Dave Doeren’s Postgame Press Conference After Georgia Tech: TRANSCRIPT

NC State fell to 5-6 this evening, losing 29-30 to Georgia Tech on the road. Wolfpack Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the game for his postgame press conference. The transcript is below.

The last offensive drive?

Yeah, there’s 22 seconds left.

We were trying to get the ball down the field, which we did to Dacari (Collins). Really nice ball, really good catch. When the play ended, there were five seconds left on the clock, and where the ball was placed, we weren’t on the hash.

We were in the middle. I would have loved to have run a play, try to get a few more yards, call the time out so that we could discuss. Felt like with five seconds, the field goal was the safest thing to do.

If you throw it and they don’t get out of bounds, the game’s over. Obviously, clock operator has some things to do with that. And the thing I’m disappointed in is after the time out, after we break the huddle, they come over and tell me they’re adding a second to the clock.

Had I known there were six seconds, it would have been a different conversation. We could have thrown a quick out, had a little bit more cushion. I don’t think people understand how precious every second is.

And so I was disappointed in that. There’s another time in the game where three seconds ran off after a punt. It was 2.43 on the clock, and they let it run down to 2.40? These seconds matter.

Say whatever you want about it, but to me, that was bad clock operating by them.

Georgia Tech’s last touchdown. They had not driven the length of the field the whole day. What was the difference in that? 

They got the ball to the back, out of the backfield on us a couple times. We were in man coverage, and their back made plays.

We weren’t able to get to the quarterback and get him on the ground, and then he had a big scramble to win it? We were in two-man, four-man rush, and he broke the pocket, and our two safeties had to come up and get him down, and we weren’t able to do that.

What was your message to your kids? 

I thought we played really hard. I was proud of them. The way we responded the second half, I thought we played outstanding, complimentary football.

Played with heart. I was proud of them, and you don’t get to win. There’s a lot of teams that wouldn’t fight the way we fought with all the things we’ve battled through this year, and they wanted that game.

They wanted it bad, and they showed that in how resilient they were. I told them I was proud of them. I told them we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves.

We’re going to go play our rival this week, and sort of take all the pain that you’re feeling inside and put it away and get ready to use it. And the other team deserves credit. They played their butts off, too.

It was a really good football game. You had two teams that wanted it. It was physical.

It comes down to one play in a game like that. One play out of 170 that you get that dictates it. And even on their extra point, when they went to go up by one there at the end, I mean, (Tamarcus) Cooley was an inch from blocking that kick.

Every single play in a game that comes down to the last second matters.

This is one of the best rushing offenses in the ACC. Before that last drive, they were below 100 yards. What do you think you guys did well?

Our defense played their butts off. It’s really unfortunate, I don’t know what play of the game it was, but we were on a real basic shovel pass that if it’s not caught, it ends up being an incomplete, which is why you do that instead of hand it off. We’ve probably run that play in practice 1,000 times.

I’ve never seen a ball ricochet intercepted. Some of the breaks that we had that way were tough. The three turnovers that we had were costly.

You lose the turnover margin, minus three. But, man, the kids just keep playing. They got so much heart, and I’m proud of them for that.

CJ Bailey didn’t play well in the 1st half, but he was able to come back out and help get the offense going. What did you see from him?

He believes in himself. He knew that there were some plays that were his fault, and that’s the thing we loved about him.

He’s not afraid to own things. And he said, ‘I’m going to make up for it. This is our half,’ and he went out and performed.

That’s kind of how the game was. Any time the other side needed the other side to step up, they did. That happened multiple times in the game.

We went for it on fourth and three, didn’t get it. Our defense holds them, stops them on a fourth down, and gave them no points. I thought we really battled for each other in that football game.

Turnover Margin. This has been something that y’all have been struggling with all year. How do you move on from that with one game left, and how do you kind of stomach this loss?

We’ve been trying to move on from that all year. It’s been a tenant of this program for 12 years, and it’s something that we’ve done very well.

When you’re playing with a young quarterback, sometimes things happen. And he definitely forced the ball before the half, trying to make a play. And so some of that’s going to happen.

But some of the fumbles we’ve had throughout the year, those are things you can’t do. You have to have great ball security as a runner, as a catcher. So we’ll continue to work that.

It’s being worked on. It’s being worked on every second of every practice.

As far as how do you stomach that loss, it hurts.

Losses like that hurt more than a blowout. What we’re going to do is, we’re going to put that one in and use it. We’re going to use it.

It’s one thing that’s great about football. You get to take out your frustrations on that field as a player, and we have a lot of frustration. And we get to go play against a team next week that’s going to be a great football game.

And so we’re going to use every inch of this to get these guys back, and I know they’ll respond well.

I know 2019 was a really tough year for you. Does this one, despite the struggles, does it feel different? Does it feel better at all?

It’s not the same.

I really can’t compare those two seasons. Nobody likes losing. I hate it more than anybody.

We’ve been in a lot of tight ballgames this year, so it’s a lot different. That year we had 19 guys, I think, out for the year.

We were playing with linebackers at corner. It was just a completely different thing. That’s not what’s happening right now.

These kids are battling, and they’re going to keep working, and we’re playing some young guys that continue to get better. And we’ve made progress in a lot of areas, and it just hasn’t equaled a win.

Davin Vann’s injury

Davin was on the sideline cheering the guys on, so I’m hopeful that he’ll be okay. Until we get back and go through, sometimes they want to wait 24 hours before they tell us, but it was a good sign that he was down there cheering us on.

Sean Brown’s injury

He was cramping. He’s fine.

What allowed the run game to succeed today against one of the better run defenses you guys have faced?

We were blocking.

Guys were busting through. There was broken tackles, making people miss. And the offensive line and Tight End group, doing a good job against a lot of movement and pressure. Proud of those guys.

They responded well, and that’s how we ran the ball in the Stanford game as well. There are things that are getting better. You got to get rid of the turnovers.

That’s how you win football games, and when you have three of them, especially one that equals points, it’s tough.