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 13-10 loss to Louisville and its upcoming matchup versus Marshall.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
Just recapping the game: obviously it was a tough, emotional loss for our staff and team. The guys were very invested and fought hard to win the game. It was a great turnout and environment, and it was awesome to see Coach [Bill] Cowher, his family, and the deserving, wonderful recognition for a great guy, alum, and a coach that I admire so much. I'm thankful that he was able to be here with all of his family, and it's great to see him and see the fans recognize him the way they did.
As a team, you win as a team, and you lose as a team. We know that we have a lot of things to focus on to get the scoreboard in our favor. It was really a game of two halves. The first half, I felt like we played complementary football even though we didn't score the number of points you'd like to see. We did not turn the ball over. We forced two turnovers on defense. As a team, we only had two penalties. We went in at half up, 10-0. We played a tremendous first half defensively. The second half was the opposite with what we did offensively. We turned the ball over three times, and as a team, we had eight penalties in the second half. That's just too much to overcome against a team like that, and they won the second half, 13-0. Ultimately, that was the difference in the game. It was really tough.
Defensively, we played a great game. I know there are things there that they can still do better, but they held a top-ranked offense to 20 yards rushing, dominated on third down, forced three turnovers, got their quarterback out of rhythm, had four sacks, and then at the end of the game, had back-to-back end-of-game stops to give us a chance. It was a tough running into the kicker call which took our timeouts from us, but they were still able to go out there and get us another shot. From a negative standpoint on defense, obviously there were a couple of deep balls that we gave up, and then some penalties allowed them to get points.
I thought our kickoff return continues to be exceptional with Julian [Gray] with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. That was real close to going all the way. Brayden [Narveson] had a great kicked in the first half. The negative is our punt coverage. We gave up a 26-yard return on a play where we didn't have very good hang time.
Moving forward, we need to obviously perform better offensively, and everyone's a part of that dysfunction, and also everyone's a part of that solution. I always start with that. You can look at things from two angles. It always starts with me. As the head coach, I have to do everything I can to help the players and to help the staff. That's really the trickle down from leadership. It starts with me, so when things aren't good in any area, I own that as the head coach, then it goes to the coordinators and the position coaches, and then the players have to go out and execute at a high level. I own that, and I look forward to fixing it with the guys and seeing Coach [Robert] Anae, his staff, and these players. What we've done well will be something that we'll continue to do well, but the things we haven't we have to fix.
To me, it starts just playing together, and the chemistry offensively needs to be better. We need to galvanize. These guys like each other. They’re good teammates. It's a matter of just playing better together, what I like to call 11-man football, 11-as-one. First year in the system, you can see that, especially this weekend, we were disjointed. Playing in harmony with strain and focus, that's what you want to see. You do see that in our third year in Tony [Gibson’s] system on defense. We’re on our first year in Robert's, and we're just not in the same areas right now, but we can get there. I'm excited to help the team do that. It’s clear that we need a spark on that side of the ball.
M.J. Morris is going to take over as our starting quarterback, and he is ready to lead the offense. As I stated in the past, when I was asked, it was my plan and our plan to redshirt M.J. and allow him an opportunity to develop behind Brennan [Armstrong], but plans sometimes need to change, and the time is now because it's what's best for our team. M.J. is excited for the opportunity to lead the football team, and I do believe that he's ready. Brennan will be a great teammate to M.J. just as M.J. has been to Brennan in his role. Brennan has that role on our team. He's a very competitive, tough guy, and he understands this is what's best for the team right now and what's needed. I’ve got tremendous respect for him and what he's gone through. I don't think people really pay attention to those types of things. Two weeks ago, we played a very emotional game at UVa, a place where he was the quarterback for a long time and went through the tragedy that was there a year ago. Then he came back to our stadium and just didn't have a good game, and that happens sometimes. For what this team needs right now, it needs a spark, and I do believe M.J. can be that for our offense.
