Dave Doeren: "This One Runs Deeper"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the upcoming rivalry game on the road at North Carolina.

NOTE: Click above to watch the press conference with coach Doeren.

Opening Statement...
Starting with our game with Georgia Tech, a really hard fought game between two teams. Both teams really wanted it and came down to the last play and was very proud of our guys, how we battled in that game and had to overcome a lot of adversity.

I love how the guys hung in there and just fought and a lot of guys made plays. Not having Davin the last quarter hurt us from a pass rush standpoint. He is really been a presence for us in those kind of moments in two-minute drives. He's doing good. Totally expected to have him this week, so that's good news, but I thought we really played well in the red zone on defense. Held them many times to field goals. Had the interception down there, which was a critical play. We were physical against a physical team. I thought we won the line of scrimmage in that game.

We ran the ball for almost eight yards a carry and stopped the run until the last drive. Two scrambles in that drive were the difference in that series.

We played really hard, played physical. Our guys didn't flinch. I hate that Colin didn't have that kick go through. We had a lot of leg on it. He made a 67-yarder in practice that week in a similar situation, had the wind behind him, felt very confident, would've been a great story, a former walk-on. He has earned a scholarship here and has just done a great job for us. I would've loved to have seen that for many reasons, but for that young man, but gave him a chance.

22 seconds, you get the ball, and CJ threw a great pass to Dacari over the middle. We had a chance on the next one if Noah could have came up with that.  He extended himself and just didn't come down with it.

But I thought both of our line of scrimmages, I thought Oline, d-line both played really well... strained.

I was impressed with our three tailbacks. It was probably the best game the three of 'em collectively have played. They ran hard. They made people miss. They were hard to tackle. They caught the ball well out of the backfield and both tight ends. It was probably Justin Joly’s best game without the ball as a blocker. I thought he really improved against a good defensive end and we made some good catches.  The week before we had some problems with drops and it was good to see the guys get back to stretching and catching.

CJ made some big plays with his legs in that game. Two big scramble touchdowns and then the goal line run, so three touchdown runs.

Negatives, obviously, you turn the football over and two of 'em, one of 'em is a touchdown. The other one goes down to the two-yard line and two tremendous plays by them. Freaky type of plays. The little quick pitch on the quick motion jets is a pretty safe play. I've never seen that play... ricochet, quarterback tries to knock it down, ends up in their hands and they score and then defensive end jumps up and intercepts a ball.

So two tough interceptions. The other one he forced in that two-minute drill. Definitely a teachable moment for him, but tough.

I mean you do everything that you wanted to do in a game to win it, and the two turnovers that I mentioned were the difference.  The turnover margin against a team like that is critical and we did a lot to overcome it and just didn't have that one play that we needed to win it.

And their quarterback, you got to give their quarterback credit. It's a backup quarterback that's come in for Haynes King and he was on fire.  He threw two deep balls that were perfectly thrown, well defended as well over the outside shoulder. Guys made good catches and so sometimes you play a guy with a hot hand and unfortunately we did because our goal was to make him beat us, stop the run and be good in the red zone and those things happened.

Moving on... rivalry week, excited about our opportunity this week, the oldest rivalry in the league, and it's always a hard fought emotional game with them, and I know this one will be no different.

When you look at their ball club offensively, very balanced, tremendous running back, have a lot of respect for Hampton and he's also their fourth leading receiver.  They get him the ball a lot of ways, not just on screens and swing passes, but in check downs and he's dangerous. He's playing really well and his durability is impressive as well for the number of touches and hits that he's taken and given out with some of the physical runs, but really good football player and as always, they've got good skill. Number five, Jones, number 13, Paysour,  tight end Copenhaver, young receiver, Culliver had a really nice kickoff return.

Their quarterback struggled against Boston College, but before that I thought he was playing really good. He had three good games in a row and has made plays with his feet. He is not a scrambler per se, that gets a ton of yards, but he does move around in the pocket and extend drives and has guys around him that make plays.

Defensively they've got a really experienced big defensive line, a lot of seniors, a lot of guys we've played against.

