Following a disappointing home loss to Wake Forest, NC State football will look to finish strong in its final three contests, starting this week against a Louisville squad that just fired its head coach. Head coach Dave Doeren spoke to the media at his weekly news conference about moving on from Wake Forest and preparing for the Cardinals. Here are some of the highlights.
On the atmosphere against Wake Forest: “I want to start by thanking our crowd, our game ops, the administration for the game atmosphere Thursday night. With the military appreciation, which has always been, to me, a very special event, our senior night, which we had a lot of parents commenting on afterwards, honoring Chubb’s number, our student section and our band, there was a lot of really, really great things about that atmosphere. So I want to say thank you to all involved in that.”
On the loss to the Demon Deacons: “Obviously a game that we didn’t make enough critical plays in and they did to have the outcome what it was. Our five drops, a couple of them would have been really good catches, compared to their four explosive plays that they made, which two of them were really good catches, were difference makers. On top of that, I didn’t feel we played with the fundamentals on the line of scrimmage that were required to play well. It hurt us, rhythm wise, offensively, because 11 of our 29 runs were tackled in the backfield, which we can’t have that. We’ve got to get that fixed. And we will.
I felt, in general, just our basic fundamentals, the fundamentals of football, blocking, catching, tackling, running, breaking tackles, beating blocks. All those little things that you drill and drill throughout the week, which looked good for us the week before in the Florida State game didn’t look good for us against Wake Forest in that football game.”
On facing Louisville after the firing of head coach Bobby Petrino: “Adversity creates opportunities as a leader, and I’m looking forward to lead this football team and help these guys jump into this week against Louisville. That’s what I’m going to do. It’s what our staff’s going to do; it’s what our leaders will do. That’s where we’re at. We get to go play Louisville. Obviously there’s a lot going on down there, and I have no idea how that’s going to impact their football team. All I can do is watch the film and look at their players, their schemes. We’ll have to do some adjusting on game day; there’s no doubt. We just don’t know what that’s going to do without Bobby calling the plays and how that impacts their play calling and different things like that.
“When you watch them on film, there’s very good athletes on the field. They are playing hard, particularly at receiver. I think their receivers are really good players, long guys. They’ve been playing for them; you guys have all seen their wideouts. They’ve been good for a number of years now. For us, it’s more about us and being able to get back to running the ball, catching the ball, making those plays. Defending on defense, break some tackles and tackle well in space. Just all the little things that make you a good football team. They made us win some good games this year.”
On the red zone offense: “Coming out of the game prior we felt like we needed to throw the ball more down there. And we did. We threw 12 of 15 plays in the red zone. We dropped three passes; two of them were in the end zone. [Sophomore Emeka Emezie]’s would have been a good catch, but one we need to make. And [redshirt sophomore tight end Cary Angeline]’s was obviously a catch he would usually make. [Redshirt junior Jakobi Meyers] had one on the goal line that may or may not have been a touchdown.
“So three of those field goals, if you catch the football, maybe they are touchdowns. That part of it just comes down to execution and finishing plays. If we ended up with two of those three being touchdowns, it’s a win. So you called plays that were good plays, you’ve just got to execute those plays. But we do look at it every week and I felt like we were pounding the run a little too much a couple weeks ago and trying to get the ball to playmakers. They’ve got to get open, and when they do they’ve got to catch the football. We’ve got to protect [graduate quarterback Ryan Finley] and he’s got to put it on them where they can catch it.”
On Petrino being fired and how fast things can change: “That’s what I said last week. Everyone’s asking me about what bowl game we’re going to and I’m like ‘Yeah, we’ve got to beat Wake.’ Last week everyone’s patting us on the back; this week they’re burying us. That’s the game we coach and play. As a coach, you realize that because we’re in it. As fans, they’re saying incredible things about you one week and the next they’re telling you to sell your house. So it’s just the world we’re in right now. And I don’t think it’s just football. You look across the country and it’s overreaction to everything.
“But I get it, I understand it and it’s what I signed up for. Playing Louisville the last three years with Lamar Jackson there, they were a great football team. When [Todd Grantham] was there, they were one of the best defenses in the ACC at that time too. Every week you’ve to to show up. Every single game, it’s anybody’s game. You’ve got to make the plays; you’ve got to coach your butt off. And for us, unlike the NFL, we’ve got to recruit. And then there’s the health factor. Because it’s impacted our football team this year at times. The injuries have hurt us at times. And that’s part of the game. Sometimes you’re able to get away with it more than other times.”
On where the team is health wise this week: “I’m not going to tell you.”
On the balance between being physical in practice and guarding against injuries: “I think it was after the Clemson game, we had a lot of injuries in that game. In order to have our guys practice that we’re going to play in the next game, we had to take the pads off. And I had never done that, but that was the best thing for the team. I thought our guys did a good job learning the game plan. Obviously it didn’t end up being a win with Syracuse but we played a heck of a game and I don’t think that was the reason we didn’t win.
“We came back and had a really good win against Florida State. But three weeks of it, or really two and a half, because we didn’t get many practices for Wake, you could see it on the line of scrimmage in that game. For me it’s blocking, tackling and beating blocks. Just playing with your hands, feet, pads and base. It’s just hard to be in what we call pro pads, which is no shoulder pads and helmets, a little girdle on to protect your shoulder. It’s not the same as striking shoulder pads.
“You can’t go the other way, either. We can’t go out there and scrimmage tomorrow. But we need to get back to basics with our fundamentals. And it’s not just in the run game. I just think as football players in general it’s striking with your hands inside, playing with a base and learning how to play with good pad level. Those are things when you’re not in pads you get away with bad habits. That’s not going to be our football team. We’re going to play with technique. That’s the biggest thing I talked to the guys about. All we need to do is the fundamentals of the game and own that from the film and as coaches on the issues that are ours. Together, let’s get back to winning games and have a great finish.”