Let me make this clear: changing the quarterback [isn’t the only fix]. Everyone has to be better. This isn't throwing Brennan under the bus and pinning it on him. It's the opposite. It starts with me, and I own that. Everyone has to be what changes. The chemistry is about everyone and playing well around the quarterback. I've always said this: I don't care what side of the ball you're referring to; it starts inside out. When you play well from the center of your offense all the way out, that's where we got to start. It starts with the center, then it goes to the guards, then it goes to the tackles. Then, it goes to the tight ends, the running backs, the receivers. Everyone has to play in a concerted effort in harmony with whoever that quarterback is. When your protection is really good, then the plays or the run blocking is really good, and the plays look better. We've got a lot to improve on, and I'm excited for the opportunity to go and prove it. The cohesion and the chemistry and all that is going to come. It’s a challenge. If there's one thing that I would pride this program on and myself on is persistence, resiliency, and grit. Those are things that are just part of our DNA.
Though the results aren't what people and what we wish we had at this time, there's a lot of games, a lot of weeks, a lot of football left: eight weeks, seven games, plus the postseason if we're fortunate to earn our right to continue to play. We're going to take it one week at a time. This week's all about finding a way to beat the next team which is Marshall, an undefeated team, a team that has a very athletic quarterback [Cam Fancher] and talented runners. [Rasheen Ali] is a dynamic player. The receivers are always skilled. We've played Marshall and watched them for a long time. I know several other coaches. I’ve got a lot of respect for how hard they play. They're tough guys. Their defense is ranked in the top 25. Last year, they went to Notre Dame and won. We know that we're going to get their best. They’ve already beaten Virginia Tech this year in their four games.
We've got a lot to work on, and we’re excited about the challenge and the opportunity. We look forward to being home. I hope our fans come back, do the same thing, and show up. They were great in the second half, coming back from the parking lot after halftime. It was awesome to have a full stadium, and our team appreciates when we get that kind of support.
On what he saw from Morris in practice…
Ever since he's been here, he's come to practice with great energy. He's always done that. Each week since Coach Anae got here, you see him growing in the offense. That part is now second thought to him. In the spring, he was learning it; now, he knows it. He's always been an encourager to guys around him. He’s got a positive outlook, and the way he can throw the football, obviously, he can do that pretty well. There are certain things that he brings to the table, but more than anything right now, he's in a really good headspace. He's excited, and I think that's the spark that we need.
On regaining the support from disappointed fans…
I can't make decisions for fans. They’re going to have to do what they think's best for them. We're going to do everything we can to win games and give our players every chance that we know how to go be competitive. We're not quitting on them, and I would hope that they would understand that, as much as we hate losing and they hate losing, to stick with the guys and continue to have that resiliency and grit that NC State is known for.
On Jaccarius Peak at right tackle…
He did [some good things]. I actually just met with him. I'm proud of him. He went in against a really good defensive line. In pass protection, I thought he did extremely well. There are a couple things fundamentally he can do better. He anticipates things. In the run game, he's a guy that strains on the line of scrimmage. He’s very athletic, and he's got a great energy about him. He plays really hard. He practices really hard. It’s great to get him that experience. I know that will serve us and him well moving forward.
On the depth at offensive line…
Well, with Dylan [McMahon] out, we felt like, just to get our best five on the field, that was the way to do it: getting Peak at tackle and Tim [McKay] inside. That got us the chance to really get our best five in the game and still have a rotation going with Dylan returning. We expect him to play this week. It allows us to move Tim back outside if that's what we want to do. With injuries, sometimes you have to adjust.
On the schematic adjustments with Morris at quarterback…
Coach Anae will always try to play to what a player's strengths are and do what they can do best. That's where the offense starts. To tell you what those are, I don't think would be smart going into the week of the game, but I would tell you that Coach Anae is going to use the skills of the guys he has to the best of his ability. That's what he's good at.
On the offensive line adjusting to the quarterback switch…
I'm hoping everyone handles it. That's their responsibility as teammates: to support the guy that's in the position that he's in and go play as hard as you can. As a former offensive player, I always took it personal when players tackled my running back or tackled my quarterback. You want to protect those guys and help them, and I would expect it to be no different in our locker room. That’s the expectation and the standard: to go play as hard as you can for your teammates. I know M.J.’ll bring great energy to those guys.
