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NC State’s Dave Doeren’s Week 5 ACC Media Teleconference Transcript

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Today NC State head coach Dave Doeren answered questions on the weekly ACC Media Teleconference heading into the Wolfpack’s Week 5 matchup against Virginia. Here’s the transcript.

DAVE DOEREN: Proud of our guys. You know, got a good road win, playing a good Marshall team last week, and I thought we played off of each other and kind of just helped each other throughout the game, when momentum swung. But there was a lot of positives in the football game. I thought we did some things offensively in the pass game that were very special. I thought Ryan and his receivers were playing at a high level, and defensively to create three takeaways with the two interceptions and the fumble recovery at key moments, it was great. And to have a chance now to be 3-0 and coming home to play a really good Virginia team, Bronco and his staff have done a very nice job. Their guys are playing hard for them, and they’re a tough match-up with what they do schematically on offense. The quarterback is really playing at a high level in space and has some good playmakers around him, and I think they’re using their personnel wisely. Defensively just all the different pressures that they bring, guys have to understand the rules of the system. Looking forward to the match-up and a great ACC opponent here coming to town.

Q. Obviously there aren’t a ton of teams that can throw the ball the way you guys do with your quarterback and the receiving corps. Virginia hasn’t really played an offense like yours; does that make it difficult for you to prepare for them?

DAVE DOEREN: I mean, there’s a lot of film on them. It’s the same defense they ran last year, same defense he’s been running for a long time. You can go back and look at a lot of film on teams that threw the football a year ago and years before that and just have an idea how they try to attack formations and different looks that we have that are similar, and a lot of it’s studying that personnel because obviously they’ve had some different offenses they’ve faced and you can still see the match-ups when you watch them, how their guys play. They play hard, and they understand what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. But there’s plenty of film to look at for sure.

Q. And for you guys, obviously you’ve been so effective throwing the football. The running numbers aren’t there. Is that a concern, or is that just because there’s an emphasis on your throw game?

DAVE DOEREN: I think it’s a little bit of both. I mean, obviously we want to be able to run the ball efficiently at four yards a carry, and we’re not there yet. I do feel like we made progress last week. I thought we were more physical on the line of scrimmage. I thought our tight ends improved from week 2 to week 3 in the season. But we’re not getting the explosive runs that we’re used to getting that helps your numbers. So yeah, we want to be better there. But we also want to play to our strength, and we’ve got some very good receivers, we’ve got a special quarterback. Our O-line does a great job protecting. We’re not going to beat our heads against the wall, either, but we want to be efficient when we run it and be able to help the pass game with our run game.

Q. How strange is it to have been in the ACC now for six years and not having played this team? Are you okay with that? Would you like to play more often?

DAVE DOEREN: I think it’s disappointing. I mean, I wish there was a different format where we got to shuffle the deck a little bit more. I don’t know that that’ll ever change. But you know, we have players that were here for five years and never played Virginia. I just don’t think that’s right. But I don’t — I’m like the President, I’m giving you all the problems and no solutions here. I’m just trying to do the best we can, and obviously we get to play them this year and try to do the best we can with that opportunity because we won’t see them again for a while.

Q. Once you get over this, you can work on this Supreme Court situation.

DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, yeah.

Q. I was trying to find out just the balancing act a coach faces when you’re protecting a narrow lead and have the ball but there’s too much time left that you can’t take a knee a couple times and end the game. Do you have a staffer kind of working on the math? Do you rely on analytics? How do you handle what you do in those situations?

DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, we have analytic conversations every week as a staff, and I have a call sheet that has all of those things put together on the types of plays we need to run. Obviously if it’s not a situation where we can just kneel it out, whether we need to delay a knee or run a play, and if we need to run a play, what type of play, and trying to be safe and use clock, and field position is a part of it, too, because it’s different if you’re running plays out of your minus 5-yard line versus the 50 on what type of plays you can run. Analytics is a part of it, but we’re very prepared for that. We spend a lot of time in the off-season going through different situations, and as a staff we do it every week.

Q. I know when the rule first came out that almost every coach I think I talked to was in favor of the new redshirting rule. I’m just wondering if you guys had anticipated some of the transfer situations that are happening now with regards to that redshirting rule, and if the consequence of that has made you rethink your approach to whether or not it was a good call or not to change the rule that way.

DAVE DOEREN: Right. At the end of the season, I’m sure that’ll be something that gets discussed. I haven’t put a lot of thought into that. Just with our football team here, our guys are excited about getting the opportunity to play, and just being positive because I can’t change the rule. It has helped our team. We’ve been able to get some young guys some reps and you’re seeing them grow as players. You know, transferring is a part of the business these days, and if that helps those guys do that and they don’t want to be a part of what’s going on, then so be it. But from a playing time standpoint and a player development standpoint, I think there’s a lot of positives to the rule.

