VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren's Weekly Quotebook
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media via Zoom Monday afternoon to discuss the Wolfpack's win over UConn and its upcoming home opener versus No. 13 Notre Dame.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
Going back to our game with UConn, it was a great win. It’s great to be 1-0. Anytime you can go on the road in your opener and play a clean game, it’s the first only opening game I’ve had with only one penalty. The officiating, I thought they let the kids play. I thought it was refreshing to be in a game like that. I thought both sides were able to play physically. We only had one turnover; it was a stop on downs, so it was nothing on offense. Turnover wise, we were plus one in the turnover margin with 200 yards rushing. To talk about going on the road, only having one penalty, not turning the ball over, and having 200 yards rushing, that’s a great recipe for winning.
Like many openers, it was a game of adjustments. UConn is a much-improved team. I thought their staff did a nice job of not only recruiting but developing their players and did a lot of new things in that first quarter on offense. Defensively, I thought we adjusted well after the first drive. It was a good line-of-scrimmage game. I thought UConn’s front offensive line was big and experienced. Their defensive line was all returning starters: big, experienced guys. It was a good matchup inside. I thought their running back, [Victor Rosa], was really impressive for them. It was good to see how our offense flows and how Robert [Anae] calls a game. It was the first time working with him on a game day. For me, it was great to see how he is, and obviously it was impressive to watch just how he calls it.
Positives on offense, we were very efficient on first and second down which gave ourselves a lot of manageable third downs. Brennan [Armstrong] played a good game. There were definitely some plays I know he’d like to have back, but with 65 percent completion rate, he moved the ball with his arm and his legs. He competed. He brought some energy, and his personality was able to come out when you get to see him compete like that. As an offense, it was probably the best we’ve played when it comes to making the first man miss. That area of our game has to be better, and it was better in this game than it had been. That’s how you get explosive plays, and that was good to see. At the end of the half, we had a two-minute drive opportunity, drove the ball down the field, and got a field goal before the half which was great to see. We played a lot of guys in the backfield. They all ran the ball hard, took care of the football, and were productive. A lot of guys touched the ball. We spread the ball around and got a lot of guys involved. We started the game fast with a touchdown. It was a great response after giving up a touchdown on the opening drive defensively. The negatives, we were stopped on short yardage twice, an area that we pride ourselves in and need to be better. We did a couple of good things in short yardage and a couple of bad things. We’ve got to get better there. The drive-killers in the game: we had a couple of drops, a couple times where we could have been more accurate, and one where we just missed the throw. Definitely, those areas can improve.
Defensively, we had a nice takeaway to seal the game with Payton [Wilson]. Like I said, I thought after the first series, we settled in. The next five possessions were punts by UConn. We had three three-and-outs, two sacks, a forced fumble by Red Hibbler, and for the first game, compared to a year ago, we tackled much better in the opener. The things we learned from last year’s opener and applied to this year’s training camp were good decisions. We definitely hit enough and tackled enough to be ready to play a game. Defensively, there were no penalties in the game. We played really clean. Negatives, we gave up an explosive play for a touchdown on a long run. Obviously, it was a good job by them, but for us, a couple of guys were out of their gaps. They had a motion where we adjusted but didn’t get the proper depth at safety which put us in a bad position to get the guy down as an overlap player. It’s a play we can learn from, but I’m disappointed that it occurred.
Special teams, I thought Julian Gray returned the ball well. He was hard to tackle. He was explosive and set up the offense twice with good returns. Our kicker [Brayden Narveson] missed his first try, a 50-yarder, and then bounced back with a 44-yard make right before the half, so that was great to see his response. It was good having Cecil Powell back on special teams. He was a difference maker for us in our coverage units.
Now, it’s an opportunity to come home and play a game against a great opponent. It’s a 12-o’clock kick; I know that’s not anything people are excited about, but it is what it is. With that, we need Wolfpack Nation to set their alarms a little earlier, get up early, maybe before you go to bed have everything ready to go, get here on time so you can get your tailgate on, or come in the night before and have an overnight in the parking lot. We need you to be a part of this one big time. Complementary football for us is offense, defense, special teams, and then that juice that we get from our sideline, our fans, and our student section. We’re excited, and we’re excited for you to see the new Jumbotron and hear the new sound system. I think both of those things are going to add to our game day environment which is already electric as it is. We’re excited to get back into the Carter.