On Morris’ experience from the year before…
He's got a very calming effect on game day. He’s not a guy where the lights are too big. He just jumped in as a freshman, went, and played. Some guys, you'd see him shrink in those scenarios; he doesn't. He's the same guy in games as he is in practice. His level of ability to just be himself, and whatever's going on around him doesn't impact him in a negative way, I think really shows his maturity. Again, the decision to redshirt him at the beginning of the year was about development. It wasn't about him not being a good player. We went with experience and wanted to give him a chance to have an extended period of time to be healthy and develop as a player. It served him well; he looks really good right now. We're bailing on that a little earlier than expected, but he got an entire offseason, all training camp, and the whole month of September here under his belt. He feels good, and it's what the team needs.
On addressing the change with Armstrong…
I came in Saturday — we played Friday night, as you know — and I watched the game a bunch of times and then sat down with the coaches on offense. We watched a bunch of it together, talked about the season so far, and talked about where we're at and where we need to go. Then Sunday, when we came back in, we made that decision, met with those guys individually and let them know what we were doing. They both handled it as good teammates and competitors would. Like I said, Brennan's going to be a great teammate. He handled the very tough conversation as well as you possibly can. My respect for him has always been high because he's a super competitive dude, but he is an excellent teammate, so he handled it as well as you could hope. You'll see that. You’ll see him leading. He'll be on the sidelines, cheering guys on throughout the game, and if he's needed to play, he's going to play, and he'll come in and play hard.
On making the quarterback change versus Marshall prior to resuming ACC play…
I don't think it matters who we play. I don’t, and I think you're discounting Marshall by saying that. This is a top-25 defense we're playing this week. This is the right time to do this for the football team. It has nothing to do with whom we're playing. It's how we're playing, not whom we're playing. This is the right time to do this. Again, it's not what our plan was. Sometimes, plans don't go the way you hoped, and so you have to adjust, and as fans out there, I hope that they adjust as well. That's the biggest thing you can say: it's a long season, man. A lot of things can happen in the next seven weeks and will happen in college football. Hang in there, be faithful, cheer hard, and get excited. We're going to continue to do everything we can here to put our best foot forward as a program, and I would hope that our supporters do the same.
On the other offensive areas on which the Wolfpack needs to improve…
Everywhere. The protection at times, and that goes on a lot of people; it's not just the O-line. Sometimes, it's the D-line doing a better job, but there was a lot of times in that game where [Armstrong] couldn't sit in the pocket and throw, and he was running for his life. Then, there was times we had good protection, and guys weren't open. Then, there was times guys were open with good protection, and he's able to throw the ball, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. All of that playing together, it's a function of having good protection repetitively over time so that you trust your pocket as a quarterback, and then your running backs are part of that protection, or sometimes your tight end's a part of that. Sometimes, it's the timing of a route like the guy is supposed to break the route off at however many yards, and he doesn't. Where you expected him to release inside, and you released outside or vice versa. There’s a million things going on at once while that defense is coming at you as a QB. I just think the chemistry of it all has to be better for it all to look right. When you watch our defense, you see guys in sync, when you watch our offense, we're not. That's the difference right now, so we've got to get in sync. There's lots of things that go into that. The quarterback's always the guy that everyone points out. It starts at the head coach, then it goes to the coordinator, then the position coaches, then the quarterback, then everyone else. All of us are the ones to blame, and all of us are the ones to fix it. I don't think you can just throw anybody out under the bus in this, as a reporter. We need to get better. We all know that. We're going to go get better, and I'm excited for the opportunity to do that.
On the benefit of having Armstrong on the sideline in the first year of Anae’s offense…
Look he knows the offense well. He’s been through a lot as a player. He’ll be a great sounding board. He’ll have energy down there for guys. He'll cheer guys on. He's going to be a good teammate down there. I guarantee that, and I know that he'll do a good job helping M.J. and the other guys around him
On appealing Sean Brown’s targeting penalty…
We've submitted the paperwork through the league office, and they turn it in, and then eventually we'll find out if he can he play in the first half [against Marshall] or not. Right now, we just don't have an answer.
