Dave Doeren: "I'm Not Going to Apologize for Winning"
No. 24 NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 38-21 win over Western Carolina Thursday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
It’s great to be 1-0, and I’m really proud of how we finished. Obviously in the game, we would love to have played better in the first half, but I'm not going to apologize for winning either. I think Western Carolina played a hard-fought game. Defensively, we didn't tackle well in the first half. We gave up some third downs that we usually don’t. Offensively, we didn't convert on some drives. We went for it on fourth down twice and didn't get it. There was some frustration there. We came [into the locker room at halftime],14-14, and I really love how we responded. In the third quarter, even though there weren't a lot of points, we had the ball for eight minutes on the opening drive, got a field goal, took a lead, and then came alive in the fourth quarter, and I was proud of our guys for that. I thought K.C. [Concepcion] really had a great game offensively and sparked us. I was proud of Jordan Waters responding because I don't think he played well in the first half; he really responded. That was great to see, and that's what you look for in veteran players, Davin Vann made a big play. You lean on guys when you need them. It's good to see Grayson [McCall] in there. He finally got to get tackled for the first time in a year, so that probably felt good for him. Winning is hard, and being 1-0 is great, having a couple days to recover and to get ready to go play in Charlotte against Tennessee.
On wearing down the Catamounts to pull away in the fourth quarter...
Well, it helped having the ball for 38 minutes in time of possession. [Winning] time of possession helps. With their rotation on defense, being an FCS program, they were probably worn down, I would think, going in the fourth quarter. I also think our guys woke up a little bit. We just started playing better. That's why you play games. You’ve got to go out there and learn where you're at. There were some nerves with a lot of new players in the program, probably. There's lot to learn from. We stress the fourth quarter. Every day in practice, we talk about being finishers, and that was something I was very proud of tonight.
On McCall’s performance…
He hit it on the head, and I'm sure he'll tell you the same thing. There were some balls that, if he would have put a little bit to the right or a little bit to the left, would have been completions, some of them for potentially big gains, but he played a good football game. He kept drives alive. He used his feet. He protected the football. He had the one pick early, and after that, I thought he settled in and played a good football game. I know he's going to watch it; his accuracy is one of his strengths, and so that'll be something that he'll continue to improve.
On Concepcion leading the offense…
Some of it is progressions. We wanted to get him the football, obviously, on the plays we flipped it to him on and things like that, but some of them were progression reads. They were trying to cover him with a guy one-on-one at times, and we're going to win that matchup. When we have one-on-ones in the slot, you're going to see him catch a lot of passes. There were a couple times they played over-under on him and doubled him, and you saw the ball go to other people. Justin Joly had some big catches for us in the game as well. We did get to spread the ball around a little bit. It was good to see Terrell Anderson have a catch. Noah Rogers had a couple catches. Wesley Grimes had a catch, so we were able to get the ball in several people's hands.
On the new technology aiding the game planning…
It did. I think the biggest thing is, when you get to the sideline, you know exactly what happened. There's no question-and-answer portion of the show. You hit the button, and you get to see that this guy didn't get it done, or their guy beat us, or we did a really good job doing this. “Here's how they're playing us in coverage.” I thought the iPads were really advantageous, and it's the same for both teams, obviously. You probably ask the players about the headset and how that impacted them. I did hear the coaches talking to them throughout the game, and there's nice things that you can do when you're giving your your quarterback and your linebacker some tips based on down, distance, and some things that might happen. I thought it went smooth.
On Concepcion and Waters getting a lot of touches…
Both responded, You never know going into a game. You have your game plan, but you know, when you get in it, there's going to be things that happen. You’ve just gotta see, and I wanted to see a lot. I wanted to see a lot of these players how they'd respond to a game day. I hadn't had 42 of these guys in a game before, and so seeing them being down in a game, being up in a game, whatever it might be, and how they're going to respond. Like I said, I thought we learned a lot as the game went on, and guys grew.
On Caden Fordham’s disqualification in the fourth quarter and Ja’Had Carter’s availability…
Caden's one of our better players. Not having him hurts the defense; there's no doubt about it. You'll get to see him obviously as the season goes on. He's a physical presence in the run game. He's a guy that plays really, really hard. He's tough. He's got good leadership skills, so not having them in the middle hurt. There's no question about it. As far as Ja'Had goes, we felt like Ja'Had could go in this game, but we also know that we've got a stretch coming up here, and he wasn't 100 percent. Our plan is to have him ready. I think he could have played tonight, but I think having him 100 percent for these next couple games is more important, so you'll see him against Tennessee and in games to come.