N.C. State’s head football coach Dave Doeren held his weekly press conference Monday afternoon at the Wendell H. Murphy Center to discuss Saturday’s game against UNC-Chapel Hill.

Coming off of a 49-17 road loss to No. 3 Florida State, the Wolfpack will look to rebound for its first ACC win of the season. Doeren said that the team has already put the prior week behind them.

“Playing a rival the week after [the Florida State loss] helps [remedy the sting of defeat] pretty quick,” Doeren said. “I put something on every athlete’s locker so that when we got back, we could snap into what this week was. I was preparing them from the minute they walked into the locker room whether we won or lost.”

Undeterred by the previous week’s setback, Doeren said the team will look toward the future and concentrate on what could be a strong finish despite sitting at 3-4 overall.

“With five games left, there is a lot to play for our team,” Doeren said. “We have three wins, and we have to focus on what’s out there for us and what’s attainable. We have academic goals and off-the-field goals, and we have talked about our in-state goals and postseason play. Within each week, there’s a goal to get better as a football team, and that’s what we need to do.”

Doeren said he’s excited for the matchup against the rival Tar Heels. Northern Illinois defeated its rival—Toledo— in both seasons with Doeren at the helm.

“I have been in a lot of great rivalries, and all of them are really special,” Doeren said. “The day I was hired, everyone told me good luck, and a lot of them threw in ‘Beat Carolina’ in there. Every place I’ve coached, there were always those special games. There were other games that other people told me that were their favorite games, but this is obviously a standout, especially for people close by.”

The Pack will kick-off against UNC Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium at 12:30 p.m.