,
but a lot about the depth of this conference, what
people thought of it, Uh, just early on. I know
you're always probably gonna, you know, stump for the conference
to a degree everybody does. But what are your thoughts
(06:51):
on the depth of the Atlantic Coast Conference in twenty
twenty five.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, I think I think it's on display, you know,
I mean, a couple of big top ten wins I
think is huge. The profile the conference, you know, and
then a high profile game comes in the LSU played
a you know, one score game that was tight right there.
And so even Virginia Tech and South Carolina was a
two point game whatever late in the second half of
their So, yeah, I think our league is getting better
(07:17):
and better. It's still early, I always laughed, nobody knows
how good anybody is. Yet it's easy to make the
over reactions and and but I just I believe in
the coaching in this league, and I know the way
that the league is acquiring talent, and and I think
you're going to see the results competed to say the
agency going forward.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Yeah, again, we have very different roles. Week one over
reactions of the peak of my experience as a sports
talk radio host. I love it. It's the best. But
I do want to ask you real quick. The the
news this week about the Atlantic Coast Conference uh molling
either a non game conference schedule, obviously that's a big
national talking point versus a potential mandating of a non
conference power for opponent every year. What are your thoughts
(07:56):
on that?
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, you know, it's it's here. There's a couple of things, right,
it'd be weird to be the only conference to not
play nine. And then if you mandate a Power four. Well,
guess what the problems were all the Power four conferences
if they all went to nine games. If we're going
one nine and nine games, is it going to be
easier or harder to find Power four teams to play
non conference? Right? My suspission would be harder. And so
(08:20):
what happens if you can't find somebody? Right, because schedules
a book loans avancy of robbery games that are already set,
you know, teams that they want to play a group
of five school or two or even an FCF, so
you know, certain both options sound like they're the same,
but they're really not the same. And so you know,
I think the best thing for our league is to
is to play our league the same way everyone else
is doing in theirs.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Love it. Mandy Diaz, head football coach Doke Blue Devils
with us on a Thursday afternoon. Coach is always thank
you for making the time. Good luck this weekend, all right,
thanks for having me on
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