VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren's Weekly Quotebook
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media via Zoom for his weekly press conference where he discussed the Wolfpack's road win over California and its upcoming matchup versus Stanford.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening statement
Going back to our game with Cal, it was a really good game and a heck of a comeback by our guys. To go eight straight games, finish that run with a long road trip, long flight, bus ride, all those things, coast-to-coast, and to come back after two tough, one-possession losses, it says a lot about the fight in the staff and this team. I’m proud of the guys for being resilient, and we are getting better and improving. You can see that in a lot of areas. I’m really proud of the guys and the staff for just showing and showcasing our perseverance, our toughness, and our togetherness.
Cal is a good football team. If they had a kicker, they’d've probably won three more games. They have really good defense; they lead the conference in turnover margin and scoring defense. To win this game on the road was a heck of a game, and the passion and will to win of our players in the fourth quarter was really beautiful thing to see. Some guys stepped up in that quarter, and it's really cool when you see a captain and some of your older players to make some critical plays to help you win a game. I saw that with Davin Vann taking his pass rush to another level, the two sacks in the fourth quarter. Bishop Fitzgerald, a senior safety, made some key plays, some pass breakups on critical downs.
I can't say enough about C.J. Bailey, his improvement, how he's grown, not just as a player but as a leader, finding chemistry with his guys. You see it with different players: the growth with him and Justin Joly, K.C. [Concepcion], Noah [Rogers], and Dacari [Collins]. He’s giving guys chances to make plays down the field with balls that the defense can't make plays on. Wesley Grimes made a really nice play. Keenan [Jackson] and Terrell [Anderson] continue to improve. Obviously, Hollywood Smothers has been explosive for us, catching the football and running after the catch. You just see C.J.'s confidence growing, and I like how he giving his guys a chance to make plays. He's protecting the ball better. We played complementary football in that fourth quarter, and we've played really well in the fourth quarter this year, with the exception of the end of the Wake game. I think our guys have really done a good job.
From an improvement standpoint, something we need to do better is at the beginning of games. I think the bye week came at a good time. We were able to get some needed rest, get healthier for this four-game span that we have in November, and dive into ourselves from a critical standpoint, self-scout with tendencies, breaking down schemes, looking at players, what they're doing well, what they're not doing well, communicating those things in a productive way to our guys, looking at things we can do better, things that we need to spend more time on, things that we need to improve, tendencies, and how we can break them. It's a good blend of recovery time for the guys physically so that they could get fresh, but also reset mentally, and then getting on the field and in the film room so they can grow and putting together a plan for them to do so, not just in fundamentals, but with scheme for us as coaches.
In that game, I thought the conversion downs were the difference. We won the third-down battle and fourth-down battle on both sides of the football. We're able to stay on the field, in a lot of cases, on third down offensively and get off the field [on defense]. We were 2-for-2 on fourth down. They were 0-for-2 on fourth down in some critical downs, and red-zone football, it’s the same thing. We were able to hold them to field goals, and we were able to get some touchdowns and make our kicks inside the red zone. There’s some improvements and momentum going into a bye which is great for the football team.
Now, we move on to this four-game stretch, starting with Stanford. It’s a home game; we’re excited to be back home for the next two games, the last two home games for us. Our crowd was amazing at the last home game, and I would love to have you here in full force for these next two final games of the year, bring that energy, and help us in our efforts to finish strong. You guys are a factor at home, and these next two games need to have that. That gives us the best opportunity to finish strong in a very critical month of the season.
Stanford is a tough team physically. When you watch the film, they play really hard. They've had three different quarterbacks, and they're all athletic guys that can run around. I’m very impressed with their receiver, [Elic Ayomanor]; he's one of the better receivers that we've played in our conference. On the defensive side, they have three defensive ends that are very identical in build. When you look at [David Bailey], [Tevarua Tafiti], and [Ernest Cooper], they're long, athletic edge players. They scored two defensive touchdowns in their Wake Forest game. They present a lot of different things: a lot of zone coverage but two different fronts, even and odd, and some pressures. They do a nice job mixing it up up front and adding different guys in for a fourth, a fifth, and sixth rusher.
