Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media on Monday in his weekly press conference prior to NC State’s Thursday night matchup against Georgia Tech. You can watch the video here, or check out the bulleted breakdown below.

Opening Statement…

• I felt like our team did some really good things on Saturday. A lot of positives that come out of that.
  • Offensively and defensively, we played as good as we’ve played at the line of scrimmage.
  • Holding them to 77 yards rushing
  • 12 tackles in their backfield
  • Rushing the football efficiently and having some explosive runs.
  • I think Icky Ekwonu and Josh Fedd-Jackson both had seven knockdowns, so there’s some good things there in the front happening.
  • I thought we had better disruption.
• Obviously, there’s no feeling good about not winning a football game.
• Losing the turnover battle, obviously, in the 3rd quarter of that football game cost us the opportunity to win.
  • It’s something that we have to take more seriously, and it’s something that we have to get our freshmen to do better.
  • In my history in this game, it’s really hard to win when you’re minus three.
  • Obviously, where we are focused is taking care of that football and giving ourselves a chance to put points on the board by doing so, and giving our defense help with field position.
• I’m so impressed with our guys’ resolve and the way that they fight, and their attitude and will.
  • Continued improvement on a daily basis.
  • Opportunity to learn and let them grow.
  • No one here accepts or enjoys the process of growing through defeat, but everyone here fights and presses on.
  • That’s the biggest part of this program that I’ve enjoyed with these players.
• It’s already game week Wednesday, so no rest for the weary.
  • We woke up the day after the game and it was already Tuesday.
  • We’ve got to get up and get on a plane here Wednesday, and head down to Georgia and play Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech…

• We’re playing a football team that is obviously in the first year with a new staff.
• Playing a lot of young players, like we are.
• Offense…
  • Quarterback is a very good athlete.
  • Slot receiver is probably one of the  fastest players in the league.
  • Tailbacks run really hard. They are physical backs.
• Defense…
  • Geoff Collins obviously has a great history as a defensive coach.
  • They do a lot of things with their front to try and disrupt the run game.
  • Bring different pressures and play press coverage on the outside to deny your quick game.
  • Up front they have a lot of guys that they rotate.
  • Inside they’ve had some players make some plays.
  • Linebackers are tough kids.
  • Safeties are big, 6’2″ and 6’3″.
  • Done a good job of taking the ball away.
  • They are minus five in turnover margin, but they’ve forced a lot of turnovers on defense.

GT’s Kick & Return Game…

• Excellent punter.
  • He’s one of the better punters probably in the country.
  • He does a really nice job with his operation and his hang time.
• Their gunners do a really good job of getting down the field in coverage.
• Number 10, the slot, is one of their returners.
  • He’s fast.
  • We’ve got to do a really good job of our hang time, our ball placement and winning one-on-one, stacking our guys and not allowing them opportunities to get space for him.

Difficulty of short turnaround…

• It starts with your recovery.
  • Normally, today (Monday) would be an off day for our team.
  • We’re practicing tonight because of class conflicts.
  • You’re on the field an entire day ahead of where you would be.
• It’s probably harder on the staff as it is on anything.
• We won’t practice as hard or as much because we won’t have many days.
• When you’re dealing with injuries and health and also fatigue, going from a Saturday night game to a road game is really challenging for the staff and the players.

Freshmen handling short week…

• They’re resilient guys. The thing that has impressed me with them has been their resolve and their fight.
• I don’t think they’ll flinch one bit. It is what it is. These guys will go out there and battle.
• From all indications of their mood and their mindset yesterday when we met with them, they were great.

Short week help not dwell on loss…

• I told them after the game we don’t have time to think about that game.
• We had to come in, and there’s some plays from that game that we have to learn from, so we watched it quickly and put it to bed.
• We’re 72 hours away from competing, so you’ve got to flush it. You have to.

Turnover drought…

• I’ve never been through a stretch like this where we are not getting the ball back.
• Obviously, in that game we had 4 or 5 hit our hands, which makes it even harder because we were in position to make those plays.
• Obviously, I’d love to light every candle in the world and do every trick to gain some good luck moving forward here, but I don’t really have an answer for why they’re not coming our way.

Emeka Emezie’s Louisville performance…

• He was definitely an impact in that game.
• Great catch over the middle on 4th and 10.
• Great catch on the sideline in tight coverage.
• Good to see him have success again. I think that’s huge for his confidence as we finish the season.
• There’s a lot on him with C.J. Riley being out, with him being the oldest guy and the most experienced guy.
  • He takes that responsibility very seriously, so I was happy to see him gain that success to help him.

Young guys exceeding expectations…

• I said this to them the other day, ‘This is the season that is going to make us who we are going to be. Because we are going through these tough times…we’re going to be way better for it if you just persist.’
• I’ve seen the resolve…the improvement…mental toughness from those guys…some leadership.
• It makes you excited about what’s to come for them.

Urgency of winning 2 more football games to be bowled eligible…