NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media yesterday for his weekly press conference leading up to the Wolfpack’s matchup at Clemson this weekend. The videos are below, with the transcript underneath.
Well, I’d like to start thanking our fans, the parents, the students, recruits that were at the game and a great home game atmosphere. And I really appreciate the folks that were there the whole game and your commitment. It was a great comeback win and guys rallied as a football team and that was what we needed in that moment and comebacks are all about responding and showcasing grit and resiliency, which has been a calling card of our program.
One that we didn’t show the week prior and so something that was talked about a lot coming out of the last loss and I was proud of the way the guys came together as a staff, as a team, and there was some key leadership, which we’ll talk about at some point, I’m sure. But the way that we came back and played as a unit, offense, defense, special teams, sideline energy, down two scores, missing some key players. It said a lot about the fight in our football team.
And Law Tech, you know, did a great job in the first half and obviously we hurt ourselves in some areas. I thought we started fast, you know, three straight completions, one’s an explosive, and then we have a penalty which brings back, you know, a 20-yard gain, goes from 1st and 10 to 1st and 25, which is a drive killer and things that we have to fix. Playing good in the first quarter on offense was not a strength of ours going into that game.
We started fast and then we really self-implode when you have a penalty, particularly one that didn’t need to happen, and so an area we need to improve. I thought we played complementary football in the second half and our will to win in that locker room and on that football field was palpable. I was very proud of our team in the locker room.
It was captains first, you know. Sean Brown did a great job talking to the group right away when they got in there. Davin Vann, you know, offensively, guys speaking up and you could just feel their willingness to be different than they were the week prior.
And we played complementary football and that’s something we have to do for four quarters or longer, however long it takes. And your captains have to be captains in those moments and you see like the first drive of the second half. We go three and out.
Davin Vann comes free on a pass rush, hits the quarterback. Second straight week he’s had an interception created through his quarterback pressure, that second week in a row, it was a pick six as well. Great play by Donovan Kaufman and then the next drive the defense is right back out there three and out.
Offense goes on a 13-play drive, converts on third and short, consecutive two straight times in that drive, which is an area we wanted to be better in and were, and scores the touchdown and takes the two-score game and flips it the other way. We scored on every possession in the second half. Offensively, we possessed the ball, played way more physical at every position group on that side of the football.
I was really proud of a lot of things over there in the perimeter, especially defensively held them to three points in the second half and had a really good goal line stand. I thought that was a key, something we needed to do on defense and Caden Fordham, you know, made a play down there and got him off the goal line and C.J. Bailey came in, played fast, you know, obviously had the one interception, but besides that I thought he made really good decisions. He threw the ball well.
He gave his guys opportunities. He used his legs when he needed to to get us some first downs and you know, to have a comeback victory with a freshman quarterback and both back up corners in the game, I thought was impressive as a football team. And it wasn’t just the three guys that came in.
Obviously, they had a lot to do with it. The next man up always does. But sometimes when injuries take place, the guys around them will start trying to do too much, and I felt like it was the opposite.
They trusted them. They did their jobs. They played really hard and their will to win was there.
And I was really upset, you know, coming out of our last loss. Obviously, when you lose like that, there’s a lot of things to be mad about, but to me it was more about how we played, the lack of physicality that we played with, and it was the opposite. And it was demanded and the guys understood it and they did a great job being resilient and playing to the standard of competitive football, which is physical football at NC State.
And when you watch our film, that’s the first thing you should see if you’re an opponent, is that we’re going to play hard. We’re going to play really hard, and that’s something we’ve always done. And I felt like we did that in that football game, and you can see it in the statistics, you know.
I mean, we talk about winning the line of scrimmage. They rushed the ball for less than two yards of carry. We rushed it for over four yards of carry, and those kind of things show up.
And I stood on that line of scrimmage a lot in that football game to see which way it was going. And the knockback and the strain, the continuing to move my man a direction he doesn’t want to go, and at the end of the day that’s what football is, you know. It’s two people across from each other trying to impose their will.
It’s a physical sport, and it’s got to be played that way. I thought on offense our perimeter blocking was exceptional, and it’s not something that gets talked about a lot, but it was, I thought Daari Collins and Keenan Jackson put on a display of perimeter blocking in that game. Noah (Rogers), KC (Concepcion), Wesley (Grimes), Terrell (Anderson), they all did a great job going in there and doing some things that you’re not recruited to do as a receiver.
