Dave Doeren’s Press Conference After UVA: BULLETED

Dave Doeren met with the media in his postgame press conference after NC State’s 38-21 victory over UVA today. You can watch it here, or check out the BULLETED breakdown below.

• Very proud of our guys and our staff.
  • To play on the road again for the 3rd straight week and play the ACC Coastal defending champs the way we did.
• The defense was really stellar today.
  • 4 takeaways
  • Defensive touchdown
  • Blocked a punt.
• Offensively, we just kind of hung in there.
  • In the 1st half we did some good things, got us off to a lead.
  • Played against a very good defense.
• It was good to see Bam Knight run the way he did.
  • A 100-yard game for Bam.
• Emeka Emezie made a couple clutch catches.
• Devin Leary’s stats aren’t great, but I thought he did some good things taking care of the football.
• Did not turn the football over on the road.
  • When you are +4 in turnover margin and you block a punt, you ought to win every game.
• I hope that their quarterback is ok.
  • It looked like he got done pretty good.
  • Lindell Stone came in and played a gutsy game for them.
• It’s a good football game.
  • A physical game.
• I look forward to coming back to Raleigh and having some games back in our hometown.

Freshman Joshua Pierre-Louis’s game (INT) after ejection for targeting last week…

• Josh is a good player.
• Really it was just a teachable moment for him on the strike zone where you can’t hit the quarterback.
  • QB is so protected now that you have to understand the rules and play within them.
  • You learn from it.
  • We showed it to the entire roster so that everybody could learn from it.
• I’m proud of him.

Dropped Interceptions…

• We dropped 3 interceptions.
• Could have had a bunch more.
• Jakeen Harris, we’ve got to get him on the JUGS machine or get his eyes checked.
  • He’s going to be mad watching the film.
• But it was fun to see the guys out there flying around and making plays.
• Josh Pierre-Louis is just one of them.

Defense growing up…

• Yeah, I think you are.
• Coach Gibson and the defensive staff are dealing with a lot of young guys.
• We are going to be a defense that grows and improves as the season goes on.
• They do have a lot of confidence.
  • That comes from the way they are being coached, and the kids are buying into the system.
• They’re playing fast. It’s fun.

Turnover Dog Bone…

• We brought out the dog bone today, and we got 4 takeaways.
  • The guys were signing it on the sideline.
  • That gave them a little bit of motivation over there.
• They did a really nice job creating that.
  • We had some artistic work done to it.
• The guys were fired up about it.
  • These millennials love stuff like that.
• Whatever it takes to get turnovers, we are willing to do it.
• There’s definitely some blood in the water.
• It was the first time out today.
  • It had four signatures on it.
• It’s a competitive thing, and Coach Gibson and his staff did a nice job with that.
• It was a great game, other than how many times the officials felt like they had to throw flags.
• It was just one of those creative moments we had as a staff.
  • Sometimes you sit in there and just try to find inventive ways to motivate these young men.
  • I don’t know whose brilliant idea it was, but we’re not just meathead football coaches.
  • There’s some creativity in there.
    

Alim McNeil’s Pick-6…

• That was a great play by him, and we needed a play.
• We had just blocked a punt the previous series and didn’t score any points.
• Our punter did a nice job of pinning them back there.
  • It was a hell of a play by Alim.
• It was awesome to see him get a touchdown.
  • It’s a lineman’s dream for sure.

Youth in the Secondary…

• They’ve got their hands full back there coaching these guys with all the freshmen.
  • Devan Boykin had to play the whole second half with Tanner Ingle being ejected.
  • Aydan White got some snaps at corner, another true freshman.
• We had to play a lot of guys in that game.
• It’s going to be a really good group.
• Each week they just have to keep getting better because, as you know, there’s really good receivers in this league, and they’re going to be tested each week.

Forcing Turnovers…

• We emphasize it every week.
• Their quarterback in the 1st half really struggled with the coverages we were running.
  • I mean, he was just throwing it to us.
  • That was more of them doing a poor job and us taking advantage of it.
• Josh Pierre-Louis’ play was an exceptional play.
  • That was a really good catch by him.
• When you play fast you make more of those plays.
• Like I said, the motivation of the bone on the sideline, maybe that was part of it.
• That’s how you win on the road.
  • If you can go on the road and win the turnover margin, you’re going to win a lot of games.

Importance of winning on the road…

• Anytime you can win on the road it’s a big confidence builder for the team.
• We finish the season with 4 of 5 at home.
  • It’s going to be nice to have that stretch when we get into that phase of the season.
• Like I said, looking at our schedule when it came out, if you would have told me that we would be 3-1 going into the stretch that we’ve got coming up, I’d be really happy with that.
  • Not that I don’t want to be 4-0, but I’m very pleased with where we are sitting right now, and I look forward to the next opportunity.