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 48-41 win over Marshall and its upcoming matchup at No. 17 Duke.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
Starting with our win over Marshall, really proud of the team and our staff. Coming off of an emotional, tough loss the week prior, I thought our team and staff show great resolve and fought with each other and for each other. It reloaded our spirit and went to work. We beat a very good football team. I thought it was a really good game. It was a team win. That was the biggest thing we wanted to see: offense, defense, special teams and the energy of our sideline working together. There were certain times that one side was doing better than the other, and the other side would pick that side up. Good teams find a way to win. It was great to see complementary football throughout the game. Momentum swung both ways multiple times. We were down multiple times in the game, and the guys kept playing. I was proud of them for that.
When you lose the game like we did the week before, you could say it was fragile after that game. Guys were really upset. I’m proud of Payton Wilson for bringing the team together in the locker room. He's a great leader. He said some really good things, and then the guys responded.
I was impressed with Marshall. I think [Charles Huff] has done a great job. They were an undefeated team coming in, a team that had already beaten Virginia Tech. They're a very sound football team. They have good players. It took a great effort on our part. I thought you got to see a lot of complementary, 11-man football.
We had some great individual play as well, ending with an onside kick recovery from Chris Toudle which I thought was a great play by Chris. Offensively, we were very explosive in the game. I think that was a huge factor. We had 11 explosive plays. Individually, Trent Pennix had a great game. K.C. [Concepcion]. Michael Allen had an explosive run, Delbert [Mimms, III] had an explosive run, and Terrell Timmons had an explosive reception. They were a bunch of good plays there to spark us at needed times. We were four-for-four in the red zone. I thought M.J. [Morris] had a tough start and then responded really well. He threw some great balls, a couple under pressure. He was very accurate after that first couple of series. The negatives on offense: turning the ball over three times. It's hard to win games doing that. You don't win a lot of games with three turnovers. It’s something we have to do better, particularly getting ready for this next game this week. Also, we had two holding penalties that we could prevent with technique.
On defense, we played a lot of snaps: 94 snaps, 18 possessions. We had three takeaways and seven three-and-outs. I thought our sudden change response, which is what we call when we go out there on a short field after turnovers or had one good kick return — we had two poor kickoffs that led to some poor field position for our defense — I thought they responded really well in those tough situations. We had six sacks and took out their tailback run game, which was a big part of what they were doing well. [Cam Fancher] played well. We gave up too many explosive plays in the pass game in that game, something we need to work on, playing tighter coverage. Negatives on defense: like I said, the explosive plays. In 97 plays, there's going to be some things that happen, but we missed a few more tackles than we'd like to see.
On special teams, I think our return game has been exceptional all year. Jalen Coit had three returns over 10 yards. Keyon Lesane did a great job on that first kickoff return to get us to position across the 50. It was well-blocked with a tremendous effort by Julian Gray to lead him around the edge of that thing. Our kicker, Brayden [Narveson], has done a nice job. He was two-for-two [on field goals]. Caden Noonkester had his first career shank, hopefully his last, but I was really impressed with how he responded. At the end of the game, we needed a big punt. He gave us one downed near the 1-yard line. I already mentioned Chris Toudle's onside kick recovery.
We’re looking forward to the first of three in-state games for us in conference, an opportunity to go play a very good Duke football team. I've known Mike Elko a long time, and I have a great amount of respect for him. He's done a great job. They have a really good football team. They're a stout defensive front. They're very well-coached on defense. They know their system and the ins and outs of it. They do a lot of exotic things on third down: good blitzes, good bluffs off their blitzes. The kids understand what they're doing, and they're well coached.
They're one of the better teams in the country at getting the ball back. Last year they led the nation in forced fumbles. We have to do a great job of taking care of the football. Protecting it, protecting the runners with blocking and the quarterback with protection. It's going to be a great challenge. Their front does a really good job, their line stunts with their four-man rush packages and different things that they do.