And that’s part of running the football. And we improved, and we’ve got to improve more, but we did get better. We caught the football well.
We made some good contact catches in the game. We got some good yards after the catch. Justin Joly had a really nice catch on a second and long to get us into a third and short, and then he had a nice catch that turned into some yards after the play with some good running.
I thought all three backs came in and ran hard, protected the football. They blocked well and pass protected. And I loved the the final drive of the game.
You know, we get the ball back with over four minutes, and don’t give them the ball, and so good complimentary football.
You know, negatives on offense, the four penalties, one of them’s on our staff. We didn’t substitute at the right time and got a penalty there.
But, you know, we had the one personal foul and then the two holding penalties, and those kind of penalties kill drives. And so you’ve got to overcome a lot, and those are things we’ve got to be better at. We only had four penalties in the game.
So, you know, from that standpoint, it was a pretty clean football game. But the ones we had were drive killers.
With Grayson, you know, he got dinged up, and I’m not going to get into the injury. It’s good news on him. It’s a day-to-day thing. We’re going to take our time, and when he’s ready, he’ll be ready.
You know, CJ’s ready to play, and he’s our quarterback until that happens. And we’re behind him, you know. And the thing I would ask, you know, it’s not about the quarterback.
It’s about cheering for the guy that’s in the game. And when the guy’s out of the game, or if a guy’s injured on our football team, praying for that guy to get healthy. I think, you know, as fans, sometimes fans don’t understand.
You know, that’s a player that, and that kid loves our football team. And he loves playing this sport. And when you’re a sixth-year player, man, it’s hard when you can’t be out there.
And the way he came back and cheered on CJ shows a lot about his character. He’s a great teammate. He’s one of us.
And, you know, as a football program, anytime somebody goes down, especially a guy that’s in his last year, it’s not a season-ending thing, but it’s a day-to-day thing. We’re going to take our time with it. CJ’s going to run the show until Grayson’s healthy.
And I’m excited to see what CJ can do, you know. And whoever that quarterback is, wearing the red and white, the fans need to have his back. They need to be supportive.
They need to pray for those kind of things when they happen. And that’s what family does, you know. I was really proud of the way that the team rallied around CJ.
But, you know, at halftime, when he knew it was his time to play, he had a big smile on his face. He was ready for the moment, and now he gets to go do it on the road against a really good football team in a tough environment.
Defensively, two takeaways, a fourth-down stop, a really good fourth-down stop on a play-action pass out of an exotic formation, showed really good discipline.
The goal-line stand I talked about, you know, we stopped the run. I thought we tackled better for the most part. There was one play that was, I would call, disgusting on our part, where we missed four tackles.
I thought the pick-six by DK was a great football play. Davin straining, balls up, and then, you know, does a good job himself finding a lane and then taking care of the football. The guys played with a lot of strain on defense.
They made plays on some one-on-one balls. You know, we lost one down the sideline where Corey fell down. But for the most part, we were in the right place.
We played with poise. We didn’t have pass-interference calls. I thought our gap integrity was better and our eye discipline was way better.
Negatives, the one explosive pass I talked about should have been tackled. And third-down defense got better but can continue to get better. That’s an area that, again, I’ve talked about a lot.
But it did improve. You know, Aydan will be back this week. Cisse looks like he’ll be fine.
And so we should be back to full strength on that side of the football.
You know, special teams, I’m proud of Kanoah (Vinesett). Again, he’s just very steady.
And, you know, two 30-plus yarders and a 52-yarder, points matter. Colin Smith’s done a great job, again, with our kickoffs, not just with his depth and touchbacks, but location. He’s done a nice job.
I thought our coverage units were better. We played with much more speed and urgency getting down the field. The return game’s really been a non-factor.
Unfortunately, just a lot of touchback kicks against us. But Jalen Coit did a really nice job as a punt returner, making some smart decisions when he was in there.
And so now we get ready for Clemson at their place, a great place to play football.
Have great respect for their coaching staff and their players. It’s a trophy game. It’s the only trophy game we have.
And it means a lot to the universities playing in it, all the way back to the Textile Bowl. It’s going to be a great matchup and a very talented team that we’re playing. And for us, we’ve just got to focus on getting better and playing four quarters or overtime if it takes overtime.