Rucker’s obviously been a force for them this year, leads them in sacks and TFLs and their  boundary safety Lane is a leading tackler.  Theirlinebackers are both productive guys and we've played a lot against Echols, who's a really fast kid and you can tell he's a leader in their defense and they're both productive.

So great opportunity match up between two teams that don't like each other a whole lot, and so there's a lot to play for and excited to get up there and winning games like this, it's about executing. It's about making more plays than them and fewer mistakes and not getting too caught up in the emotions of the game, being emotional but not letting the emotions control you and so excited to go up there and play.

It's also our last regular season game. It's Thanksgiving week and always want to take time. A lot of gratitude for the people that work here. For my staff, we have such a tremendous staff, have so much to be thankful for with the people I get to work with, our administration, our players and their families, and our fans, our coaches and our coaches wives. I'm fortunate I get to work with some really awesome people every day and have a lot of gratitude for that and for my family, it's going to be fun when you're an empty nester, which this was my first year in that role. We go from two in the house to all of a sudden all three sons come home for Thanksgiving to five. I'm looking forward to spending some time with the boys and Sarah and I'm blessed to have the family that I do and looking forward to Thanksgiving with them and just the gratitude that you have for having such an opportunity and you take it for granted.

And so this is a great week to just take perspective on what we have and a lot of people focus on what they don't have, but I do think this is a week for people to really look at what they do.

And in college football, you have a week to watch rivalry games. Man, it's awesome. And some of 'em started last week in Stanford-Cal Game, Montana, Montana State. There were some teams that already played and so looking forward to being a part of watching some of the historic matchups when we get a chance this weekend.

Hey Dave. When you bring in 40 plus new players over the course of the offseason, it's going to be all of these guys first time playing UNC. Do you have to say anything to them to reinforce the importance of this rivalry or do they just get it?
No, we definitely do a history lesson on all the teams, not just this team. When we're playing teams where there's historical information behind the games, that's one of the things I like to do is educate 'em on how long we've been playing against the team or if there's anything of notoriety about the matchup, because I do think that's one of the cool parts of college football is the pageantry that goes with it.

You do definitely as a head coach want to educate your roster about the matchup and in this case, the oldest matchup in the conference.  When we play Wake Forest, no different, the longest consecutive rivalry in the conference as far as consecutive games played against each other. So those are things that we bring up and make sure they understand the history of the matchup catch up, things that have happened over the years, things that they can learn from and our players do a good job of talking about the game with each other as well.

When you look at rivalries in college football, and I know we have all of the conference realignment, things are shifting and changing that y'all have been able to keep this one so far. What does rivalry week mean to you?
I love it.

Everywhere I've worked, even going back to high school, they're big games, man. They're bragging rights games with the fan bases. There's recruiting behind them, the head-to-head that you have with schools and this rivalry, similar to when I was at Southern Cal with UCLA. When you're in the same driving vicinity of your rival, it's even more unique because you run into the fans, alumni, players, even sometimes  their coaches at the grocery store in just regular day life.

So there's a lot more bumping into people with this rivalry as there was with USCs.  When I was at Wisconsin, the Minnesota rivalry, you didn't really run into their people a whole lot. At Kansas, wiith Missouri you did. You ran into people all the time.

So they're not just a game that, hey, next year we'll beat 'em. It's a game that gets talked about and you hear about for the next 365 days sometimes if you're out in public, and I know the meaning of this one for our fanbase.

I've said this before in my opening press conference when people were leaving it, there was several people that came up and coach, we're glad you're here and hope you beat Carolina. I mean, that was the one thing that was repetitive, repetitive, repetitive from donors and fans.

My first day on the job and then during the same week, the athletic director that time was Debbie, she told me to make sure I never wear those colors. And so I knew in one week's time just what this meant to the school and to the fans. And then obviously over the years of playing each other, it gets to another level,

When you see that, does that encourage you about the possibilities of what you can do at NC State that the door is open and what will it take to get you to that level? There were high expectations coming into the year, but what do you think?
No, like I said, many times at the ACC media days, I think the greatest part of the 12-team playoff is the increased access for teams. And you went from four teams having access to 12 and 11 of 'em being really in the Power Four when you look at how they've set this up.