For us as a team, we’re going to stress the details and the fundamentals. This is a game that’s going to be a physical game. We’re playing against a really good team. Just to get better from week one to week two, it’s the little things that matter the most: the details and the fundamentals. You can’t get away from that. That’s how you improve.
We’re playing a 2-0 football team. Notre Dame has an exceptional quarterback that we know a lot about with Sam Hartman. He’s playing really good, not a surprise. They have a really good offensive line, maybe the best O-line/running back combo that we’ll see all year. These guys, their backs, they play multiple backs. They’re big guys. They have good balance. They’re well coached. They won their first two games combined, 98-6. They’ve done well in their first two outings, very well.
Defensively, they’re aggressive. They’re sound. They have two really good linebackers. As a former linebacking coach, I enjoy watching that. [J.D. Bertrand] and [Marist Liufau] play actively. They use their hands. They play hard. Their defensive end that transferred from Ohio State, [Javontae Jean-Baptiste], is a difference-maker for them. Their boundary corner, [Benjamin Morrison], comes in with six interceptions as a really good player last year.
It’s a good team. It’s exciting to play against them, a team we don’t get to play a lot, a team that rotates through our league and plays five games a year. It’s our turn to get an opportunity to compete with them. I’m super excited about the test. It’s going to be a really physical game, for sure. There are a lot of good players and good coaches. I think Marcus Freeman has done a really good job, Going into his second year, he had some staff turnover, and sometimes that’s hard, particularly with your coordinator positions. He’s done a nice job replacing good coaches with good coaches. I’m very familiar with some of them. Joe Rudolph, their O-line coach, is an exceptional coach. We were together at Wisconsin. It’s a top-15 team coming to town. This is what you play and coach for. We look forward to having them in our stadium.
On what adjustments he noticed on tape…
Like I said at the beginning, it’s game one on the road with 40 new players and two new coaches. It didn’t look like it was our first time playing in a game. I thought we were efficient. We were clean. There weren’t a lot of mistakes. There are things we have to do better, like I mentioned: throw location, catching balls, making layups, and things like that. The guys did a good job getting the players ready. The players did a good job learning the system for the first game. I watched a lot of college football with us playing on a Thursday night. Seeing a lot of other people’s first games, I thought we looked pretty clean. Compared to other people that are doing the same thing, you can tell that our coaches did a good job.
On Lyndon Cooper and Savion Jackson…
They’re on the depth chart for a reason. Lyndon is back. He practiced yesterday. We’re excited that he’s back with us. Savion should be full go. We’re just going through the protocol with these guys, but I put them on there for a reason. We’re not trying to be tricky.
On what he saw around college football during week one…
I got to see quite a bit of college football. We did come in Saturday. Playing on Thursday, we broke ourselves down on Friday. Saturday, we broke down Notre Dame’s previous game against Navy and then went home to watch them play live to see them in live mode. Sometimes, you can pick up some things that you don’t get on a coach’s copy. We watched that, and then in the evening, I was able to watch some of the games that were on and study as a coach. I was able to go to my son’s game Friday night which I’m not going to get to do a ton, so that was awesome to get to see him play. We were in here like we normally would be yesterday. We got a good practice in, and we were able to break down their game against Tennessee State from Saturday in here yesterday. I feel like we got a good blend of getting ahead but also using that time appropriately with our staff and our players to get a little recovery there after getting home at 3:30 in the morning after the game.
On what Hartman brings to the Fighting Irish…
He’s a really good player. He’s been a really good player for a long time. He’s a winner. He’s a champion in high school, and we all know what he did at Wake [Forest]. You can see his confidence and how he manages their offense. He gets the ball to the right people. He makes plays with his feet when he needs to. He’s got a nice cast around him. They’re definitely able to help him in other ways with their run game and big tight ends and things that they do. He’s a great addition to their offense, and obviously they’re playing well with him.