On the difficulty making tough personnel decisions…
Yeah, it’s hard. We all know why anyone transfers and has one year left; they want to finish out and have a great year. Like I said, [Armstrong] is a guy you want on your team. He’s tough, man. He competes his butt off, and he puts his body on the line every week and runs through people. He's a good guy. He's a good person. Whenever you have to have tough conversations with anyone who does everything that he can and works really hard, and it's just not going well, that's not easy for anybody in life. You speak to him from the heart and tell him you love him and that this is what's best for the organization. He understands that. He’s a great guy. To answer your question, yeah, delivering hard news as a leader is never the fun part of the job, but it's also a necessary thing. You always have to choose what's best for the organization, at the end of the day. I’ve had to do that through my tenure here in a lot of different avenues whether it's staff, systems, different things. Three years ago, we switched from a four-down to three-down defense. There's a lot of, “Why are we doing this?” Well, it's really paid off; we're playing really well. Sometimes, you make decisions that really work out, and they don't just happen overnight. It takes a little bit of time to get the things in place, and so that's where we're at. We're evolving. I've been saying that since training camp that this is going to be an evolution, and it's going to continue to grow.
On the mood of the locker room heading into Marshall preparation…
Yeah, I think it was different [than after losing to Notre Dame]. In the Notre Dame loss, it was a three-phase loss. I felt like, in that game, all parts involved didn't play complementary football for each other. In that game, we scored 24 points which, obviously, we would have loved to have had the other night, and there was spurts in that game where the defense would go three-and-out, and the offense would get field position but not take advantage of it. Then the offense would go score to get us back in the game, and then the defense would give up a touchdown. We just didn't play well as a team even though we had spurts where we played well. It’s different from the Louisville game. The defense played a good game. Aside from a few deep balls, they played a really, really good game. We had one side of the ball that was frustrated because they did everything that they could probably do, and they felt that the other side failed. When you get into those, it's really a tough, tough loss because one side doesn't get the joy from how they played, and the other side is mad that they didn't live up to what the other side needed. Our kids care about each other that way, and they don't want to let each other down. It is a proud group of guys that wants to play well as a team, and it's fixable. That’s the thing now; you look at the pieces that are there, and you're 3-2. You've got seven games left, and the only thing that matters is winning the next game, and you just find a way to do that. Then, you get to the next week. "All right, how can we win this one?” It’s just one week at a time. That’s where we're at.
On the wide receiver corps…
I think K.C. [Concepcion] has been our most consistent on offense in that position. We just had a hard time connecting with him in this past week's game, and it’s something we have to do. We have to be able to get him the football. I was excited. You've heard me talk about Terrell [Timmons], that he's practiced well. We’re waiting for him to get going, so it's good to see that happen. He's one of our faster players, and that'll be a good confidence thing for him. For a quarterback to know where guys are at, Julian Gray is a guy that's had some big catches this year. Keyon [Lesane] had one versus Notre Dame. We need to play better collectively and be more consistent, inside-outside and all of that. The chemistry with M.J. will be a big part of this.
On the running backs…
We're averaging over five yards per carry — taking the VMI game out of it, just in our Power Five games — in the tailback room right now. We need to have more consistent play calling in the run game that way to get those guys some rhythm. I know Robert's talked a lot about that. I think he's trying to figure out or feel out the best way for the O-line with Dylan out. There's been a lot of change when you look at that: the O-line piece with guys moving around, the tight end room had guys moving around. We need to settle in the run game. Michael Allen has showed that he can produce some things there. Obviously, we've seen Delbert Mimms run hard, and he's hard to bring down. Jordan [Houston] stepping away, and then losing Kendrick [Raphael] was a part of that, too; that room dynamic changed. That's just the reality of what's happened in there. We picked up the slack in the run game a little bit, probably a lot with Brennan; some of that's just him running on his own in some of those design runs that you saw. We need to settle in now that we have M.J. in there with the run game and where we're at. Hopefully, we'll have Kendrick coming back to us here soon.