WATCH: Dave Doeren After NC State’s Win Over Stanford (with transcript)

NC State defeated Stanford 59-28 to improve to 5-4 this afternoon. He spoke with the media in his postgame press conference after the game. You can watch the video ABOVE, and read the transcript BELOW.

Really proud of our guys.

We talked a lot during the bye week about starting fast and working on little things that have really not been efficient, but should be, through fundamentals and getting guys to play complementary football and really focus on. Focus on the things that make us a better football team, and I’m proud of the guys for doing it.

I love the way we started, opening drive for a touchdown, and the way we ran the football. Our backs ran really determined, offensive line getting good holes, and they did stuff with it, made guys miss, outran people. I loved how our kickoff return team played today.

DK Kaufman set up our offense three times with good returns, and one of them was a big momentum play. They scored on the opening drive of the third quarter, and we respond with a 91-yard kickoff return. So, we played complementary football.

We won the turnover margin, and a lot of guys got better today, and as a team, we got better. It’s good to see a lot of guys make plays. Some freshmen making plays on the field, and Keenan Jackson in one drive had a really nice catch on third down, and then he’s the benefactor of that later in the drive with a touchdown catch.

Proud of the team, and look forward to building on this. We talked about a five-game season, and we’ve got the first two wins out of those five, and just continue to try to stack those things here as we go.

It seems like CJ Bailey has full command of the offense at this point. Do you feel that way, and just how much confidence do you have in him going out there and running the offense?

Total confidence. Obviously, when you have the bye week, you’re able to really drill in on the things that he’s doing well, and build the offense around those things for him, and how he’s seeing it, talking to him, the offensive staff, Coach Roper, and Coach Anae, spending time with him, looking at the film, and here’s the things that he sees well.

You know, here’s the routes we’re running well. Here’s different ways we can get guys open, but there’s nothing we can’t call, and when you have opportunities to study yourself, and I think it comes down to the ownership, and that’s what makes our team special. These guys are willing to accept the things that they haven’t done, put a plan together to improve, and then they get on the field and they work, and I love that about our team, and CJ is a worker, and you see this smiling young kid running around making plays, but behind the scenes, he’s a grinder.

He’s in there watching film, and he practices really hard.

Earlier this week, you talked about wanting to see the run game kind of take another step forward, and today, 281 yards, two guys over 100 yards. What was it like to see that facet of the offense take a step forward?

We needed that. We’ve got talented backs, and it’s just been different guys at different times. Sometimes we’ll have an explosive run, it’s called back for a holding penalty, or one guy will get beat on a play, and to run the football, it takes everybody doing their job, and it’s five is one, as I like to say.

Five offensive linemen playing with one heartbeat, and those guys did a great job today. I mean, that’s a good defensive front, and statistically one of the better rushing defenses in the ACC, and you wouldn’t know that watching that game. I thought our guys controlled the line of scrimmage, and we had big holes for guys to run through, and then you love seeing the backs finish runs like that, whether it’s running through somebody, making a guy miss, or running away from people.

That was good to see.

A ton of plays today were made by first or second-year players, and it seems like a guy like, Keenan (Jackson) or Hollywood (Smothers) and CJ (Bailey) have really just continued to grow and grow week-to-week. What has it meant to you to see that core group of freshmen, sophomores, redshirt freshmen just continue to improve like they have?

Well, I think that’s what this program’s done.

My tenure here is develop players, and it takes reps to get better, and Keenan pushed through the wall. As a freshman wall, you kind of get fatigued, and you get tired, and you could see it coming out of the bye week that he was that way. I said something to him at practice about it on Tuesday, and I’m just proud of him.

He pushed through that today, and he’s been a really good blocker for us on the perimeter all year. He’s earned respect through the things he does without the ball, and now he’s making plays with the ball. Terrell Anderson, same thing.

I mean, a guy shows up, doesn’t say anything, works hard, catches the football, and makes plays. So, it bodes well for the future of the program when your younger guys are able not only just to get in, but to get better and better, and you’re seeing that with Hollywood now, getting better, and that’s reps. Game reps help you as a player.

You get to see the things on film that you got to work on.

It looks like you guys set a school record for most points scored in an ACC game. Did you sense this was building, and is there even more growth potential last quarter of the season?

We’ve been really close, really close, and it’s just been one thing, and whether it’s turning the ball over in the red zone, which unfortunately we did a couple times in a game that cost us, or a penalty in an opportune time, a lot of our mistakes have been really integral in our failure, and sometimes you get away with things. Sometimes you do. Sometimes there’s a holding penalty on a play where you gain one yard.

Well, our holding penalties have been on 25-yard runs, and so we’ve had to suffer through some tough things on offense, and today things clicked, and that’s what efficiency looks like. That’s what it looks like to stack plays and not beat yourself. When you have good players, if you can stay on the field and stay ahead of the chains, good things happen.

I always say this, more first downs equals more touchdowns, and explosive plays lead to big scores, and we were able to have some huge explosive plays today.

DK (Kaufman) mentioned some health issues that he’s had in his past, and how there was a time when he didn’t know if he would be able to continue playing football. What does it mean to see him have so much success here this season?

Yeah, I mean, he deserves it. The kid works his butt off at practice every day. He spends a lot of time on his body, gets in here early, does a lot of treatment, prehab, rehab, and he works really hard in practice, and so you love seeing guys get rewarded that work hard, and he’s helping us in a big way, not just on defense, but that returning position has been a game changer, and it’s been a weird year on special teams.

We haven’t had a lot of return opportunities, so for him to get the ball like that today and do something with it, it was awesome. Before I get up, though, I do want to say how awesome it was to have Payton Wilson and his family here today, honored, and see his name go up on the Ring of Honor, and have his parents there, and his fiancee, his brother, and wife. Nobody deserves that more than him, and he’s a great story, and he is everything that NC State’s all about, blue collar, hardworking, and he loves this university, so thankful to be a part of that with Payton and his family, and look forward to seeing his name up on the Ring of Honor.

It’s pretty cool to see him and Coach Cowher and Russ (Russell Wilson), three in a row, all Steelers up there next to each other on the wall, so that was pretty special to have that today, so with that, I’ll turn it over.