Dave Doeren: "Proud Of The Way Our Guys Came Back"
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the 30-20 home win over Louisiana Tech.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
“Proud of the way our guys came back. That's what I'm used to seeing. It was obviously not a great first half, to say the least, but it was a great response in the second. Players rallied around each other in that locker room. The defense talked about what they needed to do, offense, what they needed to do. CJ (Bailey) obviously played very poised, just proud of him in the way the guys played for him, catching the football, just protected better. Did some good things, correcting some things.”
“We were getting too many free hitters in the backfield in the run game and the pass game in the first half. But it's a hell of a win. Anytime you're down two scores and you come back, particularly when you're doing it with a quarterback really throwing his first passes in college football. He got some snaps against Tennessee, but he didn't throw it. it says a lot.”
“The defense really did a great job sparking us with the pick six. Davin Vann, captain, gets back there, hits the quarterback and DK, who you all just met with, did a great job capitalizing on that. Then getting the ball back again. We have played two quarters of complimentary football, really, this season, in three games, I think combined, we played four quarters that way, and that's what we have to do to win. You know, it's a team game.”
“As far as Grayson goes, I'm not going to comment on his injury until I know exactly what's going on. You guys saw him. He's on the sideline after the game, congratulating CJ, so once I have information in my conference Monday, I'll let you guys know where he stands, but I'm not going to speculate on it.”
“It's just poised. I mean, he just went out there and played the game, whether he was throwing the football or scrambling, throwing it away, rushing for some tough yards at times to extend the chains. Did a really good job just managing it, playing fast, and he looked really poised. So that was good to see.”
“Really proud of the way that Devon Marshall came in the game, Jackson Vick came in the game, Corey Coley.”
“Aydan (White) will be back. Kind of day to day, I would say for him. As far as Cisse, I'll let you guys know on Monday.”
“I thought we showed a lot of heart. I mean, I really do. It was a hard, just gritty win.”
“They said a lot for me, and when they were done, it was just, it's time to go do what we're supposed to do. Just do your job, play together, overcome adversity. We've been in this place before. I told him, CJ is going to play his ass off, and everybody you know was behind him. You can hear them rallying behind him. When that defense is going to get up first, they're going to make a stop. Offense, you're going to go score, and it's going to be a one possession game before you look up. I said, just quit thinking about the scoreboard, thinking about playing really physical and together, and if you do that, we're going to win and that's what the guys did. They did a great job, listening, being in it, responding, cheering each other on the sideline, demanding more. I thought it was really, really good response.”
“Yeah, just a little. Look you want the players to be able to vent. You want them get stuff out in there. I mean, I'm going to wait and see, let the coaches make their corrections, let the players say what they need to say, and then, based on how I'm feeling in there with what's being said, I'm going to respond and add in or take it over. I didn't really have to take it over. It was really a calm talk to them, because they were very, very agitated coming in, and captain Sean Brown was in their face, which he should be demanding more. And then I thought, CJ, just he had a bright look on his face. You could tell he was excited and ready to play football and the guy saw that, felt that. Each halftime is different. Every time you walk in there it's different based on what the team needs. I just got to assess that and do my best to fill that need.”
“Yeah, once you get a couple completions, you start feeling it and he did. Robert [Anae] did a nice job giving him some completions that were pretty easy with good protection and let him get into rhythm, let him get going, and we're able to get some better runs as well, which got us out of some long yardage plays. Then we were able to make some plays with our feet at quarterback. He was able to extend some drives on a couple draw plays. Yeah, he was playing confident football. I think everybody could see that.”
“Yeah, time of possession is something that is important when you're playing a no huddle team. They weren't really going fast, so I wasn't as concerned about that. Sometimes you're just not getting explosive plays, and so your drives take longer. We weren't. We weren't really having explosive plays. That style of defense that they play. There's eight guys, and they don't blitz very much, so you're not going to have a lot of down the field plays against defenses like that. The shots we took down the field we didn't connect. We try to hit a couple guys on deep balls, and just didn't connect. So, they were long drives. I told the guys that when you play a drop eight defense, that doesn't blitz a lot, it's going to be a dink and duck run the football type of day. Defensively, it's always the same, can we get off the field as fast as possible, three and out or a takeaway. Offensively, trying to possess the ball and end every drive with a kick.”
“Mixed thoughts, disappointed in some of it. We were able to convert on short yardage runs today. So that was a plus. Every time we had a short yardage, we were effective and got the first down. We scored on the goal line a couple times today on short yardage runs from there, so that was improvement, but I do think there's too many runs that aren't getting the plus three and a half yards that we want to average. We had some explosive runs as well. We had one called back for a holding, which obviously hurts your average. It was a pretty big run. We got to get better there. We just got to keep working at it, you know. It's better than it was but it's not as good as it needs to be. That's probably the best way to say it.”
“He's done that in practice the whole time. I mean, what you saw today is what he's been doing. He's got a really good arm, he has good arm talent, and so now it's just the repetitions and how fast the defenses are playing. He's got good players around him, so, he's going to be a fun player to watch. He's got a bright future for us, obviously, as far as him running in football. He's six-foot-six, it doesn't look like he's running as fast as he is, and sometimes he can cover ground with the stride length. We'll just have to see as we get into the game plan now that he's the starter, as long as Grayson's out, and how we can maximize what's best to move the chains and get first downs and touchdowns.”