NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 24-17 win over East Carolina Thursday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
I'm really proud of the guys finding a way to win in a hard-fought game. ECU played really hard. I love the way that the defense battled there at the end. It's great to have a goal-line stand like that to win a football game. Being 1-0 with a lot of things that we can get better at is a good place to be. I was really excited about how we started. We started fast. Penalties really derailed a lot of drives on offense. We just had some bonehead penalties: false starts and different things like that. I thought we protected the ball well. We didn't fumble the football all night. We had some explosive plays. Throwing the ball down the field. guys made contact catches [such as] Wesley [Grimes] and Teddy [Hoffmann], obviously. Our backs ran in hard. Defensively, we held them to 30 yards rushing. It's a good win, a really good win, so I’m proud of the guys. At the same time, though, there's a lot of things that we can do better. I’m very thankful for the fans. It was an awesome night. You guys were incredible. Crowd noise was amazing. The student section was awesome. That's what we need to have every home game, and Thursday nights are always special in the Carter. I thank you for what you gave us tonight. That was a major, major advantage, particularly at the end of the game when we needed you on defense.
On the final fourth-down play on defense…
Well, I thought it would either be a repeat of their speed option — which they scored on earlier in a similar situation —or what they ran: the naked crack screen that they ran on us last year in the bowl game as well. I didn't expect them to try to run the ball up the middle. I thought it'd be something off the edges. The defense did a great job crack-replacing, and Coach [D.J.] Eliot prepared them well for that play. We practiced that play throughout the week, a play just like that. We ran it four or five times in the red zone, and thekids executed. The corner came up with a big, solid tackle on the tight end. I was proud of those guys on defense. They had a couple of fourth-down stops in the game that were big.
On the newcomers on the defensive edge...
We wanted to be better off the edge. We wanted to create more tackles for loss this year and more sacks and not have to blitz all the time to create those things. We wanted to be able to do it with four or five guys, and so there was a huge emphasis in finding some edge players [like] Cian Slone, Kenny [Soares, Jr.], and Tra Thomas. We got some good snaps out of several players. Chase Bond got in the game and made some plays in the backfield. It was good to see him, and he's been super consistent. The edge of the defense — really, the old scheme we had was more four eyes, which is D-ends playing inside the tackles. We wanted to have guys that could play outside, play in space, and give us pass rush. That was a huge emphasis by the staff and recruiting, and it obviously paid off.
On cooling off after the hot start and the mindset heading to Virginia…
There's a lot to get better at. I thought we stalled out in the red zone several times with penalties and tackles for losses. We went backwards. We'd have an explosive play to get down there, and then all of a sudden, we'd be going backwards. There’s a lot to improve on on offense, but there’s a lot of good things on offense. Our goal is to score 31 or more. That's our goal, and so we were a touchdown short of our goal in this game, and we had two missed field goals which hurt us. That’s an area we’ve got to get better as well.
On Grimes’ first collegiate 100-yard game...
I'm proud of Wesley. He missed a lot of training camp. He had a lot of nagging things bothering him, and he really got full speed towards the end of this week. He's top three fastest players on our team, and so we need him to be an explosive guy and make senior-type plays, and he did that tonight. He was tonight exactly who I was hoping we'd see, and I’m super proud of him for stepping up and helping the offense be explosive because, if he's like that, and Noah [Rogers is] like that, and Teddy's like that, Terrell [Anderson], Keenan [Jackson], and then you have [Justin] Joly, and then you have Hollywood [Smothers], we've got a lot of different people we can take advantage of in space and get matchups. It's a good start, and it helps when your fastest guys are making plays because, as you saw with their team, [Anthony Smith] is a fast kid, and you’ve got to know where they're at on defense. It helps a lot that Wesley came out like that. Now, he's just got to be consistent.
On having multiple playmakers…
It was a team win. It really was. Offensively, we jumped out, 17-0, got us a lead. Defensively, I think they had minus-20 yards rushing in the first half. It was very stingy. Both sides of the football helped each other throughout the night, and they faked a punt. The defense came right back after a three-and-out. They faked a punt, but they came right back out and stopped them again. We had three fourth-down stops, looking at the stats here, so it was definitely a complementary win. Having playmakers helps, to answer your question, but I really look at this as more of a team win.
On the strong defensive start with new starters…
It says a lot about the preparation that Coach Eliot and his staff did with the guys. It says a lot about the kids understanding the rules and how to adjust them because you're going to see things you don't practice in first few games. I thought we tackled really well in this game, and that was impressive. You always worry about tackling, especially against an uptempo spread. They were putting two of the receivers almost out of bounds on some of the plays to try to create space on the field. That's a key part of denying explosive plays is your ability to tackle in space, and when you can't run the football on offense, it's tough. They did a good job finding [Desirrio Riles], getting him involved in the second half. He hurt us, but it was a really well executed game plan. The kids understand it. They adjusted well. I was very proud of what they did.
On the game meaning more after the end of last season…
I felt like we tarnished our reputation [in the Military Bowl]. It was a game that really hurt me, seeing the way our guys couldn't stop the run. Three hundred yards rushing [allowed] is an embarrassing thing as a head coach that considers himself a guy who knows how to play defense. Then having the actions that we did afterwards, it was embarrassing. This game wasn't about ECU. This game was about us playing the game the way it's supposed to be played, respecting the game, respecting each other, respecting the university that we play for, our fans, the guys in the locker room, the guys that have worn the jersey, and respecting Coach Ruff [McNeill], a guy that means a lot to our program. It means a lot. This game was about getting our identity back and playing “Hard, Tough, Together" football.
On C.J. Bailey’s improvements…
He's just very poised. He's got a lot of confidence. He sees the game. It's slowing down for him. He trusts his guys. He has chemistry with his guys. Last year coming off the bench as a backup and not knowing if you're even going to play as a true freshman, you don't have that chemistry, not only with your skill guys, but the O-line. Those guys play hard for him, and he can get after them, and they respect him. He’s a true leader, and last year, he was more of a survivor, just in there fighting as hard as he could fight, but he didn't have the guys around him like he does now, pulling hard for him and wanting to protect him.
On preparing the team for tough situations like the final fourth down…
We train in chaos. We try to put them in tough situations. We did it all through training camp. Coach Thunder [Dantonio Burnette] and his staff put them in tough situations all summer, and then it comes down to having leaders on your team. You know that they're not going to let it happen. They're going to execute, and they're prepared. In pressure situations, you always revert back to your training, and we trained them well, and the kids did a tremendous job of standing up, bowing up, and not letting them get a first down.
On moments where he saw the team get its identity back…
Stopping them on fourth down three times goal-line stand, for sure. I think just the poise the guys had as ECU started creeping back in the game. There was no panic. There was nothing. The guys just kept playing and finding a way to win. It was never a moment in the game where you felt like anybody on the sideline didn't believe that we were going to win the football game. They were all locked in. It was a much different feel on that sideline than we had on our sideline a year ago. The way that they prepared, they're able to take constructive criticism that they want to be better football players and better men. They know that we love them and we're coming from the right place, and they take it, they listen, they work hard, and they paid off tonight. I mean, that's a game. If you go back over the last 35 times it's played, it's usually a close game, and it’s no different tonight, even though we had a chance to not make it that way. That’s how a lot of these games have ended.
