NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media after his team's 35-31 home win over Virginia.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
Opening statement
Yep, super proud of the comeback win. Proud of the guys for their grit and their resiliency. A lot of reasons why it happened. But before I get to that, I just want to thank our fans that came today. It was hot, and for you guys to sit in that sun and cheer for us the way you did means a lot to our players and our staff, so thank you for your loyalty and noon kick on top of it. I know that's not easy for a lot of you that travel into Raleigh, so thank you. And it's great to be 2-0, and another great, crazy finish. And you got to make a play, and sometimes you don't know who it's going to be. It's awesome when it's a senior. I told the guys in the locker room, I was really proud of Cian for making that. It's a key play in the game at the end. Offensively, he played really well. We had zero turnovers on offense. We only had one penalty as a team the entire game. And so we didn't beat ourselves that way, and we were able to be productive moving the football. We were 100% in the red zone scoring points, and had explosive plays. Our run game, rushing for 200 yards, I thought Hollywood was really in a good groove. The o-line and tight ends and receivers did a good job blocking.
Defensively, it was a much better second half. I thought our first half was pretty bad. And gave up 24 points, a lot of untouched runs, uncovered guys. We just didn't play well. And so we got things to work on. I was proud of them in the second half. Only gave up one score. And offensively, we scored in every possession but one. Our short yardage offense was tremendous.
The only time we didn't make it was on a pass that we threw. And, probably a play we wish we wouldn't have called. But we were physical, man, and trusted the guys, fourth and one, third and one, to go and get it. And they did. And obviously you can see the faith that we have and will to be in there in a situation like that. So it's great to be 2-0. And we don't get much time here to celebrate. We've got a play on Thursday. So we're going to put this one to bed pretty quick.
What was it like to see the offensive line enforce its will in the second half and the journey that Yusuf has gone through to move into the starting lineup and be a part of that after walking on to the program?
Yeah. Yeah, I think his story is amazing. So a two-part question. Part one, it was awesome to see us run the football the way we did. I thought Coach Roper and the offensive staff made some adjustments and said, look, let's just turn the ball to number three and get downhill. And that first drive of the second half, that's what we did. And the offense did a great job. And being physical, tight ends, running backs, receivers, tailback making plays.
But Yusuf's story is one for the books. I mean, he's one of the highest recruited O-linemen in college football coming out of high school and goes to Florida and has a tragic accident, hit by a semi-truck on a scooter and drug and lost football for a while. Couldn't play. Really had to go through a real intensive recovery process. And then they had a coaching change, and he ends up in another school. And they have a coaching change, and he ends up just saying, I just want to go home and came here and has worked really hard. And I'm proud of him. It's a great story. And he came in and gave us some really good energy today. He's a physical kid, really strong, one of our stronger O-linemen. So happy for him, proud of him. And it's a great story, you know, not one you see a lot in college football.
Coach, you mentioned just giving the ball to Hollywood, letting him work in the second half. What's it like for you as a coach to see him, not only kind of take over just in a second, up 115 yards for some 12 carries?
Did you say Hollywood? I couldn't hear you at the beginning.
Yeah, sorry. Yeah, Hollywood.
Yeah, no, I mean, it's what we hope for. I mean, he finished the season that way too. The last half of last year, you could see that he was ready. I had a great off-season, great fall camp.
He brings energy, holds people accountable. He plays hard as hell. He wants the football.
If you don't give it to him, he's not going to complain. He's going to block. He's going to run routes. He doesn't care. He just wants to win. And guys like that tend to make plays, unselfish, tough guys that work hard. And he's got a lot of talent. So anytime he touches the ball, it's a potential explosive play.
With the ACC wanting you all to play more powerful opponents and with the math not really working for you guys to go to non-conference games, do you anticipate playing more games like this, non-conference against ACC teams? And do you like them?
I love it. I mean, I'm all for playing all-conference games. Like, to me, it's, we're in the ACC. Let's play each other every week and see who the best team is. But I know I'm not everybody, and everybody has their things that they like. Some of them have SEC rivalry games, and Notre Dame screws up our scheduling because they get five games in our league. But I'd be all in favor of 17 teams, and they figure out a rotation while we play each other all the time. I think nowadays if you have a goal of being a playoff team, you've got to play 10 power 4 games.
You've got to have strength to schedule. And so it was a no-brainer for me to want to add Virginia because I'd much rather play a regional team than play someone from across the country. It just doesn't make as much sense for fans, for families, and for recruiting.
Dave, CJ's expanded his game with the run, and it's not just scampering to avoid. You're calling run plays for him. Could you just speak to that and how much that makes it a better offense?
Yeah, I mean, when you can throw the football the way that he can and have the skill around him, but then also make them have to defend his legs, that's tough on defense. It's really hard. And then you're going to add more people in the box when you're worried about quarterback runs. It opens up the things in the air. And so when you can utilize his legs and be smart with it because, you don't want to put more hits on him than you need to. But I thought Kurt called some really good QB runs in the game. CJ made some plays on his own. Obviously, the second touchdown run was a scramble. But having that extra element changes how you have to defend us on offense. And so it's great to see his confidence in that.
Yeah, Dave, two straight games to go right down to the wire. You win both those games. What does that say about your team, and how can this help you get guys down the way?
Yeah, I think the team understands who NC State is.
It's grit. This team has grit. It's in our DNA. And we train in chaos. We look forward to tough situations here. We've practiced a lot of this stuff that you're seeing at the end of games.
And the guys always revert back to their training. And so they're tough kids. They want to win.
They know how to dig deep. And we've trained them well in those situations. And so it's a combination of things along with the identity of our program. It's hard, tough together. And if you're going to be on this football team, you've got to have that kind of resiliency in you. So I'm proud of the leadership guys on our team because they're demanding that from each other as well. Thank you, guys. Go Pack.
