WATCH: Dave Doeren’s Post-Practice Media Availability Before NC State vs. Pitt (with transcript)

Head Coach Dave Doeren met with the media after practice today before NC State plays at Pitt this Saturday. You can watch the video above, and read the transcript below.

During the bye, was there anything in particular that you really wanted to kind of shore up with this team?

One was getting them healthier, and I feel like we did that with the guys we have available. We definitely gave them some opportunity to rest and recover.

But the second thing, each player’s got, we call it one more, something in their game that is showing up over seven games enough where we need them to get that off the film. There are things, offense, defense, I’ve talked about that this week.

We want to play better on third down on defense.

Obviously, offensively, there’s things we want to do consistently, but I think the biggest area of improvement your team can have is each kid that plays for you, say it’s 50 guys, if they all get that one thing in their game better, you have aggregate improvement, and that’s 50 times. So as a football team, you really diagnose the areas specifically, individually, schematically.

We’re doing that as coaches. This play averages three yards, this play averages six, so let’s not run that other play anymore. Let’s run this one that averages six more and put it in more formations with motions. You’re trying to build on your efficient plays.

Same thing on defense. Which guys are rushing the pass the best? Which guys are blitzing the best? Which guys are playing man coverage well? Which guys aren’t?

Then trying to make sure you’re getting guys in position to make more plays that have shown you they can make them.

The kids receptive to that coach?

The biggest thing is they want to get better. They want to be with coaches that make them better. It’s us too. We’ve got to look at us, how we’re calling the game. ‘Hey, look, you’ve been calling this coverage on third and long, it’s not working, so you’re either coaching it wrong or the guys can’t do it. Either way, it’s got to get fixed.’

We’ve got to own our stuff. That’s the thing, when you’re transparent as a leader with, ‘Hey, these are my faults,’ it’s easy for them to sit there and accept what theirs are and then get better from them. That’s the only way you get better is to not point fingers and blame others. You’ve got to accept where you’ve got to go.

You guys are in for quite the stretch. This is your toughest stretch of the season.

Sure, yeah. Well, seven in a row wasn’t easy either. I can tell you that. Every week in this league, you’ve got to show up, man. Each team that hits that grass has a chance to win.

I look at the next five games the same as I look at the first seven. We’ve got to do our best to prepare, go on the game field, and execute. That’s what I just told the guys.

It’s not about your feelings. It’s about your performance. We’ve got to perform on offense, defense, special teams together for four quarters.

When you do that, you put yourself in position to win every game.

Pitt is one of the best teams against the run in the country this year. What have you seen that that allows them to be so good?

They’re dedicated. There’s bodies in there. It starts with numbers, right? Football is about math. We’ve got seven blockers. They’ve got eight defenders. There’s going to be a guy there that running backs have to take care of in a run game.

There’s some blitz patterns they’re really good at. Their kids hit them fast. They can wiggle. They have good agility at linebacker, so they’re not just running into people. They’re working edges and defensive linemen, same thing.

They know how to use their hands. They don’t do a ton. They’re really good at what they do, and the speed at which they do it.

That’s one of the things you’ve got to be ready for early in the game. You don’t want it to be halftime and say ‘Hey, these guys are quick.’

We’ve been trying to talk about that all week with how quick they are up front. The quarterback, he’s got to do a good job of seeing things and knowing where he can get the ball.

What is it about Pitt’s receivers that can present a challenge for the secondary?

They’re quick. They can run, but after the catch they’ve got some guys that can make plays with their feet. There’s a lot of explosive plays after the catch, not that they don’t have shots down the field. They do.

(Kenny) Johnson is an electric punt returner, and he’s one of their receivers, so obviously he can make people miss.

He’s quick. He can accelerate, and there’s several guys like that.

They’ve got good skill guys, and it starts with their tailback, obviously. When Reid’s in the game, he’s the guy that can score at any time.

Guys get a chance to play in an NFL stadium. Does that resonate with those guys?

Yeah, it’d probably be a better question for them. We’ll go and walk around the stadium on Friday so they can see it and see the locker room, but I don’t know how long it resonates. You know what I mean? When the game starts. I mean, you don’t really pay attention to much other than what the call is and what your responsibilities are.

But I think it is cool, as a college athlete to be able to go play in an NFL stadium from a life experience standpoint. I do think that’s a neat thing for these guys to be able to do.