Dave Doeren’s Postgame Press Conference After UVA Win: BULLETED

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media for his postgame press conference after the Wolfpack defeated the Virginia Cavaliers 24-21 tonight. Here’s a bulleted breakdown of what he had to say.

• Very proud of Place Kicker Brayden Narveson for making that kick. Especially in the rain, after the first one was blocked, even though it was a penalty.
  • Really good return by Julian Gray to set that up.
• ACC wins are hard to come by. Winning on the road isn’t easy. You’ve got to give UVA credit.
• Their QB [Anthony Colandrea] is going to be a really good football player in this league.
• Their receivers, Malik Washington and Malachi Fields, are really good players.
• We’ve got to play better in certain areas, but we found a way to win a game on the road.
• I don’t think there’s a problem in pass protection, if that’s what you’re asking.
• We felt like with our kicker, we needed to get the ball to the 35-yard line on the final drive.
  • Because of the penalty and the return, we only needed 15 yards to do that. The first play got us in field goal range, so after that, we were going to be pretty smart with the ball.
  • Brayden made a 60-yarder going that direction in pregame, so we felt like we were in a pretty good spot right there.
• 3rd down defense for both teams was solid. They were only 5 of 14, and we were only 6 of 14.
  • Our short yardage defense was exceptional tonight.
  • Where we really struggled was on 3rd-and-long in the red zone, which is kind of weird, because that’s an area you expect on defense to be good for us.
• The run game has been inconsistent up to this point. We’ve got to narrow some things down. We’ve tried a lot of things, and I think it’s time to narrow down the play book a little bit, instead of doing so many things.
  • This offense has a lot of parts to it, and that are a lot of new pieces in it.
• KC Concepcion is really hard to cover man-to-man. Both of his touchdowns were in man-to-man coverage. He’s playing fast. He’s playing well. He’s hard to bring down after the catch as well. There’s a reason his numbers are what they are for a True Freshman. He’s very talented.
• I think Brennan Armstrong settled in. The first quarter, the wind was behind us. He had a lot of energy. He overthrew a few guys. As he settled in, he started playing better. The guys did a nice job catching the ball for him tonight.
• Caden Noonkester was tremendous tonight. His leg was a weapon.
  • Too many punts…8 punts…he’s punting too much.
  • To win on the road you have to win the turnover margin and in field position, and our punter was phenomenal.
• A bunch of guys had to play…there were injuries.
  • 2nd play of the game starting Strong Safety Devan Boykin goes down. All week in practice, Cecil Powell was our backup Strong Safety…Cecil went in the game and got hurt. Both Strong Safety’s were hurt in the first quarter.
  • Bishop Fitzgerald moves from Free Safety to Strong Safety, where he didn’t take a snap in practice all week.
  • Linebacker Devon Betty wasn’t at practice all week, because him and his fiancé had a baby…he missed all practices this week.
  • On offense, we lost a Running Back [Jordan Houston] on the 2nd to last day of the week. Then we get out there, and Kendrick Raphael gets hurt.
  • People want to b&%$# at play calling, and this-that-and-the-other, but there’s other stuff going on man. We found a way to win on the road in the rain, against an inspired football team, s$#@, be happy we won. It’s a good win. I’m excited to go home 3-1, and get ready to play Louisville.
• Linebacker Payton Wilson is awesome every night.
  • Is there a game he’s played in the past three years, where people weren’t saying ‘We love watching #11 play football.’
  • He plays to exhaustion. He’s the heartbeat of our football team. Can’t say enough about him.