Offensively, they've been balanced. We’re not sure which quarterback's playing for them. We have a tremendous amount of respect for Riley [Leonard]. What a difference he's made in their program. Their tailback, Jordan Waters, is thick, strong, has good balance, vision. The receivers, in the slot [Jalon] Calhoun and the outside receiver Jordan Moore, are both really good players. Their offensive line's played well. I know they were missing their left tackle, but it sounds like he's going to be back. He's a potential first round draft pick.
It's a really good football team. We’re excited to play. He's done a great job there. I haven't been to Duke in a long time, so I look forward to playing them in their stadium. I know our guys are excited. They're coming off a bye week, so we expect them to be pretty rested compared to us. I know the team coming out of the locker room was excited, not just to have the win, but to have an opportunity to go play such a good team this week.
On Concepcion's progression...
He's getting better each week. He's very comfortable in the offense. I think his fundamentals improved as the season went on. You saw a couple of his drops were him looking to run before he completed the catch. Those are things that happen if you don't finish the process of catching the football. The thing you love about K.C. is that he's a fast learner. When he does make a mistake, he makes it at full speed. He learns from his error. He's very competitive. He's one of these guys that doesn't want to repeat mistakes. Those are the kind of guys you like to coach. He's a talented runner with the ball as well. I liked the game plan to be able to get him the ball in more ways than one. Sometimes you can put things on the board. You want to throw it to him here, throw it to him there. It doesn't always work out that way based on how they cover a guy or double team a guy or the pass rush doesn't allow the quarterback that opportunity. That's happened. It's happened to several players on our offense this year. I thought Coach [Robert] Anae and the staff did a great job trying to find ways to get the ball to him, to Julian [Gray]. We have to continue to do that with Keyon as well. This offense is evolving and as it does, so do the players. As you mentioned, you're seeing K.C. be a guy that's hard to handle.
On Wilson addressing fans in postgame...
I think you got a chance to hear the pulse of our team. He's the leader of this football team. He is the best player on this football team. Payton doesn't say things that aren't from his heart. As a fan base or a group of people that got to hear someone, these are brothers in the locker room. His words reflect how we feel. I think for everybody out there to take a moment and really absorb the information he gave them and try to be supportive of people that are doing the best they can in tough situations. I think Payton spoke for all of us.
On preparing for Duke’s offense despite not knowing who will start at quarterback...
We have to prepare for [Leonard], first of all, until we find out he's not playing. We've heard a lot of different things. We've heard it's a high ankle, and surgery wasn't needed. He's feeling better. Then, we've heard that he's not doing as good, and it's coach speak. We probably won't find out until game day so you have to prepare like he's going play. With [Henry Belin, IV], there's very limited film of him in college playing. We'll go back to his high school film as well to see what his skill set is. He's got a huge arm. You can see that, not just in the Lafayette game, but in his high school film, the type of runner that he is compared to Riley and how they might use him. It's like an opening game a little bit where you're not sure who's going to play at quarterback sometimes for some of your opponents that you have, but I know Riley's a tremendous competitor. You read about the kid, you see him play, he's going to do everything he can to be out there.
On Morris improving from his first game to his second...
I said this in my postgame: it's been a long time since he played. When he had his injury last year, he did not get to practice for a long time. He was out during the bowl prep and practiced some. That was the first time he has been tackled and the first time he's had game speed at him that way since last season. I do expect him to grow and improve each week. The challenge changes each week as well, but the game does slow down the more you play it. I think that's a real thing. His confidence is exceptional. I was really proud of how he communicated with his guys. He'll learn. Like I talked about K.C., M.J. will learn from the things that he wants to be better at. Things that he can do not just with his arm, but his eyes. Things that he can look at and put into how I want to respond, how I want to do things. The timing and the efficiency and all of the things that go with it. I think that's a really good question and I would hope that that's what we see.
On utilizing the jet sweep “push pass” against Marshall...
