Dave Doeren’s Press Conference Before Louisville: BULLETED

NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media today for his weekly press conference before the Wolfpack’s game against Louisville on Saturday. You can watch it here, or check out a bulleted breakdown below.

• I’d like to start off just thanking our fans and students for the atmosphere and the crowd that we had in the game Saturday night, particularly in the first half.
  • I know right now that it’s tough as a fan base as we are suffering through some difficult things, but I also know that we’ve built a heck of a program here and these kids are working really hard, and the staff is working really hard.
• Being young and facing the injuries has created a reality of adversity that we’re in.
• I really believe that adversity shows you your true self.
  • I think for us, it’s an opportunity to be the best leaders that we can be.
  • I was raised by a great family and had a terrific grandfather who used to say ‘tough times never last, but tough people do.’
  • I look forward to continuing to persist and fight and help these guys get better.
• Excited to get back on the grass with these guys.
  • They were really good in our meetings yesterday.
• It really comes down to us not beating us.
  • As good as Clemson is, we obviously gave them a lot of opportunities with the turnovers we had in the first half.
  • It’s about ending every drive with the football, and handing the ball to the referee at the end of every play.
  • If we end each drive with a kick, whether it be a punt, a field goal or an extra point, that’s got to be what we do to win football games.
• Defensively, we’ve got to get much better in our tackling fundamentals.
  • Last two weeks that has not been where we need it to be.
  • Need consistency in technique, which allows you to be consistent in your fundamental execution of your plays.
• For us, it’s just about helping who’s in the lineup to execute as good as they can, and giving those opportunities to them.
• We’ve got to practice really, really fast.
• The hard thing for us right now is our scout team.
  • When you’re taking guys from the scout team to play on the upper fields, your scout team doesn’t give you the best look all the time.

Louisville…

• I have a lot of respect for Scott Satterfield.
  • He’s doing a great job.
• Good team speed.
• He inherited a team that had some really good skill players, and those guys make plays for them.
• Three receivers averaging over 17 yards per catch.
  • I think Seth Dawkins, Chatarius Atwell and Dez Fitzpatrick are all very good players.
  • They do a good job with them on their play action schemes and their jet schemes, getting the ball to them where they can make plays.
• On defense, they’ve struggled in some games and in other games they’ve been very productive.
  • They are a disruption-based defense.
  • They bring a lot of pressure.
  • They give you a lot of looks, a lot of different coverage.
• Young tailback that’s very dynamic.
• Play hard on both lines of scrimmage.
• Had some turnover issues early in their season, but have gotten that together.
• They’ve been relatively healthy as a football team.
• Quarterback is playing really well.
  • 62 percent.
  • Very good athlete.
  • Only three interceptions and 10 touchdowns.

What’s Gone Well…

• We’re punting and kicking the ball well.
• We’re covering kicks better than we have.
• Coach Goebbel has done a really good job with our coverage units.

Linebacker health…

• Isaiah Moore will be back this week.
• Drake Thomas is fine.
• C.J. Hart is fine.
• It sounds like Payton Wilson is going to be good.
• Still waiting to find out on Louis Acceus.
  • Haven’t heard yet on his status.

Most injuries have been in games…

• Tyrone Riley’s wasn’t. He got his foot stepped on in a drill.
• Two or three practice injuries, but about 90 percent of them have been on game day which is really weird.
• A lot of times, because they’re playing so fast, you don’t have that.
• Most of the injuries that I’ve dealt with over the last 6 years have been training camp, where you’re having back to back-to-back-to-back kind of work.
  • They just don’t have the recovery aspect like they normally do during the season.

Louisville’s run game…

• The stretch, or wide zone, is the staple.
• They’re doing a lot more of a quarterback run game, because their QB is a good athlete.
  • He’s their third-leading rusher.
• About 75 percent of that run game is stretch.

Picking up blitzes vs. Clemson…

• It could be better. There were times where we won, and there were times where we didn’t win.
• When you get into a game like that where you’re down as fast as we were, they’re just going to tee off at that point and put you in some tough situations protection wise.
• There were a lot of different things being thrown at two true freshman.
  • I thought Dylan McMahon and Icky Ekwonu played really well as freshmen in that game.

Xavier Lyas Transferring…

• He came in and saw me on Sunday.
• I wish him luck.
• I’d rather talk about the guys that are here.
• Somebody put a great screenshot out today though that their girlfriend was in the portal. I thought that was pretty funny.
• It’s life. Some of these kids don’t play as much as they want, and that’s how it goes.
• As far as our depth, we’ll be fine. We’ve got enough defensive ends. We’ll be good.

3 players hurt on 1 play against Clemson…

• I just looked up to the sky and said ‘come on’ on that one.

Him remaining positive…

• I believe in karma.
• I think that if I bring negativity into that building, then that building has a negative feel.
• My job is to create an environment where people want to be great. I’ve got to be positive to make that happen.
• I’ve also got to be truthful.
  • I’ve got to tell them the facts, but I think that if you’re a positive person, you have a positive outlook and you try to find solutions instead of problems, then better things happen.
• That’s the approach that I’m taking with our guys.
• There’s a lot of days where I’m picking people up, because not everybody sees things like that.

On playing on Thursday after Saturday night primetime…