Q. I’m writing a story about the nomadic lifestyle of assistant football coaches, and I’m wondering just how difficult it is for coaches to jump from one program to another and on their families, how tough it is. And secondly, do you see that there’s a little more security now with longer contracts for assistants?

DAVE DOEREN: You know, the first part of your question, I think it just depends on the phase of your life when you’re moving. When your kids are really young, for the husband and wife, it’s not as challenging. Obviously you’re dealing with selling homes and buying homes, and that’s never — not always an easy thing to do. But when you’re starting to pull kids out of their schools and move them, that’s to me where it really gets hard as a coach because your children are affected so much by that. If they move into a place where they end up in a better situation, then that’s great, but that’s not always the case. That is the difficult part of it. You know, as far as the contract lengths, I think it just depends. I mean, I think some of these contracts have buyouts that make it harder than others, and some of them are in schools that have more money than others, and ultimately it just comes down to whether or not people are willing to keep a coach or not keep a coach. I do think it’s good security with the pressure that’s on coaches these days and the lifeline that you have to have those kind of lengthy contracts if you can get bought out. But every university is different. I mean, a 10-year deal at a lower level school is not going to get bought out; a four-year deal at a lower level school is not going to get bought out. But when you talk about the Power Five, some of those schools will. I think it’s a little bit based on the amount of money those schools have. (ACC)

Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Football

Former NC State Running Back Jordan Houston Signs with Marshall

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Former NC State Running Back Jordan Houston has officially transferred to Marshall for his final year of eligibility. NC State played Marshall this past season, but Houston didn’t play against the Thundering Herd, because he had already opted to redshirt the remainder of the season.

After playing in three games this past season, Houston opted to redshirt the remainder of the season (despite the fact that he was the starter at the time), giving him the ability to transfer with one year of eligibility remaining.

Houston played in 51 games for NC State over 5 years on the field, rushing for 1,392 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns. He also caught 60 passes for 398 yards and 1 touchdown.

Houston was a 3-Star prospect in NC State’s 2019 recruiting class out of Flint High School in Oakton, Virginia.

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NC State Football

Philip Rivers will Finally be Enshrined in the NC State Hall of Fame in April

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Wolfpack legend Philip Rivers will finally be inducted into the NC State Hall of Fame on April 20th!

Rivers was elected into the Hall of Fame back in 2013 (2nd year of the NC State Hall of Fame), but he has deferred his enshrinement over the years due to time constraints.

 

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Rivers pretty much owns every NC State record for Quarterbacks, and still has the most Career Passing Yards and Passes Completed in ACC history, and he ranks 3rd in Touchdown Passes. Rivers was the ACC Rookie of the Year in 2000, and the ACC Player of the Year in 2003.

You can buy your tickets here.

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NC State Football

DJ Burns Had a Word for Wolfpack Fans After Winning the ACC Championship

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When NC State’s DJ Burns was giving his acceptance speech after receiving the 2024 ACC Tournament MVP Award, Burns had the following quote to say when asked what he wanted to say to the fans.

“I’m going to keep it real simple. Thank you to the ones who’ve been consistent throughout the ride, and welcome back everybody else.”

Burns’ words struck a chord.

Throughout much of this season, it was embarrassing to see all the empty seats in PNC Arena.

As the Wolfpack lost 7 of their final 9 regular season games, it was clear that this team wasn’t just losing games, but they were also losing much of the fanbase.

It’s clear from Burns’ words that the empty seats were noticed, and so were the words of fans online.

NC State finished the regular season 10th, and much of the fanbase was frustrated, and rightfully so.

But, frustrated doesn’t have to mean giving up.

‘Never giving up’ is kind of supposed to be NC State’s thing.

The words of Jimmy V reverberate throughout the history of NC State basketball.

This team didn’t always put W’s in the Win column this season, and it wasn’t always an easy watch, but never for a moment were these players not playing as hard as they could for their school, one another, and their coach.

They never gave up.

Fans have a right to be frustrated, but you can still show up for a team, even when they struggle, because that’s what loyal fans do. When players wear a jersey with NC State across the chest, and they don’t give up, their fans shouldn’t either.

NC State fans aren’t known to be fair weather fans. Let’s not get in the business of leading our players to think we are.

But, like Burns said, whether you’ve been along for the ride all season or not, it’s time to hop on.

 

 

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NC State Football

WATCH: PackInsider’s 2023 Sean Brown Highlight Reel

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This past season was a breakout season for Junior Safety, now turned Linebacker, Sean Brown.

This past season, Brown started in 11 of the 13 games that he played in, and ranked 3rd on the team in tackles (66) and pass breakups (5). He also had 5 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions and 1 forced fumble. Brown’s PFF Grade of 63.7 ranked 13th on the team. His Tackling Grade of 86.6 ranked 2nd on the team behind Payton Wilson.

As you will notice in our Highlight Reel ABOVE, Brown lived in the box, and is a very ferocious tackler. He will fit right in at Linebacker next year for the Wolfpack.

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