Dave Doeren Talks with the Media After ECU

NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren spoke with the media after the Wolfpack’s 21-20 victory over ECU in their season opener. He spoke with the media afterwards.

• Give ECU a lot of credit. Down 21-7, and they fought. Had 2 goal-line stands. Fumbled one, and stopped the other, which was the most disappointing part of the day. 2 goal-line opportunities where we didn’t come up with points.
• A lot to look at and a lot to improve. We’ll get a lot better, but one thing I can’t do is change our record tomorrow. We’re 1-0. As ugly as it is, it doesn’t count any different than if we won by 100. I’m excited.
• Last time I was here, we lost. Was good go get a W down here.

NC State called timeout before the final ECU field goal attempt because…

• We had some injuries. Didn’t have enough people. Had 2 guys down on the play, and wanted 11 on the field obviously.

The Wolfpack players looked down after the game…

• There’s a lot of guys that expected to play better than they played today.
• That film’s going to be embarrassing for some of them, not because I’m going to embarrass them.
• Missed a ton of tackles.

In regards to the injury to Redshirt Junior Linebacker Payton Wilson…

• No update. Once we know, we’ll let you know.

On the breakout performance of Redshirt Freshman Running Back Demie Sumo who had 79 yards rushing and a touchdown…

• Very impressed with him. He’s probably the bright spot of the day besides our special teams. Hard to tackle, runs through contact, tough, took care of the ball. Huge bright spot.

While the offense struggled, the defense held tight…

• Coach Gibson and his staff deserve credit.
• Held a team to 20 points, and it’s a team that scores a lot on offense. Have a lot of skill.
• They did a good job in the transfer portal getting some good players in there.
• If you ask Tony, he’d tell you they didn’t play good. There was a lot of missed tackles.

Doeren’s thought process prior to ECU’s final field goal attempt…

• He had just missed an extra point. Thought he was probably in his head a little bit.
• We had 2 guys jumping. Thought we might get a low kick because he had to drive it. He didn’t. He just missed it.
• Hoping he wouldn’t recover from the missed extra point. Hard as a kicker. Big moment for him, and obviously you know I’ve been on the other side of that a couple of times. Tough on those kids. Lot of pressure.

Doeren’s got to get the offense to rebound…

• You coach them. Go in there and talk about the things they did wrong. Own the things that we, as a staff, need to do better for them. Players have to fix it with their coaches and then execute it better. It’s a collective. It’s not just the coach or the player.
• It’s always a 2-sided thing when you’re trying to get better. Beauty of this game. 11 more regular season games. You heard me say this earlier…have to be a team that improves. Look forward to being 1-0, and we get to try and do that.

The Special Teams play was superb…

• Happy with it. It was Collin Smith and Shane McDonough’s 1st game with us.
• Sean Brown had a huge tackle.
• Jasiah Provillon blocked a punt that Sean Brown recovered for a touchdown. Huge plays in the game, and I’m proud of those guys.
• Thayer Thomas had a huge punt return, too.