In that particular game, we ran a couple different ways. It's a way where you're trying to get the ball in the hands of somebody that's fast — which we have several guys like that that are good after the catch — with a bunch of blockers in front of them. It's old school, student body right or left in some cases. In some cases, there's misdirection where the line could be going opposite the pitch. It's something that Coach Anae has done in the past, and it’s something that we did a lot at another school I was at. Coming out of the games we played, we were just trying to find more ways to have explosive plays. Like I said earlier, you can draw things up, but they don't always have the ability to get the ball there. Whether it's a handoff, a pitch, or however you do it because you can do that play either way, you're forcing the issue. You're getting the ball in the hands of a guy that can make plays.
On the offensive line...
It was better. Having Dylan McMahon in there makes a huge difference. His experience, his talent at center. It also allowed [Lyndon Cooper] to play guard. For Coop, I think having two games under his belt at center now moving over to guard only helps him. During the week, the guys up front, and really as an offense, we all knew we had to play better around the quarterback, like I said last week. The O-line took that to heart. We talked about blocking for one more second, so the back can have a bigger hole, or the quarterback can have a little bit more time to throw untouched, or the receiver can have one more step to get open. That was a huge emphasis, and it paid off. The guys did a nice job up front. There are things we can definitely do better and going to have to. Duke's front is very, very good. They're older, experienced kids. They're thick. They're strong. We're going have to do everything we can this week to protect and to create the run game we want to have to be balanced.
On the rivalry with Duke and if he wants to retain the locked schedule with the Blue Devils as the ACC schedule shifts to accommodate the new teams...
I think having a team 30 minutes from your campus that you never face is strange. I've said this before: it's not just for our school; it's for all the kids that play the ACC. It's great to have more variety in who you're playing in the league. You're playing in a conference over your four or five years that you're in it; you'd love to say you played at every school home and away. Getting the chance to play Duke in the rotation, whether it's every year or at least every two years home and away, would be outstanding.
On Pennix’s performance againt Marshall...
They were both well-designed plays. Coach Anae called them at the right time. Trent did an excellent job, especially on the first one, of slipping a defender. They were protected well so that he could get the ball to him. The design of these plays matters [as does] the timing of when you call them because you know they're better against some looks than other looks. The execution in all those were perfect in every case. It helps when you can distribute the football to more than one guy. You want to spread it around. It makes you harder to defend. If everybody's leaning the one player all the time and double teaming a guy or over-under on a guy, that means other people have a chance. I know that's something Robert's really trying hard in his game planning to do: to get the ball to Julian, to Keyon, to Trent: guys that have shown over the years that they deserve that. They've worked hard. That's a continuation of this thing. There's been a lot of things happening when you look at the six games between the quarterback change, the injuries we've had, the running back position changes, the center. It's a work in progress. To see us put up 48 points last week against a top-20 defense, that was great progress.
On end-of-game play-calling...
Games are hard to win. They're precious, too. Each one of these last 40 seconds of the game has definitely shortened my lifespan. In dog years, 14 or 15 years are gone now because of that final 60 seconds of stress. Our kids are well-coached. They understand situational football. We spend a lot of time on the final four minutes of games whether it's us trying to finish a game with the football or to get the ball back which you saw in the Louisville game. Our defense did a great job in back-to-back series of getting the ball back for our offense. We practice that stuff all throughout camp. We practice it during the week. Every Thursday and Friday, we're reviewing game-ending plays because, when you get to them, if the guys don't know what to do, it can ruin the entire day. You've got to do a great job. You have to communicate as coaches, too: the timing that's left, how many timeouts are involved, what's going on there, can we take a knee, do we need to run a play... There's a lot of thought that goes into that, a lot of communication on this staff, too.
On what goes into the success scoring at end of halves...
Sometimes, it's a feel for what's going on with the team. We were getting the ball back. A lot of times, it's the first play of that drive. Sometimes, these teams put their dime defense out there, you run the ball thinking that you're running into a light front, and you might pop one. Then, you get TFL’ed, and you're like, “Well, that didn't work. What are we going to do here?” I think it's a game of percentages: how many timeouts you have left, how you're feeling about your kicker, all those different things. A lot of it is a gut feel. It is. I know everybody in the crowd always wants you to go, go, go, but the last thing you want to do is turn the ball over and give the other side a chance to score before you go in, too. You have to be calculated in it. You have to go with what you feel is going on with your team in that moment, how they look going out on the field, if they’re confident in that moment to go score. I do prefer to be aggressive, but I'm not going to hang our defense out if I'm not feeling like it's a good time to put a foot down.