And just being as clean as we can, playing as hard as we can, straining as hard as we can, and just being a little better version of ourselves each week. This is a team that will get better. NC State football teams, over the years, we pride ourselves on improving as the year goes on.
And so that takes an internal focus. It takes guys that are willing to admit the things that they’ve got to do better, coaches fixing things schematically, and then evolving over the course of the season. And we’ve got to play a full game.
We’ve had spurts in games where we looked really good, and spurts where we looked really bad. And so that’s the evolution of this football team, is learning the new parts, the new parts learning how to play together better, and how we play NC State football hard, tough together. It’s going to be a loud environment.
They’re coming off a game where they looked unstoppable, and they scored 50-plus points in the first half against a good Appalachian State football team. And they were explosive in that game offensively. They played some young receivers that really took the top off of coverages.
I thought (Cade) Klubnick threw the ball extremely well in that football game. He was very accurate, showed touch, he showed range. We all know he can run, and can run and throw.
They’re tight end, Number nine, (Jake) Brinningstool, is a weapon, and he’s a good player. He made plays on us a year ago.
The tailback, (Phil) Moffa, he’s a load, he’s tough. Big kid, you’ve got to wrap him up. There’s a lot of blocking schemes.
I think Matt Luke’s a really good offensive line coach, and new addition to their staff. And they’ve got a good system, you know. And I think, obviously, like every team, you’re seeing them grow and unique to be in our fourth game.
And to say that we’re playing our second straight opponent with a bye week’s kind of weird, you know, to have teams with byes this early in the season, back to back. And so there’ll be some adjusting, I’m sure, for us, with them having an extra week to play us. But this game’s going to be about, you know, matching up, making plays, being physical.
And not letting the noise of the environment dictate things. You can go down there and get a bunch of penalties. You’ve got to really stay locked in and focused on what you’re doing.
And I’m excited about the opportunity to go get better with this team. You know, this team really cares about improving. You know, we put a lot on them last week.
There was a lot to improve and no different. You know, we’ve shown what we can do and we’ve showed what we can’t. And I think that’s the thing as players.
You have to have ownership and where your improvement is needed. And we have a lot to work on. And that’s what I like about this team.
This team likes to work. They really do. They’re a fun group to coach.
So now we get a chance to go do that again and put it to the test in arguably one of the harder places to play in the ACC. Against a really good football coach in Dabo (Swinney). And I have a lot of respect, you know, for him and his staff and what they stand for.
So, looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge.
To clarify, CJ Bailey’s the starter
Yeah, CJ will start the game. And it’s his team.
And like I said, we’ll take it one day at a time with Grayson. And when he’s ready to play, he’ll be back. And, you know, it’s all hands on deck.
Preparing CJ for the environment at Clemson and their defensive front
Yeah, they’ve got a great defensive line.
And they do a lot of blitzing, you know. I mean, they’re bringing stuff from all over the place. So, we’ve got to give them all the looks.
We’ve got to show him all the things, not just him, the O-line and the protections with the backs. Obviously, crowd noise is going to be a part of what we’re doing every day and making sure our cadence functions in the noise that we’re going to be dealing with. You know, and then just schematically doing the things that he’s best at, giving him the best pictures that he can have and then letting him play ball.
You know, that’s the one thing about him. He’s a football player, and that kid understands the game. He’s a winner, and he’s excited, you know.
I mean, that’s a kid that’s excited to play the game, and I’m excited for him. And so, you know, as a team, you just go out there and you do everything you can staff-wise to set him up for success, and you know what the challenges are, and you try to give him every look possible so that he can be successful and play fast on Saturday.
It’s what he’s done in practice, and so it’s great to know that the stuff that he’s doing in practice carries into games, because obviously you’re not getting hit in practice as a quarterback. You know, he’s a tough kid. He’s competitive.
Obviously, his height gives him an advantage to see some things, too, but he’s been like that since he got here, and it’s just reps and reps and reps and reps and how much you want to put on him. But he’s a fast learner. He loves the game, and he took what he’s done in practices and scrimmages to a live environment, and I mentioned this after the game.
I do think it was great that he got to play in the Tennessee game, you know, that he got to go up against that kind of talent and speed and see it firsthand. I mean, that’s the best preparation you can give a guy is the reps in a game.