On the new game clock rules...
There are 15 fewer plays per game on average, three possessions that you're losing in a football game. It's definitely noticeable. Our first quarter was over after three possessions total at UConn. They had a long drive where they ran the football. We did the same. I looked up, and there was 2:30 left in the first quarter after the first touch for each team. We had four TV timeouts per quarter, sixteen television timeouts in our game, but we're going to be excited about that and take football out of the game. I think it's sad that that's what's happened, but it's the way it goes. People want a shorter game, but they want more commercials within the game. As a football team, now you have to understand, [this means] fewer possessions. Each possession is critical for both teams on offense and the defense, both sides of your football team. You don't have as many opportunities to score points that you did before. Fewer touches equals less points in a lot of cases. Not all, but if you're playing a pretty clean football game, and you're used to having 10 to 12 possessions per game, you're probably looking at eight to 10 now. It'll take time to get used to, but it's just the way things are.
On the importance of ACC wins over the SEC and Notre Dame…
It's great any time our league wins games. That’s good for the ACC. To be 2-0 against the SEC over the weekend is good for the ACC. As far as Notre Dame goes, it doesn't matter who we play as a league. We want to do well. We want to perform well. We want to win games. This team that we're playing against is quasi-in our league, in and out, however you want to say that. We need to perform better against them. There's no doubt about it.
On whether or not it’s an advantage having already played against Hartman albeit at a different school…
It is and it isn't. It's a different system, so what they're asking him to do [is different]. How you defended him in Wake's offense is different than how you defend him in this one because of the run game, the play action game, and the things that are unique about Notre Dame's system. Wake's system was completely different, but we do know from experience what kind of player he is. There's a great amount of respect from our staff towards that young man. We do know what we've done well and what we haven't done well over the years against him. There is some good knowledge in that.
On the short-yardage plays against UConn…
Well, that means you're doing well on first and second down. If you’re third-and-one or third-and-two, that's good. That's what you want. First- and second-down efficiency is really important in our offense. If you're doing it right, you'll see a lot of that. Yes, we did have a lot of them. I hope we continue to. It did allow us to see short-yardage formations and plays, areas that we succeeded, areas we didn't, and things we have to do better, and goal line, as well. We had a lot more plays inside the five-yard line than you saw in some of our games. It's great film. There's nothing better than game film to look at yourself as coaches and as players. You have plays that work and, “What plays can we run off of these plays?" Because if they're plays that don't work, you don't run them again anyway. Your successful plays just give you a chance to build volume. With your players, like: “Here's what you did well on this play." The ones that didn’t: "Here's what we have to do better, and here's how we're going to do it.” We map that plan out for them so that we can improve.
On seeing Armstrong's running ability in live action for the first time…
It's what I hoped would happen, to be honest. You saw it all through camp. We didn't know how to contact piece would come in. He enjoys the physicality of football, and he can make things happen. A lot of his rushing yards were self-manufactured scrambles. It wasn’t just calling a QB run game. There were a couple of designed runs for him, but most of it was drop-back, and things aren't there. He adds an element to the game that allows you to call plays, and sometimes he just makes it a better play. He's got to continue to be smart with the football, protect the football, and manage that part of the game. I thought he did a great job of that in this one. He's not afraid to take contact. He's got to do a really good job being smart about it.
On the team leaning on Wilson’s leadership against UConn and Notre Dame…
First of all, he did play really well. It was fun to see him playing ball like that. He's all over the field, getting off blocks. He tackled well in the box and in space. He got his hand on a couple of balls in pass coverage. He had a great interception and brought tremendous leadership. On our punt team, he did a great job as our personal protector. Payton's presence is very felt there. On the second part, his presence is really felt off the field, too. He's commanding this football team in ways that he never had vocally. I'm very proud of him for that. It's fun to see that growth in him. When he decided to come back, one of the things he wanted to become was a better leader, and he's doing that. We're going to need that. This is going to be a game of ups and downs. There's going to be momentum that swings back and forth throughout the game. Your leaders have to really show up in games like this because it's going to take that. You're going to have moments where you need that, where he can calm things down and get guys going, and then be a spark. We're excited. I know he's excited for this game, not that he's not for all of them because he understands the value of playing because he's had the game taken from him enough. Big games like this, these are special things for kids.
