Dave Doeren’s Postgame Thoughts After NC State’s 24-14 Season Opening Win Over UCONN

NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the Wolfpack’s season opening 24-14 victory over UCONN tonight. Here’s what he had to say.

“I’m proud of our guys. Road win. Good football team we played. They’ve gotten a lot better. He’s done a nice job with his program. I thought our players adjusted well throughout the game. They did a great job in their opening drive and showed new things, and we didn’t adjust well in that first drive. Offense did a good job responding. I thought throughout the game, anytime momentum went the other way, we took it back.”

“Julian Gray had a couple of nice kickoff returns too.”

“I thought Brennan really showed his I.D. I’ve been waiting to see that [Brennan Armstrong run the ball]. We don’t hit the QB in practice. They blow the whistle, and he winks at me, like ‘Coach, you’ll see.” I did. I saw. That guys tough. He is a tough dude. Our guys will feed off of that. Excited for him and the way he played, and the way he led. He loves contact. He’s a Linebacker playing Quarterback. You love that about him.”

“You have two sixth year players making plays to win a game. Wilson and Brennan. That’s what a 6th year player should look like, right? They were the keys guys at the end of the game, and throughout the game.”

“It was good to see some of our young guys get in there. I thought KC [Kevin Concepcion] in his first game caught the ball well. Michael Allen ran the ball well. So that was good to see.”

“We got two nice sacks by two of our Defensive Ends.”

“There’s a ton we need to fix before we play Notre Dame, but it was a good win.”

“It was great to see him [Payton Wilson] make that play to finish the game. The guy is an incredible leader on the defense. He made a lot of plays. To have the season you want to have, your best players have to make plays at key moments.”

“Pretty clean game. Only one penalty in our opening game. That says a lot about the discipline of the team. The execution in a lot of ways was good.”

“So far everything I’ve heard about Rakeim Ashford is positive, but they are going to keep him overnight. Every test they’ve done so far has been ok.”

“Usually the better teams I’ve been on, the Seniors play like they are running out of time. They feel that sand running out. They play with a different sense of urgency.”

“Kevin Concepcion and Keyon Lesane are two guys that you’re not going to squeeze down, you’re going to have to tackle them. They’re stronger than people think. People might not give them credit because of their size, but they’re really hard to tackle. They can get to top speed in a hurry. They fight. They’re guys with grit. Julian Gray is that way too. They are stocky, strong and quick. If they get the ball in space, it’s going to be a challenge to get them down.”

“Being in a dog fight like this, I think is good. It pressed us. Our guys were challenged. That defensive front was a good front. Big and strong. Our O-Linemen got a lot out of that film tonight. As happy as they were about rushing for 200, they weren’t happy about a couple of 3rd and shorts that they didn’t get.”