Caden Fordham
Yeah, I think you saw how much we missed him in game one, right, when he was out, and he had his best game. He played physical.
He tackled well. He was all over the field pursuit-wise. He got his hands on some balls, you know, pass breakups, and the MIKE position in that defense is going to be around the ball a lot, and he’s a disruptive guy, and he’s a really smart football player, but I thought Davin Vann and Caden played really, really good when you look at how they strained in the box, and when you’re disruptive in the box, it helps things immensely for our fitters that are coming from the back end, but I was proud of him, and we need that from him.
I mean, he’s got to play that way, and he’s one of the more experienced linebackers we have.
Devon Marshall
Yeah, he was the player of the game for us this week. I thought he was right where he was supposed to be.
Played poised, played hard. A lot of times, a guy will get in the game, and at the moment of truth, he’ll grab a guy, and he’s nervous about giving up a play, and he played with technique. He did a really nice job.
I mean, he was the one on that fourth-and-one play action. They motioned a guy in. He ended up on a tight end that was in a tackle position covering him on a play-action pass, a play that a lot of players would have their eyes in bad spots.
He did a really good job showing discipline.
Jackson Vick came in and played in our dime package and did some really good things. They both had big plays in the game on third-and-fourth downs.
Does Grayson McCall’s injury history make you more cautious
Yeah, I mean, every injury is different, and I’m not the one that goes down there and says, this is what we’re doing. We have complete faith and trust in Justin Smith and our docs.
We’ve got incredible doctors here, and whatever they say is what we’re going to do. My focus is on just being supportive for all these kids when they’re out.
Aydan White was out last week, and Devan Boykin’s out, and now Grayson.
You’ve got to be there for these guys, and they’re each different, and even though you’ve had a player with a similar injury in the past, it’s a different player. You just be there for them. You’re supportive.
You get them the care they need, and when they’re ready to play, they’re ready to play. I think that’s the thing, is trying to get these guys back. I’ve been injured as a player.
It’s terrible. It sucks. You feel removed from everything.
As a head coach, I’m very, very understanding of that. You try to be there for them, but each injury is different to your point, and you just have to let the doctors tell you what the timeline looks like. In his case, we’ve gotten good news. It’s just how long does it take?
Pass protection against LA Tech
There was a couple plays in that game where they got free on us and got some hits that ended up, whether it’s a sack or a hit, you don’t want your quarterback on the ground, right? You look at all of that.
I do think we’ve had good pockets throughout the season. We’ve gotten beat like everybody has, but overall, our pass protection has been good. We’ve had time to get rid of the football.
Our quarterbacks have done a good job throwing it away for the most part when they couldn’t extend plays with their feet. That really hasn’t been the issue as much, as efficient run game, and that got better in this game. We were rushing the ball below our standard going into that football game, and I thought it got better and better as that game went on.
Again, you rush for over four yards of carry. That’s what you’re looking for.
Andrew? I wanted to ask you another question in terms of the run game that you mentioned, obviously the offensive line having an opportunity for what you saw last week.
Improving the run game
Yeah, we got better. There’s a multitude of things, and it’s not just the O-line. Let’s make that clear.
When you run the football, sometimes there’s a tight end in there. There’s a second back in there. Sometimes there’s a receiver.
You’re asking to block a perimeter player. If it was as easy as one player on the O-line to fix, it’d be fixed. It’s a collective thing in running the football, and we did get better.
Our tracks were better. I thought we missed one read at running back. We could’ve had a pretty big run if we would’ve stayed on our track.
But the timing of running the football and all the things that are happening with blitzes and stunts and picking those up with the speed they come at you wasn’t good in the first two games. It got better in the third game. To your point, we just have to keep getting better and stay efficient, stay on the positive side of efficiency when it comes to call and plays because it helps as a play caller when it’s second and six plus or minus versus the other way around where it’s second and eight, second and nine, second and ten.
That was a big point of emphasis with Coach and I. We need to be efficient. If you can get efficient down in distances, we’ll score more points. That’s what you saw happen in the second half.
The guys know that. We just got to keep pushing on them and they got to keep doing their part just to block the strain and get your hat in the right place. But I was trying to think of the right way to say this.
I’m not satisfied by any means with the run game. I’m happy it got better. I saw the improvement.
If you watch every position, it got better. Every position, the guys were straining. They were fighting to stay on their blocks and push guys down the field.