On Rakeim Ashford...
Rak's good. They kept him there to do all the tests, and every one of them came back the way you would want. He's back with us. He will not play this week. He's going to need at least a week, probably, to shake that one off. I'd equate that to a whiplash type of thing. He’s pretty sore. He’s just got to get the soreness out and get him back to who he was. He'll play again; I just don't know how long it's going take. As far as things could have been, he came out of it as good as he could have been. It was a disappointing act that took place there. I'm just thankful that he's okay.
On whether Randy Woodson or Boo Corrigan reached out to him about the ACC expansion…
We all know why the decisions were made, so it really doesn't matter how I feel about it. From a college football standpoint, that's what everyone is doing. They're adding teams that are coast-to-coast and making their leagues bigger. I can understand the rationale behind it with what just happened in the Pac-12. A couple of teams left, and the league fell apart. They're adding stability to the league by getting bigger. Financially, I don't really know because I haven't been told all the ins and outs detail-wise. I'm sure that'll come out to the public at some point on all the things that come with this deal. To be honest, I've had my head down, trying to get our football team ready. That stuff doesn't mean a lot to me. For us, we're going go play one game maybe every other year out there. It'll be fun to go show the guys the Golden Gate Bridge and see Cali a little bit. They're the teams that have the struggle, having to travel all the time. For us, it's a one-off going out there.
On balancing Armstrong's running ability with keeping him healthy
Some of it is out of my control. When a guy takes off scrambling, he's scrambling. That's part of who he is. You’ve got to let the kid be who he is as a player. When it comes to the designed runs, that's where we have to be smart. We have to know what kind of position we're putting him in on those plays and try to get enough blocking in front of him and different things like that. It's not a deal where we want him in a designed run game all the time, taking those hits. When you drop back and throw, and there's not as many parts because people are playing coverage, it's a little different. He can dive and get away from contact. He has to do a good job in those scenarios of not putting himself at risk. I know if it's a short-yardage thing where he needs one yard to get it, or it's a goal line thing where he's straining to score, he's going to play with contact. That's just how he is. When it's not, he's got to play for the next down. He’s smart about it. You saw that in the game; he did a good job of sliding and keeping himself out of contact when he could. Any time you have a guy that runs like that, it's tough. It's tough for the defense. It’s also tough for you, as a quarterback and as a coach, because we want him to be able to play every game and stay healthy. He understands. He’s been doing this a long time, and we've talked to him about it. He understands when and when not to barrel down versus get himself down.
On having Jackson against Notre Dame's offensive line…
We're going to need him. Their O-line is really good. They're talented and big, and they're well-coached. It's one of those games in the box where it's going be a game of will in there: imposing will and leverage, strength, fundamentals, inside hands, pad level. It's going to be awesome in the box. It's definitely going to be a game where we have to strain, strain, strain. Having a guy like Savion helps because he's a really, really good player. He adds to what we have in that box. Hopefully we will have him — that’s the plan — and I’m looking forward to seeing him back out there.
On UConn’s defense preventing explosive plays…
We had some shots called, and they were covered, so good job by them. There were a couple of times where we did throw the ball down the field and didn't connect in the game. We had one called; it was wide open, and Brennan took off running on that play, so that would have been a vertical shot we would have hit. It just didn't work out that way. I know you guys watch Robert's offenses enough to know that he does like to push the ball down the field. It just didn't happen. Their corners and their safeties did a nice job of playing with depth on some things and having help when they needed it. Most of our explosiveness — and we didn't have a ton either today; I think the defenses both tackled somewhat well for a first game — was underneath stuff. As we saw, the first guy missed, the second guy missed, and the third guy missed in some cases. We do need to be able to push the ball down the field a bit more.