I'm really focusing on how we can get better and continue to grow with the young guys that we're playing with, particularly on offense, and getting some healthier guys back in the fold. Brandon Cisse practiced for us this week so far, and it looks like he's ready to return which is great for our secondary. We're just finding those little things, the turnover margin and finishing critical plays. Every football game comes down to four or five plays, and you just don't know when they're going to happen. Pushing these guys to make those plays in practice is playing fast and physical and together. As I said, November is a really critical month in college football for all programs, and you're putting yourself in a position to have postseason play or not. I love to finish, and I know our players do, and I look forward to the opportunity to do so here in these next four games.
On what a game week following the trip to California would have looked like…
It would have been challenging. I mean, we played the 12:30 game in California, as you know, and with that being said, we still didn't get back to Raleigh until almost 4 a.m. It would have been hard to have anything on a Sunday with the guys. It was 4 a.m. Sunday when we landed, and so guys aren't in bed until 4:30 in the morning, so it would have changed our weekly routine. Obviously, there would have been a sleep deficit that you'd be concerned with. Five-and-a-half to six hours of sitting on a plane after playing a football game, coaching a football game, you could feel it in your legs. I think this is the fourth time going to the East Coast for Stanford. It's a lot. The travel is real. You can feel it. For us, going out there on a Thursday made a difference. I can tell you that, changing our routine from a travel standpoint, but I am thankful we had a bye on the back end of this, particularly with it being our eighth straight game. It would have been really hard playing nine in a row coming off of that one.
On Grayson McCall’s retirement from playing…
I asked him how he wanted to go about the next stage, and he needed time. I said, "You do whatever you need to do, and we're here to support you." That's really it. I’m like, “When you're ready to announce the next steps, let's have a conversation." We knew where this thing was going, and I wanted him to do it his way. He's earned every opportunity in the sport. He's a great teammate. He’s a tremendous young guy to coach. He’s got a bright future as a coach, if that's what he chooses to do, but as a leader, for sure. It was pretty simple. “Hey, do what you need. What do you need from us? How can we help in the process?" Speaking with him and his family, "when do you need time?” He needed time with his family during the bye week which we totally got, and I was happy for him that he's able to do it his way. I know that was a tough week, as it is for any player, but you know when it ends without it being your choice, when basically God is telling you it's time to stop. He is a spiritual young man, and so being able to lean into his path that way and trust in the Lord was a big part of this for him.
On when McCall informed him and the team of his decision…
He's done it all in his own time. We kind of knew after the game, if he had another one, that that was probably it. It was pretty quick. It was more a matter of the steps he wanted to take and when he was ready to make it a public thing. It's a big step to make that announcement and have to say those words, even though you know that it's probably happening, to say those words out loud and to do it the way that he did. I thought it was really well done. There's a lot of things, as you can imagine, being talked about before they become public.
On coming off of this year’s bye week compared to last season’s…
It's similar, and it’s not [similar] from last year. Last year, we were coming off of a pretty embarrassing loss to Duke, and so the bye week was really a recalibration of a lot of things. We were going through the quarterback thing, as you know, which we don't need to rehash. The team did a great job buying into the changes we needed to make. We put our best foot forward, caught some momentum, beat Clemson, beat Miami, and got on a roll there behind the different things we were doing. This year, it's more coming out of a win with back-to-back 300-yard games for a young quarterback, and he's gaining confidence, momentum, and timing. It's building on that, and looking at the things that we've done with him, areas that he's having success, areas where he's not, and not just him — the guys around him, how can we take advantage of the things we're doing well, and what tendencies are on there that we need to fix? Fundamentally, what can we do to help? In protection, what can we do to help in the run game? But there's a lot more momentum coming into this year's bye week than there was last year coming out of the game we had with Duke, so that piece is different. You're hoping for the same results which is a better football team coming out of the break, and we're definitely in a better place health-wise, and that was critical, because it was slim. It was really slim at one point during that game. Not just fatigue, but there were some pretty sore guys playing, and so they needed a break.