That’s what it takes. If you do that over time and you get into the fourth quarter, it really takes over a game when you need it to by wearing people down. Progress. That’s good.
Significance of playing Clemson
I don’t think the last ten years matter, Rob. I don’t.
College football these days, every team’s got so many new parts. What matters is the guys on your team that have played against these teams. We have a lot of players that have played well against Clemson.
Obviously, we need to get the job done down there. That’s something we haven’t done. We’ve been close.
Close doesn’t get it done. It’s more about how do we win this football game and focus on those things. How can we play better for four quarters instead of two quarters here, two quarters there? How you win a game against a good football team is don’t turn the football over.
You play physical. Give up explosive plays for scores. You’re really efficient in your special teams departments with your field position.
That’s the focus of winning. It’s not ten years ago what’s happened. These guys were eight years old.
That’s not going to help us win the football game. Beating them in the past helps. There was a time where I don’t know how many in a row it was that we lost to them where it seemed like a mountain we couldn’t climb.
That’s not the case anymore. We know that we can beat them. We also know that they’re a really good team.
Playing them at home, they’re an even better team. You’ve got to play a certain way. I think that’s where playing Tennessee earlier helps us.
We have seen a really good team on the field already. Their level of speed and size and the combination of both isn’t going to be shocking going out there. We know what Clemson’s program has been and how good their talent is and what kind of game we have to play playing against a team like them.
I have a lot of respect for their football team and what Dabo’s done there.
Experience starting multiple QB’s over the past couple of years
That’s an unfortunate thing to be used to. I had a run there for a while with Jacoby Brissett and Ryan Finley where we didn’t have that problem and now we have.
I don’t know if that helps or not helps. I do think there’s a history with the next man in playing really good ball for us. That’s what we expect.
I think all of our kids completely believe in CJ and know that he’ll go in and play his butt off. Lex Thomas is our next quarterback. Lex has been getting reps all year, all through spring, all through fall camp.
He’s ready to go. That’s what we’ll look like until Grayson’s healthy.
You’ve got to have depth, for one.
You’re always one play away from the next guy being in. Competition and depth, you’ve got to recruit well at that spot. You’ve got to coach them all like they could play.
Here’s our starter. He may not get in unless we’re winning. You’ve got to coach them all like you’re going to play in this game.
We’ve been able to do that. We’ve had success over the years, not just with our backup, even our third and one year, our fourth came in and played a really good game. Kurt Roper’s a really good quarterback coach.
He’ll have the guys ready to play. They’ll be excited for their opportunity. We’ll put a package together that they can execute at a high level.
Other receivers stepping up with LA Tech focused on KC
Yeah, it was great to see the outside receivers. You know, when I said this to KC yesterday, ‘you’ve earned a lot of respect because of how good a player you’ve been’ and there’s more people. When you’re playing a drop-eight team like LA Tech was, it’s easier to remove and have a linebacker under them, a safety over them, reroute player with a guy over the top of them or to bracket them.
We’ve got to be really creative, which is Robert’s (Anae) favorite thing to do, is be creative. We’ve got to find ways to move him around and make it hard for teams to key on him. At the same time, there’s going to be players that are benefactors of that.
If people do that, there’s a lot of one-on-ones and other position groups, whether it’s the tight end with Joly, the outside receivers, the running backs. We’ve got to win our one-on-ones when we get them, those guys. We’ll find ways to continue to get KC the ball and it can’t just be on screens.
We’ve got to get him the football down the field and that’s our job.
Thoughts on playing Clemson early in the year.
I don’t know. We’re going to play them somewhere in that list.
I have opened the ACC with them several times. It’s not the first time doing this. I don’t know. It’s wherever the scheduling rubric decides to throw them on there. We got to play them. I don’t know if it matters, to be honest with you, having them early, having them late, playing a noon game down there, it’s going to be hot. So that adds a little bit of an element to it, versus playing them later in the year down there, where it may not be a weather type thing that can test you a little bit. So that part of it’s probably the only negative to it. It’s just the weather that you get at noon in South Carolina versus playing them maybe in October of November. But it’s early in the season. It’s the first opportunity to play an ACC game. I think we open with them in a few years to start the season, if I’m not mistaken, like in 2028 and so wherever they put them, we got to line up and play.
