WATCH: Dave Doeren’s Postgame Press Conference After NC State’s Win Over WCU

NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media for his postgame press conference after the Wolfpack’s 38-21 win over Western Carolina in the season opener this evening. You can watch the video ABOVE, or read the transcript BELOW.

Great to be 1-0, and really proud of how we finished.

Obviously, we would love to have played better in the first half, but I’m not going to apologize for winning either. I think Western Carolina played a hard-fought game. You know, I thought defensively, we didn’t tackle well in the first half, gave up some third downs that we usually don’t.

Offensively, didn’t convert on some drives. Went for it on fourth down twice and didn’t get it, and so there was some frustration there. We came in 14-14, and really love how we responded.

You know, I thought in the third quarter, even though there weren’t a lot of points, we had the ball for eight minutes on the opening drive, got a field goal, took a lead, and then came alive, you know, in the fourth quarter, and I was proud of our guys for that.

I thought KC really had a great game offensively and sparked us. I was proud of Jordan Waters responding, because I don’t think he played well in the first half, and really responded, and that was great to see, and that’s what you look for.

Some veteran players, Davin Vann, made a big play, and you lean on guys when you need them.

It was good to see Grayson (McCall) in there, and I know he’s going to talk to you guys in a minute, and finally got to get tackled the first time in a year, so that probably felt good for him, but, you know, winning’s hard, and being 1-0 is great. Having a couple days to recover and to get ready to go play in Charlotte against Tennessee. 

Well, it helped, you know, with the ball for 38 minutes, a time of possession, I think, and so, you know, time of possession helps, you know, their rotation on defense, probably being an FCS program, probably wore them down, I would think, going into the fourth quarter. I also think our guys woke up a little bit and just started playing better.

That’s why you play games, man. You got to go out there and learn where you’re at, and there was some nerves, a lot of new players in the program, probably, and a lot to learn from, but we stressed the fourth quarter. I mean, that’s something that every day in practice you talk about being finishers, and I thought that was something I was very proud of tonight.

There were some balls that, you know, if he (McCall) would have put a little bit to the right or a little bit to the left, they would have been completions, and some of them potentially big gains, but he played a good football game, kept drives alive, used his feet, you know, protected the football, had the one pick early, and after that, I thought he settled in and played a good football game, but I know he’s going to watch it, and his accuracy is one of his strengths, and so that’ll be something that he’ll continue to improve.

Yeah, I mean, some of it’s progressions. We wanted to get him (Kevin Concepcion) the football. Obviously, on the plays, we flipped it to him and things like that, but some of them are progression reads, and, you know, they were trying to cover him with a guy one-on-one at times, and we’re going to win that matchup. You know, I think when we have one-on-ones in the slot, you’re going to see him catch a lot of passes, and there was a couple times they did, you know, play over-under on him and double him, and you saw the ball go to other people. Justin Joly had some big catches for us in the game as well, and we did get to spread the ball around a little bit.

It was good to see Terrell Anderson have a catch. Noah Rodgers had a couple catches. Wesley Grimes had a catch.

You know, so we were able to get the ball in several people’s hands. 

I think the biggest thing is when you get to the sideline, you know exactly what happened. There is no question-and-answer portion of the show is over.

You know, you just hit the button (having tablets on the sidelines). You get to see that this guy didn’t get it done or their guy beat us or we did a really good job doing this, and here’s how they’re playing us in coverage. I thought the iPads were really advantageous, and it’s the same for both teams, obviously.

You know, you should probably ask the players about the headset, how that impacted them. I did hear the coaches talking to them throughout the game, and there’s nice things that you can do when you’re, you know, giving your quarterback, your linebacker some tips based on down and distance and some things that might happen, but I thought it went smooth.

You never know going into a game. I mean, you have your game plan, but you know that when you get in it, there’s going to be things that happen, and you just got to see, and I wanted to see a lot. I wanted to see a lot of these players, how they’d respond to a game that hadn’t had 42 of these guys in a game before, and so seeing how, you know, being down in a game, you know, being up in a game, whatever it might be, how they’re going to respond, and so, like I said, I thought we learned a lot as the game went on and guys grew.

Caden’s (Fordham) one of our better players. You know, not having him hurts the defense. There’s no doubt about it, and you’ll get to see him, obviously, as the season goes on. He’s a physical presence in the run game. He’s a guy that plays really, really hard. He’s tough. He’s got good leadership skills. So not having him in the middle hurt (after being ejected for targeting). There’s no question about it.

As far as Ja’Had (Carter) goes, we felt like Ja’Had could go in this game, but we also know that we’ve got a stretch coming up here, and he wasn’t 100%, and so our plan is to have him ready. I think he could have played tonight, but I think having him 100% for these next couple games is more important. So you’ll see him against Tennessee in games to come.