On what he learned the most about his team during the bye...
Well, without giving away things, because we have to play a game, there's a lot of things you learn. The big picture things, we need to play better early in the game. We are a really good fourth quarter team when you look at us statistically, and we're not a really good first quarter team. Being able to start the game better is something that sticks out statistically. When we take care of the football and do a good job on defense getting it back, we're undefeated since 2020 when we win the turnover margin. If you look at the games we've lost this year, it's a problem in those games. Those two factors are really paramount in our improvement. Special teams wise, it's been a weird year. It's just been a lot of kicks in the end zone. Our kickoff return hasn't had a lot of opportunities. Our kickoff team's only had one kick back. When you look at what you need to get better at, our punt coverage, at times, Caden [Noonkester] has been a huge weapon, and at times we haven't had the same success, so [we need to be] more consistent in that are. Looking at our place kicker, Kanoah [Vinesett] from 40 [yards] and in is 100 percent, knock on wood. We've had him try some longer kicks and haven't had success there. It's an area that he can improve. One of them is not on him. He kicked a 52-yarder into the wind because it was fourth-and-20. Normally, I'd have gone for it there, but I like what he's doing. It's interesting when you see it because, even our punt return team, we've been in safe punt almost a third of the time. If you can get your punt block team on the field, you've got a chance for returns. You've got a chance to rush punts. We've just had a lot more fourth-and-medium to [fourth-and]-shorts where you're worried about fakes from the other team, so that's an area that we're really looking at: how we can gain an edge in the special teams part of the game. As you know, that's been a big factor for us over the years: being able to win games with that third of the game. Really, the focus is individuals that have a lot of reps and how we can help them take another step. There's little things in each position. You look at the offense, and you start always up front: what can we be better at at each position — left tackle, left guard, center, right guard, right tackle, tight end — and finding one little thing in each guy's game. We call it a "one-more” here: the thing that they need to put, either put on film or take off of film between the bye week and the next game. I really believe in that aggregate improvement across the board.
On addressing concussion-related safety and McCall’s path to coaching…
Part one of your question, we take their safety very, very seriously. Anytime there's any type of brain injury or concussion, they go through a rigorous protocol. Sometimes, it's second and third opinions. Sometimes, it's even going to the NFL to get advice. Our staff does a tremendous job medically downstairs, Justin Smith and our team of docs. Those aren’t decisions coaches make. They're not. As far as [McCall] as a coach, yeah, absolutely. I told him, “If this is the path you want to be on, we're all in helping you.” Obviously, he's got our staff, he's got [Coastal Carolina head] coach [Tim] Beck’s staff. He’s got [Liberty head] coach [Jamey] Chadwell's staff. He knows a lot of coaches. He’s going to have opportunities in this profession, if this is what he wants. I think, right now, he's just kind of feeling things out. I don't think it's good for anybody to make rush judgments when they don't need to. He's got time, and I think he's just enjoying being around the team right now. He's still a captain. He's still leading. He's helping C.J. and Lex [Thomas] in meetings. At practice today, he was fantastic. He's out there giving them advice, talking about what he sees. He loves the game of football. He loves the brotherhood of football, and he's going to be really good, if that's the path. It could be high school. It could be college. Who knows which direction he takes it? I don't think there's a rush to that. The guy just made an announcement he's not playing anymore. You can give him some time to decide his future.
On added safety measures such as guardian caps…
In his case, it wouldn't have mattered. The helmet came off. I think those are things that need to be discussed in the offseason. Again, there's a lot of medical people that look at the safety, not just in the NFL, but the college level. As coaches, we're going to do what they recommend, and we wear them in practice every day. If they think that's the best foot forward in college football, then yeah, I would be 100 percent behind it. Again, I'm not going to make medical decisions based off statistics that I don't have my hands on. If that's the direction people want to take it, you're going to have full support from NC State.
On the three newcomers to the ACC...
