Roof: Small mistakes leading to big breakdowns for Blue Devils

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) Ted Roof gets to experience Duke&#39;s onfield struggles all over when he reviews the game film each week. He sees every little mistake, obvious and subtle.<br> <br> And there are certainly enough to constantly test the coach&#39;s resolve.<br> <br> ``It&#39;s gut-wrenching,&#39;&#39; Roof said Monday.<br> <br> The Blue Devils (1-8, 0-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) closed their home schedule with a 44-6 loss to Wake Forest over the weekend. Now they head to Clemson and North Carolina to close their 11th straight losing season, and Roof is talking about finishing strong to build offseason momentum for recruiting.<br> <br> In the present, however, Roof is still trying to correct the little mistakes that continue to pop up during those brutal film sessions.<br> <br> The mistakes include obvious missed tackles, dropped passes or turnovers. But the gaffes that really frustrate the coach are the smaller ones: a would-be tackler bouncing off a blocker to the outside instead of the middle, turning what should have been a 5-yard gain into a 15-yarder. Or a ball carrier hitting the wrong gap, turning a to-the-house run into one that doesn&#39;t even move the chains.<br> <br> ``On most plays (Saturday), we had 9 or 10 of 11 guys doing the right thing,&#39;&#39; Roof said. ``Right now, with our margin for error, we&#39;ve got to operate at 11-for-11. That&#39;s 11 players doing exactly what you&#39;re supposed to do on that play.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Making matters worse, the mistakes aren&#39;t always made by the same player, meaning Roof can&#39;t just bench a repeat offender to fix the problem.<br> <br> For the players, watching those mistakes can be just as hard. Just ask freshman receiver Eron Riley.<br> <br> ``It just gets to you sometimes because it seems like we do it so often,&#39;&#39; Riley said. ``We continually make mistakes that can prevent big plays from happening (on offense).&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Those mistakes keep questions hanging around about when or if Duke will turn things around. Defensive end Phillip Alexander said the Blue Devils know the question will linger until they correct the mistakes that make their uphill climb against better teams even steeper.<br> <br> ``The players determine when that question is stopped by going out and producing,&#39;&#39; Alexander said. ``The day we can put it all together is the day we get a &#39;W&#39;.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Until then, Roof figures the answers are somewhere in the film. The task now is getting the message across to his players.<br> <br> ``You look at the final score and the stats, and that&#39;s really disappointing,&#39;&#39; Roof said. ``Then when you look at the actual tape and see how close this play or that play was, and I&#39;m talking about a matter of inches...<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve got to find a way to go those couple of inches so we can be exact, so we&#39;re exactly where we&#39;re supposed to be when we&#39;re supposed to be there. And then let the chips fall where they may.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> (Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)