Dave Doeren’s Press Conference Before Ball State

Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media today in his weekly press conference before NC State’s matchup against Ball State on Saturday at 7pm. You can watch it here, or check out the bulleted breakdown below.

• Obviously disappointed. Not discouraged. Bunch of very upset and mad guys. Very mad and upset coaches. Lot of stuff to fix.
• Anytime you lose you have to grow and learn from it.
• Offensively, it was too different halves. 1st…moved the ball well. The first half, I thought we moved the ball well…21 points. 2nd half…6 points…no rhythm.
• Ran ball efficiently.
• Too many negative plays.
  • 10 plays in our backfield.
  • 7 tackles for loss.
• Details
  • Route depth and location.
  • Off an inch.
  • Not quick enough to tuck
  • Not accurate with throws.
• Red Zone Offense has been really good.
• Like the way some guys competed.
• Very good yesterday in meetings.
• Defensively, we played slow.
  • Didn’t tackle as well as we have.
  • Didn’t contest enough balls, which is something we’ve been doing well.
  • Gave up some stuff that we haven’t been.
  • Weren’t disruptive
  • Not good enough technique.
  • They played fast and their tempo was good. We didn’t adjust to that very well throughout the game.
• On special teams, the blocked punt was a critical mental error. Should never happen.
• With all that being said, there was 11 minutes remaining in the game and down by four.
  • We got a stop on defense and had an unfortunate penalty that created that drive to extend.
  • That was a critical point in the game. As bad as we were playing, we had a chance to win and do the right things. We have to play the ball better when the ball is in the air or flags will be thrown when you don’t.
• Come home this week and play a sold out…black out…night game.
• Excited about the opportunity this week we have in the community and really nation wide with ‘Set The Expectations.’
  • Brenda Tracey, who is very well known and came here in the spring, and met with our football team and met with all the student athletes.
  • James Smith-Williams and another member of our men’s soccer team joined up and did something with our baseball program in the spring. They have now set up to do the same thing with our football team.
  • They will wear a shirt that advocates her cause. I’m very excited and proud of our guys for wanting to be part of a solution to such a big thing nationally, something we can do to help Brenda and her cause and help our world.
• Ball State has a really good offense.
• Obviously, I know a lot about the MAC Conference and the skill level.
• Quarterback is playing at a high level.
  • 70 percent completion rate
  • Over 1,000 yards in three games
  • 11 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.
• Balanced offense like us. Almost 50-50. A lot of play-action down the field.
• Tailback is a tough kid who runs downhill.
• Four returning starters up front…play fast.
• Over 80 plays a game offensively.
  • Tempo is going to be something we have to be prepared to play against.
• Over 30 points a game (37 points).
• Good football game at home. Good opponent.
• Defensively sound.
  • Athletic
  • All 4 starters in their secondary are back.
  • Free safety that is 6’4″/220. Makes a lot of plays. Leading tackler in the box. Does a lot of things in the boundary.
  • Will linebacker (No. 6 – Thomas) is very athletic.
  • Boundary End does a really nice job on the edge.
• Coach has been there a few years.
  • Has played a lot of young guys who are now in their 3rd year.

Matt McKay…

• Certain things he is doing well.
• Shouldn’t have called RPO’s on 3rd and 1. That’s on us.
  • Shouldn’t even have him thinking of throwing the ball there.
• Couple of 3rd downs where he threw a good ball and the ball was dropped.
• There is a lot that goes into him playing better and he needs to play better.
• Mad at himself at some of the things that he could do better.
• What is he doing well?
  • Not turning the football over.
  • Getting guys lined up.
  • Managing the clock well.
• 3rd college game…1st road game in a loud environment.
  • Did he play great? No, he didn’t.
  • Can he play better? Yes, he can.
• We have to grow.
  • We’ll have to evolve on offense. We have
  • A lot of new parts with C.J. Riley being out.
• The other 2 QB’s are practicing well. Have to continue to get them better.
  • Everybody in the program that is in the two or three-deep has to get ready to play.

Position Competitions…

• Makes people have to practice well because they know that the guy behind them is trying to take their job.
• It allows you to rotate in games when you are having a lot of reps.
  • That depth is only good if it’s competitive. Want those guys to be able to compete in practice and award them with playing time if they earned it.
  • Something this year we’ve been able to do a lot more than others.

Smith-Williams & Boletepeli…

• Anticipating them being able to play.

WR flexibility and rotation…

• Tabari Hines’ has been outside at times. He was outside at the game Saturday.
• Keyon Lesane was banged up. Now we feel like is getting healthier. Adds another piece.
• Devin Carter and Emeka Emezie probably played too much. We’ve usually had a little bit more of a rotation in the game.

Kishawn Miller listed as starting CB…

• He’s one of the hardest workers in our program…not just at corner.
• Consistent. Competes. Knowledgable.
• Hard-working performance every snap.
• Great confidence
• Communicates well.
• Been through a lot. Proud of what he’s done as far as his work ethic.
• There are things he’s got to improve on obviously, but he went into the game and competed.

Disappointing Penalties…

• Jarius Morehead’s hit out of bounds.
  • He can’t do that.
  • No way he can do that as a Senior.
• Calvin Hart jumping on a guy on the ground. Can’t do that.

Fan’s and Media’s overreactions…

• Boo Corrigan’s helped me with this, to his credit.
  • He has been very, very helpful to me.
  • All starts with him, then me, then me to my staff, my staff to my players and our strength staff.
• 7 days ago everyone was loving everybody…now today everybody isn’t.
  • That’s just sports. As the leader of this program I can’t act like that. We just got to get better.
  • We got hit in the mouth, so we got to get better and hit somebody else in the mouth. That’s football. That’s what happens when you don’t play well. We didn’t.
• You’re 1 day away from somebody loving you or hating you in this business, that’s just how it is. You sign up for that when you decide to be a college coach.

Level of Competition…

• It’s a factor. West Virginia’s the fastest team we’ve seen in a long time…since the bowl game. Good team speed. Can’t stimulate those things every day.
• But that’s not why we lost the football game. It’s not. We just didn’t execute.