I watched the Duke/SMU game live. That was a crazy game with all the turnovers, and SMU certainly is having a good season. You can see their value, the way they're playing. They're very explosive on offense. We just played Cal, and like I said, they have the number one defense in our league right now statistically: 17.1 points a game, I think is what I saw today. It’s pretty impressive. I'll have a better feel for you on Stanford after we play them. All three teams are good football teams. They're well-coached. I have a lot of respect for their coaches, being around them. They're first-class guys. They're very professional guys. They know the league, and they've been around the sport, and I've known two of them longer; Troy [Taylor] is the one I've probably known the least amount of time, who we're playing this week. They're good coaches, great programs, and good schools. I’ve got to tell you: playing at Cal, getting there is one spent one thing, but being there, it's a cool stadium. It's cool to be in that environment. Our players really enjoyed being in the Bay and seeing all that. It's a life experience for them, so I don't see anything but positives that way.
On the timetable for Devan Boykin’s return…
Not yet. His recovery is going really well, and when he's ready to play, we'll have him out there, but again, we're not going to rush him. Everything's been good downstairs. He's working hard, and he’s done a great job doing everything they've asked.
On the run game…
It's interesting when you look at it. We have three backs averaging over four yards per carry, but when you look at our total run game numbers, they're not good because of the negative-yard plays we've had with sacks and TFLs. It's inconsistent. It's not where we want it to be yet, but it's not a failure either. I think you also get behind in a couple games where you stop running the football, and so we need to be better there. I'll also tell you that some of the throws that we're making are on run plays, and so that's a little bit misleading, too. When you're in an RPO system like we are, at times, there are handoffs to be made, and the coverage is telling us to throw it, and we're throwing it for completions. Sometimes, it looks like you're a more pass-heavy offense than you are because the actual play call is a run with a pass, and it can go the opposite really quick if you're defended in a different way. We'll see how it goes. You guys all know that I like the physicality of football. I do enjoy being able to be balanced and run the ball, and we're not there right now. We're not, and it's something we need to get better at.
On the traits McCall possesses that would make him a great coach…
He's a confident guy. He's very humble as well. He has a lot of humility. I think he has a lot of perspective. You guys know his story, but coming out of high school, he wasn't very recruited. He was overlooked and was kind of a self-made guy. He’s very decorated, and he plays the game hard and prepares really hard. He really respects the game. When I say respects, I'm not just talking about the game itself, but what goes in behind the game, how hard you have to work, the way that the meeting should be, the preparation you should have at his position, the routine you need to have to prepare to win, the way that guys should practice around you, and how it irritated him when a guy wasn't going full speed when he wanted him full speed, and he would talk to him about that. There’s just a level of standard of play which coaches look for, too, and that's where you could just see him as a player, like, “This guy's going to be a good coach, if that's what he wants." I really appreciate how he treats people, too. You can just see him having interactions with guys, coaches from both sides of the ball, players from both sides of the ball. If you walk in the team meeting room, he's always one of the first people there, always. He’s just an impressive young man. He's one of those guys that you just really pull for. I'm super excited about what's next for him. He's going to be elite.
On navigating non-conference scheduling…
Scheduling is interesting because these games are scheduled so far out, sometimes seven or eight years out, even. I don't know how you can do it right anymore because these conferences keep changing. You sit there, and you schedule a game, and you wonder, "Is that league now going to force them to play more league games?” Now, we've had some teams cancel on us in the SEC because they're potentially having to play more league games. I like having a competitive schedule. I also like having some games where I know I can get more players in the game, develop some youth, and get some game experience for some guys. When you look at some of the teams that are ranked right now, and you have some teams that have six and seven wins, and some of their strengths schedules aren't very good. Then, we played a really challenging schedule, as you know, early in the year. I think there's value to being undefeated. I think there's also value in Clemson opening with Georgia; that's a tough opener, but it sure as heck got them ready for the rest of the season. They're playing really good football right now. You've got to be smart about it. You don't want to put too much too soon because you do need to play your roster early in the year. I think that's really important to get some of your backups meaningful reps. But you don't want it to be a cake walk either. You want to be tested, and you want to play against some good players so you're ready for those higher-up conference games.