In Mike Elko's Inaugural Season As Head Coach Duke Finished With Record Of 9-4 Following Winning Military Bowl 30-13 Over UCF (University Of Central Florida) Wednesday
On December 10, 2021 Mike Elko was introduced in his introductory press conference .
In his introductory press conference as Duke Head Coach Mike Elko said I believe that now is the time for Duke football. The Duke brand is nationally recognized as a brand of excellence. The combined accomplishments of this university in academics and athletics are truly unparalleled. We have a world-renowned faculty and an amazing group of coaches that have achieved nothing short of greatness in their fields. The amount of ACC Championships and National Championships that this university has brought to Durham is amazing. Now it's time for football to get on that level. It's time for football to hold its end of the bargain and elevate itself to being a national brand and a nationally recognized program.
To achieve this success, we're going to need a lot of support. It starts right here in Bull City. Bull City – we are your team. We need your support of this great program for us to achieve the things that we want to achieve. We need you to get behind this football team and grow with this team together. We need you to help fill this stadium on Saturdays in the fall and create the best on-field atmosphere in the ACC every Saturday that we play a game. To the student body – I have been amazed at you from a school spirit standpoint from afar from a long time. What you do in Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Cameron Crazies is amazing. We need that same energy and passion from you on Saturdays in the fall at Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. We need you to bring that same energy to our stadium. There's nothing better than for a young football player to run out of the tunnel in front of a rowdy student section and a packed house and get ready to play the game they love to play. To the ex-players – you have open access now. Whatever era you played in, whenever you graduated, this will always be your home and your program. Whatever we can do to bring you back into the fold or make you apart of this thing, please let us know. You have open access to everything that we're about. To the Duke alumni throughout the nation, we need your help selling the brand. We need you to sell excellence at Duke everywhere you go, not just in this university, but in this football program. We need to spread the word that Duke Football now stands for excellence nationwide.
We will achieve the highest levels of success in everything we do. We will be competitive in the classroom, graduate our student-athletes, be a life-long partner in whatever future endeavors they choose to pursue, whether that be in the NFL or in the workplace. We will be tremendous ambassadors for this community both here on campus and in the city of Durham. We will win championships on the field in the fall. I want to make sure I say that again – we will win championships on the field in the fall.
To accomplish that, we're going to have to learn how to embrace the G.R.I.N.D. We will develop grit, the mental and physical toughness that will allow us to persevere through difficult times and collectively allow us to overachieve as a group. We will develop relentless effort. We will understand that it is a privilege to represent this great university and institution on the football field, and we will exhaust ourselves in our pursuit of excellence in our craft. We will conduct ourselves with integrity. We will understand that we represent much more than ourselves when we become a member of the Duke football program, and we will make choices in our lives that align with the high standards of this great institution and great community. The most important piece in the acronym will be this - we will live in the now because the now is all that matters. The now is all we can control. Our previous failures have nothing to do with what we can become now. We are looking to have success now, looking to improve now, looking to work hard now. That is the most important part of the championship mindset. We have to get that now and we have to understand that now is the time for Duke football. And we will become dependable. There are a lot of people counting on each other in a football organization – it's one of the largest organizations on a college campus. For us to have success, everyone has to pull their own weight. We have to be able to rely and depend on each other, and we have to know that everyone has each other's back. If we can't do it together, we can't do it at all. So, we've got to make sure we understand that.
The beauty of these five pillars is that they require zero talent. There's no level of excellence that you need in your athleticism, it's simply a mindset. It's a mindset that we have to change. It demands us to make a choice that we will not settle for anything else but excellence in anything we do. Once we truly understand that and truly embrace these five pillars, success will follow, and success will follow on the field. We have to be process driven to get there and we have to understand that it's going to take time, we're going to have to climb the stairs and we're going to have to work to get where we want to go. But again, I will accentuate – now is the time!
I cannot wait to pour every ounce of energy and passion that I have for this great game into this program and this university. I'm so looking forward to this opportunity. I'm grateful for every opportunity I've been given along the way, but this one is special and this one is the time. I'm so excited to be your new head football coach and cannot wait to roll my sleeves up and get to work. I'm just super excited to be here and be a part of this family. Can't wait to get going. Thank you, thank you everyone for coming."
“According to article on goduke.com”
Mike Elko backed up his words from his introductory press conference this season leading Duke to 9-4 record including a 30-13 win in the Military Bowl over UCF (University Of Central Florida) Wednesday.
Where?
Annapolis Maryland!
As Duke won 30-13 over UCF (University Of Central Florida) Wednesday in Annapolis Maryland Jaquez Moore ran for 14 yard touchdown, Todd Pelino kicked extra point to put Duke up 7-0 in 1st quarter before UCF (University Of Central Florida) responded with touchdown of their own as Isiah Bowser ran for 1 yard touchdown, Colton Boomer kicked extra point tying up Military Bowl 7-7 before Duke extended their lead 10-7, 17-7 , 20-7 in 2nd quarter as Todd Pelino kicked 22 yard field goal , Riley Leonard ran for 1 yard touchdown, Todd Pelino kicked 48 yard field goal. In 3rd quarter Todd Pelino kicked 38 yard field goal extending Duke’s lead 23-7 before UCF (University Of Central Florida ), Isiah Bowser ran 2 yards converting 2 point conversion making it 23 -13 Duke before Duke eventually won the Military Bowl as Riley Leonard ran for 3 yard touchdown, Todd Pelino kicked extra point.
“According to espnapp”
Following Duke finishing Mike Elko’s inaugural as Duke Head Coach finishing with record of 9-4 following winning Military Bowl 30-13 over UCF (University Of Central Florida) Wednesday Duke Head Coach Mike Elko had this to say for his opening statement!
“Couldn’t be more proud of this group. From where this team was and this program was walking off the field at the end of the 2021 season to walking off the field today as the 2022 Military Bowl champions. Nobody can understand the amount of work and the amount of character that went into that. This is not a day in age where people grind through hard times, where people stay and stick together. Everybody in our organization that ended the season showed up here today to be a part of this bowl, every coach and player and you don’t see that. This group is special and this program is special and what this university’s football team is going to be about in the future. I think today was just a testament to all of that. A lot of great culture, great character and then some really good football. I just appreciate everyone who has been a part of this thing from day one, couldn’t be more proud of this team and the guys in the locker room of where this has come. What a way to end this first story of Duke football but now it’s on to the next of bigger and better things. Appreciate everyone in our program and our locker room.” Question 1 “I thought we understood how dangerous he (John Rhys Plumlee) was. We talked about it all week how (John Rys Plumlee) is an extremely athletic kid. He’s even faster than you think he is on film. I think we did a really good job of keeping him contained. We had a lot of guys spying him at different times and then a lot of the sacks came from that. We knew keeping him contained and controlled was going to be key to not allow him to get out and be explosive and for the most part I think we were able to do that today.” Question 2 “I think playing and finishing halves is critical. The end of a half and the start are usually huge momentum swings. We were able to get the score to go up 17-7, which was obviously really big and for the defense to go and get a three and out, I thought that was huge and then we were able to execute the two minute drive and then Todd Pelino goes out and bangs a 47 yard field goal into the wind going into halftime so I thought the momentum of that was really huge and then to go up by 16 early in the second half, I thought that changed how the game was played.
“According to goduke.com”
Duke is now is going to begin preparing for 2023 season their 2nd season under Head Coach Mike Elko!