Dave Doeren’s Post-Game Press Conference After Wake Forest: BULLETED

NC State Head Football Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the Wolfpack’s 30-21 victory over #21 Wake Forest tonight. You can watch his postgame press conference here, or check out a bulleted breakdown below.

• That was an awesome win. To start off gotta give God the glory. The way these kids fought, practiced, the way the defense kept us in the game, and the way MJ [Morris] got his jitters out and came flying in in the 2nd quarter. That was a team win.
• Our fans were fantastic tonight. The electricity that you brought, the cheering, and the noise made a difference tonight so thank you. That’s what we need every week and when you do that and bring encouragement and crowd noise you’re helping our team win. Continue to do that because this team just tied the school record for consecutive home wins and next week against Boston College we’ll have a chance to have the longest streak in school history. I want this team to have it and I want you to witness them doing it helping us along the way.

• Individually I thought the 3 interceptions on defense, the constant pressure we put on Hartman [WF QB] throughout the game along with key stops, especially on the goal line where they missed the field goal was crucial tonight.

• Caden Noonkester, walk-on punter came on for Shane [McDonough], who had a bruised thigh, and delivered.

  • It was his 1st college game punting and did a tremendous job.

• Chris Dunn [Place Kicker] was automatic again and gave us a 2-possession lead.

• Keyon Lesane had some great catches out there tonight. He’s playing with tremendous confidence right now. He had a great week of practice

• Devin Carter with a big-time contact catch.

• It was a team win and that’s what it takes to beat a good well-coached team which Wake Forest is. Really good win for our program.

• Obviously, we had high expectations, and when we lost Devin Leary and had to go to Syracuse, for those who were there you know where I’m coming from, we walked into a firestorm.

  • We hadn’t had a bye, we were beat up, and it was the loudest environment that we’ve played in this year with a new quarterback.

  • They were healthy. They played Wagner, had a bye week, and then played us so that was a very difficult setup going into that game.

  • There is a lot of football left in the season, these kids are gonna keep playing and we’re not gonna quit.

    • If people wanna quit watching us that’s up to them. These guys just keep playing, they got guts and heart. I’m proud to be their coach it’s fun to watch.

• You can’t ask for anything more from a True Freshman quarterback [MJ Morris].

  • I mean he just beat Sam Hartman whose a great player for Wake and has been playing for a long time.

  • For a True Freshman to be able to lead their team over their quarterback says something.

  • He’s done it in practice, the games, and he’s got the players playing hard for him. They believe in him and he’s taking care of the ball.

  • Minus the 1 delay of game penalty, he managed the clock and got in and out of some plays.

  • He’s way ahead of where we thought he would be at this point in his career so we’re really proud of him.

•  Michael Allen [True Freshman RB] has been impressive.

• Terrell [Timmons/True Freshman] didn’t have the catches, but he blew the top off the coverage twice which scared the corners and got a pass interference call out of one of them.

  • It helps when you can loosen people up that way.

  • 3 pretty good True Freshmen [MJ Morris, Michael Allen & Terrell Timmons] playing out there on offense, which is pretty exciting for the future.

• I’m happy for Darryl Jones. He had a chance last week to make a play in the end zone and he didn’t, so it’s good to see him get 2 catches in the end zone tonight.

• When the Carter is full and it’s rocking like it was tonight it’s hard.

  • We got really tight sidelines so the fans are right on top of the bench.

  • Our student section is right there yelling at them right in their year.

  • It’s a great environment when it’s full.

  • As far as the players I think they enjoy playing at home. It’s a great field.

  • It’s a big deal, I think we’re 5th or 6th in the country right now [home winning streak] and we’d like to keep it going for a long time.

•  It’s an incredible luxury to have Chris Dunn. Obviously, I lived on the other side of this thing.
  • I’m so happy for him, he’s been through a lot and to have the year that he’s having is why he came back for this extra season.
  • He’s the best kicker in college football right now. No one has somebody better right now than we do.
  • He’s really performing at a high level, short kicks, long kicks, flight time, the whole operation.
  • Super proud and happy for him right now.
• The [Defensive] front deserves credit for a couple of things.
  • One, for knocking them back and getting off blocks.
    • That was something we talked a lot about this week was shedding blocks.
  • Secondly, it was the tackling.
    • We tackled really well tonight in the box and their backs had nowhere to go.
    • When they had a little daylight guys closed those gaps up and got off blocks and finished tackles.
    • When they got down to the 1-yard line and we knocked them back on 3 consecutive plays and ended up missing the field goal, that was a huge moment in the game.
    • We showed a lot of resilience and toughness, which is what we’re made of.
    • It was great for them to do that defensively. It’s been an area of the field where we haven’t been as good [red zone defense].
      • We’ve done a lot of things well on that side of the ball this year, and that’s an area we wanted to improve and that happened tonight.