Your odds are better of being in the mix and how do you get there? You got to get in the ACC championship game, you got to handle your business for us, we got to quit turning the ball over and win these one-possession games. We've had a bunch of 'em this year, and so that's the difference between winning five and 10 games. You're going to have six to eight, one-possession games a year, and turnover margin has a lot to do with winning those games and we're minus five.

So there's a big reason that our record looks the way it does, and we've got to be better in that area and to take this program to another level, that's what it is. It's simple to say that and hard to do.

For 11 of the years I've been here, we've been really good in that stat and this year, not the case. Some of 'em have been pretty fluky and some of 'em haven't been... poor ball security on our side. So that's the answer to your question. You got to find a way to win these one-possession games by making a play or two and not beating yourself with costly turnovers.

Has it worked out the way you thought it would with the 12 team playoff, some new blood?
Of course. Yeah. I think I've said this many times. I think preseason rankings are way overrated. You saw it last year with Washington. They had a hell of a year and no one was talking about them before the season. You expect that particularly in today's world of athletics, not just football with the portal and how many new players change rosters that are experienced, guys that are going to be impact players at certain places and vice versa. Teams that lose impact players are going to be different. And these rankings so often go into what the team did the year prior, and I don't know, I'd be in favor of getting rid of 'em until October at least. I just think it's complete fabrication of what these teams are, and you've got to earn it and it's a long season.

So yeah, I'm not surprised one bit that there's two or three teams that nobody was talking about.  It was fun watching Indiana's season. Obviously Coach Cignetti has a background at NC State, so really payting attention to his season and was pulling hard for them. And you see what Dillingham is doing down there at Arizona State.

So yeah, we pay attention, especially guys that you've coached against or know and see what their programs are doing. But I think it's going to be a fun month. I mean, this last week, there's a lot of implications still, and with what just happened in the SEC this past weekend, it's shook it up again.

So it's going to be fun to see how it comes out here in the end, and as always, I'm sure there'll be a controversy around the final one or two teams that get left out or get pulled in. So wish I was in the conversation. We didn't earn the right to be this year, but I'm excited to watch it.

Hey Coach, you've talked a lot about what this game means team in the program, but how do you go about a game like this?
Yeah, I'm a little different. I guess I don't treat it as a normal game. Rivalry games are different. And yeah, they're the same in that you go out and you practice and you have to execute. But to me there is more on the line when you're playing a game against your rival and they are emotional. And for me it's more about using the emotions properly and pouring that into executing the right way. You don't win the game because you're fired up to play it. You win the game because you play better than the other team and you make fewer mistakes.

So that to me is where our focus is. And I've always said that people are like, do you want your guys to be emotional? Yeah, I do, but I want 'em to use the emotions the right way.

So that's our focus. The guys know we got to win a sixth game, get to a bowl. It just happens to be against them. That's not really the conversation at all. It's more about the X's and O's, the fundamentals of the game, the game plan, the opponent, the things that we need to really work on fundamentally to put ourselves in position to win a game.

Brandon Cleveland statistically had a couple of big games in a row. I'm just wondering how you would evaluate his performances.
Yeah, I thought he really played well last week. I mean, that's as good as I've seen the nose guard play in our defensive scheme. He was very productive. He beat a lot of blocks. He made tackles, he was disruptive, got his hands on a couple balls in the pass game.

Brandon's done a really good job of taking care of himself this year too. And I think you play nose guard. I mean you're getting contact every snap, you're in the game. And so it's a lot of wear and tear potentially. And the way he eats, the way he takes care of himself, the amount of rest that he gets, he does a really good job getting himself into a position where he can play at a high level in November and training and all the things.

So he deserves the credit for it, and obviously another important task this week, you're playing against one of the best running backs in college football, and if you're strong up the middle, that helps. And so he's got a big week for us this week, and we're looking forward to seeing him continue to stack games like he has the last two weeks.

Do you have any favorite you NC matchups from the 12 years?
I don't know if I have a favorite.

I mean, obviously all the wins we've had in these rivalry games are special to me. I don't know if there's one that I would take over any of the others. I mean, they've all been special.

I think maybe the one that sticks out is the comeback that we scored 14 points in 90 seconds or something like that. That was pretty cool. That game with Emeka’s touchdown, Chris Dunn's recovery, and then Emeka’s touchdown.

