NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 53-34 road loss to Pitt Saturday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
Congrats to Pitt. Obviously, they outplayed us, and whenever I say that, I say that as they out-coached us as well. I've got a football team that needs to play better. I thought, in the first half in particular defensively, we did not play contested football. I thought it was way too easy for [Mason Heintschel]. We played really soft coverage and gave up a lot of things. Defensively in the second half, it’s a different story. We had a lot of bad field position in the second half but stopped him over and over and over — I think it was five straight drives without a touchdown. I was proud of the adjustments, but we can't play like that. We can't give somebody that many points and that many yards and a half and then think we're going to be in the game. We've got to do a better job schematically to get our kids to play tighter coverage and play well against the run game. [Ja’Kyrian Turner is] a good running back, and he had 50 yards, but they had 30 first downs, and so they’re going to score a lot of points when that happens. There’s a lot to work on defense. Offensively, we got to score. We've got to score a lot more points than we are. When we're in a rhythm, we see a lot of good things, but with that defense, a top-10 rushing defense, I knew we're going to have to throw the football. We did have an explosive run, obviously, in the first half, and we hung in there with them, score-wise, for a while, but when we get behind two or three possessions, it kind of changes things as far as your play calling.
On C.J. Bailey’s decision-making…
I’m disappointed in [him throwing it away on fourth down]. I told him after the game, like, “You can run, man. If things aren't there, run the football. Go get us the first down in your legs. It's fourth and two." He's still a young quarterback. As far as where he's at mentally, he does a lot of things at an elite level. There's always growth, and that wasn't what we prepared for. There was like two-minute defense after they got up three scores. A lot of those drop back passes were into Cover Two. Not that we don't practice Cover Two, but what I'm saying is, on first down, second down, third down, you're getting basically two- minute defense with a three-score lead. C.J. is going to continue to get better, and he's a really good football player. I'm proud of some of the guys and how hard they played there at the end. You see Tristan Teasdell getting an interception. Noah Rogers continues to play hard. Teddy Hoffmann threw a touchdown. There are some positives in the game but not enough.
On keeping the starters in the game…
We're trying to win, man. I look up, and there's 11 minutes on the scoreboard. We're down 18 points. We score and go for two. You guys know: I've been a part of some good comebacks. I'm not going to quit and just throw in the backups, so I'm going to keep competing and kicking onside kicks. We're going for it on fourth down. We're putting our defense in terrible field position because I'm not going to lay down and just say game over with 11 minutes left on the clock.
On Pitt keeping the Wolfpack out of the backfield…
Well, they played a lot better up front. I don't know if they didn't respect Syracuse and weren't ready, or if Syracuse did a really good job surprising them with some different blitzes, but they were able to beat guys one-on-one. There were times we did that tonight, and the coverage wasn't tight enough to allow the pressure to get there. Then, there was times where the quarterback evaded the pressure and got out of the pocket, and he's done that in the four games he started. The kid can run. Coverage and pass rush have to work in tandem. If you have tight coverage, then your pass rush has a better chance to get home, and if you don't, then it ain't going to matter. He's going to have a check down. He’s going to have a place to throw the football. Schematically, we need to do some things that allow that tandem to be better than it is right now.
On the soft coverage…
It’s disappointing because that wasn't what we practiced. We worked a lot on some of those concepts, and it just didn't get executed. The players have got to do what they're coached to do. It's third-and-18, and one of our linebackers jumps an underneath route and avoids the zone that he's supposed to be sitting in where they throw the football. That's unacceptable, and that's coached. At some point in time, as a guy on the field, you've got to do what you're coached to do in that situation. It's a great kid, and I love him to death, but that's bad football. It's third and 18. You don't jump an underneath route when you're playing zone defense. That's just an example, right? That's not where loose coverage bothers me, third-and-18, because it's just down-the-field routes. It's when you're playing on second-and-five, and you're giving up stuff like that. You've got to play tighter, and you saw it in the second half. We've got a lot of work to do. I’m disappointed. We came out of the bye week, and I thought we'd play a lot better than we did tonight.
On the Panthers’ receivers finding space between the linebackers and the secondary…
It depends on what you're in. When you're Cover Two, you're giving check downs up, and there were a couple times that was where we were in, and they ran a play that fit the coverage well. There's other coverages where that's not [supposed to work out]. We're playing man on the back; he shouldn't have an open back to throw the football to. Again, it's execution.
On the focused details not showing up on the field…
It's a good question. If I had the answer, we would have played a lot better. It's not what I expected to see. It's not the team that I expected to see on the field, and I'm not blaming them. I'm the one that got them ready, so it starts at me. I told them that in the locker room. We've got to coach better, and they've got to play better. There were nine guys in our top 22 on defense that couldn't play tonight because of injuries. It's not an excuse. The guys that are playing have got to make the most of the opportunity. They’ve got to play really well for us, and we’ve got to give them a chance to play well schematically. D.J. [Eliot] and the defensive staff have to look at who we have, match up, and go play as hard as they can. I don't care if we get beat deep on things when we’re playing tight coverage. Let’s just get in there tough, contested, hard-nosed defense.
On the defense’s penalties…
They’re beating themselves over and over and over. It's the opposite of what we talked about. Some of them are combat penalties. You want to make a tackle and brush his face mask. It's not like we rip the kid's helmet off. That's football. That's going to happen, but the pass interferences, we’ve got to play with technique. I thought one of them was a questionable play. I thought the corner actually had really good coverage, the one with Brian [Nelson, II]. The rest of them were real. I saw [Jamel Johnson] hook a guy. I saw Jackson [Vick] grab a guy when he didn't have to. I mean, that's technique. The guys have got to play better.