On the run game against Marshall...
I think it starts with the O-line. Those guys did a better job opening up holes for them. They sustained their blocks a little bit more. When I say O-line, that's inclusive of anyone else blocking on the play there. The tight ends, sometimes they're involved on that. The fullback, the receivers down the field really strained. You'll see Bradley Rozner, Keyon, and Porter Rooks. Guys fighting down the field to help guys. The backs, they hit it. When they saw those holes, they hit it. There was no hesitation. It's 11-man football when you bust a big run. It's usually not one thing. It was great to see. It was really good to see in the run game because that opens up so many other things when you're not one dimensional.
On the team’s success on the road...
It's nice to stay in our team hotel. There is a routine there and there's a comfort in that. We have played well on the road. I would expect our team, regardless of whether we're home and away, to go perform at a high level. That's the one thing this team: they're a fun group of guys. They really are. I know they're excited about playing at Duke. Nobody in the locker room has had that opportunity yet. It's a team that's gotten a lot of deserved notoriety this year with their win over Clemson and the way they played Notre Dame down to the final. That was a crazy ending. Fourth-and-16, they had them, and the quarterback runs for 16 and an inch to get it, then they win. They had that game in their grasp. It's a good football team. I look forward to playing them in their stadium. I know the environment will be good. Their fans and students have gotten behind them. We look forward to that as well.
On the depth at defensive line...
First thing, Red Hibbler has really been a factor for us as a pass rusher. When he comes in the game, he's getting to the quarterback, he's forcing fumbles, and he's creating havoc. Brandon Cleveland, I thought played really well when he was in there, he and C.J. [Clark] in that rotation. Noah Potter is a strainer. He plays so hard when he comes in the game. Travali Price plays so hard. There's a seven-man rotation for those three spots. The guys are keeping each other fresh. The disruption continues to be effective. The different guys that Coach [Tony Gibson] is bringing on blitzes have also come the right way. We talk about blitzing in a certain way. It needs to be violent. It needs to be attacking, downhill. Being able to get off blocks and jump over people. There's a demeanor to it. I like the way those guys are playing. I'm super impressed with the strain and disruption of Davin Vann, Savion [Jackson], and C.J. There's just a standard of play in that room now. If you're going to take reps from them, you better come in and deliver. The guys are really responsive in that way.
On getting pressure with three-man rush...
A few years ago when we had Daniel Joseph and Levi Jones, we didn't blitz a lot that year and those guys were very productive as pass rushers. Definitely more so after that group left, haven't had the same ability in a three-man rush that we have now. There were multiple times in the game Saturday where — there's one play in particular. Savion and Davin were both double teamed. They chipped with the tight end on one side and they slid the other side. Both of them split the double teams and met in the backfield on the QB. That's awesome strength by two guys. Ithink our defense is one that we can't be one dimensional. What we do, it has to be mixing it up. We're stunting, we're blitzing, we're showing, we're dropping eight, and we're bringing guys. It's a constant make you think after the snap, if we can, not before on what's coming and where it's coming from.
On Rakeim Ashford's status
Unfortunately, Rakeim is out for the year with a knee injury. [A defender] flew into the side of his leg. I can't go into the specifics of it, but it's going to require surgery. I felt so bad for him. He’s been through a ton this year with the hit at UConn and now this. Football is a great sport, and it's also a tough sport when it comes to injury. It is. That one hurts. It's the second safety that we have now, with Jakeen Harris the other one, being out for the season. That depth chart has really shrunk. What started as a really good three-deep has been reduced, so it’s more on the other guys. Prayers towards Rakeim for sure.