So that was a pretty awesome ending to a football game. Not just a rivalry, but just a comeback win period. I thought that was a really cool game to be a part of that.

Piggybacking off of that, you have a deep bench of former players who have excelled in this game. Do you typically have anybody speak to the team to share some of those memories or is that just not enough time to speak?
No, there's conversations being had, and if you look at even just who's working here right now and around the program every day mean between Dantonio Burnette and Freddie Aughtry-Lindsey and Isaiah Moore, who's around, Tyler Jones is around DeeDee Hoggard's around.

We got a lot of guys that have been here and played not just for me, but played at NC State for the other head coaches, andd so there's always conversation, and it's not just this week, those guys talk about their history here with them all the time.

Then getting other coaches. Coach Avent was at practice today. It was great having him out there and he wished the guys luck. So yeah, I mean the brotherhood of the coaches at NC State too is cool. And hopefully we'll get a few others over here during the week.

It's kind of fun when you turn around and you see some of the other head coaches at practice. It was great having Elliot here today and appreciated him wishing the guys luck after practice.

Yeah, coach, obviously you haven't had this year, but Bishop Fitzgerald seemed to play a steady role. How would you just assess the way he's played at safety?
He's been very consistent. He’s had maybe two of the 11 games, I would say we're not his best, but outside of that, he's played really well. He's been in the right places, he's communicated well. He's made plays on the ball, had a key interception in this past game and a past breakup. He's tackled well.

So yeah, he's been very steady week in and week out, and he's taken ownership of what that not having Boykin out there, that communicative guy that lines people up. Devan's a very good communicator, and so I think Bishop knew that was something he was going to have to pick up with DK being new to the program and with Tamarcus being a new nickel in the program, it was really on him to be the vocal piece back there.

He's taken that role on and done a really nice job,

With Caden Fordham and Boykin on the sideline with injuries. Davin is the only active player who recorded multiple tackles against Carolina last year. So aside from him, are there specific guys that you're really hoping to see step up this weekend?
Yeah, I don't know if that's a true stat. Aiden White played that entire game. Brandon Cisse played a lot in that game. Bishop played a lot in that game. Betty played a lot in that game, so I'm not sure that's a true stat.

Coach, you mentioned that you sort of approached these games a little differently. How do you think that's helped you in these rivalry games? Obviously you won the last three. Is there a sense that it's worked for you, this way of doing it?
Yeah, I mean the results speak for themselves. I mean, again, I'm not perfect at all. They've beaten me the first two years Mack was there he beat me and Larry got me a couple times as well, but we've played well in this game, and it's a meaningful game.

So I don't know. Every coach has different approach. My approach is to make sure they understand the value of winning games like this. It's something that matters deeply, not just to Dave Doeren. It matters a lot to the former players. It matters a lot to the alumni, to the donors, to the administration, everything.

Not that the other games don't matter, they do, but this one runs deeper.  I take pride in educating them about that, making sure they understand that, and there's guys in our locker room that haven't played against them. There's guys in our locker room that have played a lot against them, and so getting them all on the same page with what this game is, it is, it's the oldest rivalry in the ACC. It deserves that kind of attention in my opinion.

There was a report today where you guys released that you're considering selling naming rights to Carter-Finley Stadium. I wondered as a coach what that means to you.
Well, those are the times we're in.

I know Boo spoke personally to both families to get permission before this was even a possibility. And so he's done it the right way, but athletic directors and athletic departments need to raise money with these new legislation and the amount of dollars that revenue sharing is put on their plates. And so I think it's good business by him. I think that's what he should be doing, is finding creative ways to move the ledger, and it's very kind to those two families to allow him that opportunity. It doesn't mean we have a deal in place yet, but I mean those are the things ADs have to do now. You have to find ways to increase your cash in so that you have the ability to compete in this space. The courts say that you got to come up with X amount of dollars. They don't give you the dollars. You got to go find them.

So these are the creative things that the new legislation is putting on ad's plates and completely in line with Boo whatever he needs to do to make these things a reality, to keep our programs all competitive. I know he's going to compete to do that.