NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 48-36 win over No. 8 Georgia Tech Saturday night.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening Statement
First things first, I want to give all the glory to God. That was an amazing team effort, and with the injuries that we've had and the number of guys that were out in that game, we needed guys to just really rise up. There weren't even backups in certain spots in this game, and we couldn't have done it without Him. Secondly, our fan base tonight — it was homecoming — It was an awesome crowd. You guys were in it, and we thank you for that because there's a lot of people out there that have quit on us, and for those of you that came tonight, you didn't. Thank you for your support for these players, and I'm so proud of them and happy for them because it's been a tough year. We've been through a lot, and there were definitely some games that we could have won and didn’t. We hung in there together and went through a tough time with our staff, and the guys just kept coming in, letting me coach them, and letting their coaches coach them, taking things like, "Hey, Coach, it's on us. We've got to fix it," allowing us to do what we want to do, coach football, motivate young men, and lead young men. It's a really, really neat group of kids, and so I'm just really thankful for them that they get to enjoy that. It’s special when you have a top-10 win at home. Night games in the Carter are so special, and I’m just proud of them. I’m proud of our staff. Resiliency is what this place is about. It's why I've always loved NC State. It's definitely a part of my DNA, and the harder it gets, sometimes I think the better we are. We're going to enjoy this one tonight. I’m really proud of some of the individual efforts — I know you'll ask me about them — but C.J. [Bailey] played like a captain. He was in charge and played really, really good ball. The O-line protected him. Duke Scott had a phenomenal game rushing the ball. Our tight ends, that room, the way they played without Justin [Joly], really stepped up and had to do more things than they normally do. It was impressive. I thought Caden Fordham played his best football game. He had a lot of tackles, the huge interception at the end, and was in charge. That was a tough offense. Brent [Key] is a great coach, and that is a really good football team. I have nothing but respect for him and their staff. Buster Faulkner, their offensive coordinator, is one of the best in the country, and their quarterback [Haynes King] is a really good player, and so that was a hard-fought game against a really good coach and a really good group of kids that he has. We’re going to enjoy this one tonight and then enjoy the bye week. There’s nothing like a bye week after a top-10 win. We’re definitely going to enjoy this one.
On the assistant coaches having everyone ready and not feeling sorry for themselves…
Well, we don't allow [feeling sorry for yourself], first of all. The kids come to this program like they do any program: with the hope to have an opportunity to play. When it's your opportunity, you have to seize it. Tristan Teasdell, a true freshman starting in his first game against that offense, I'm really proud of him. That's asking a lot. Our DBs, man, we played a lot of man-to-man in that game for a lot of reasons, but it says a lot about all these guys. It's funny to me that people think we're going to quit. We don't do that here. It's not a part of this program, and it never will be. Each kid that gets an opportunity, it's his moment, and it's fun to see them seize those moments in a game like this.
On what this kind of win does for the roster, especially after a players-only meeting earlier…
When I met with our leadership council on Sunday, there were a lot of things we discussed, and at the end of it, I said, “You know, a lot of these things are things you guys need to take care of. You need to have a meeting with your teammates, and you need to say the things that you said in front of me to them because they need to know what's on your heart. There's a lot of football left. There's too many good players in our program that are running out of time that deserve everybody's best, and you need to let them know that." They did. Obviously, what they said hit home, and those guys delivered. It wasn't just the guys playing. It's the guys on the scout team who have to give a better look. It’s everybody, and like I told them, it's easy to look at problems, point fingers, blame people and all that; we needed solutions. That's what I was asking for: for each guy to be the solution in whatever his role may be on our team. Even injured players can compliment, can coach, and can help their teammates better. It's just a collective effort from the assistant coaches, the trainers, the strength coach. It's on everybody, but it's got to be team driven. For things to happen in your locker room, you can tell them all you want, but the guys have got to get it done for you, and they’ve got to hold each other accountable when they're not. That happened this week in a big way.
On Scott’s breakout performance…
I'm not surprised at all. That was the 16th-ranked rushing defense in the ACC. We thought we could run the football on them. They play a lot of Cover Two which gives you an opportunity numbers-wise to hand the ball off and run it, and Duke's way faster than people know. That's why we've made him the kickoff returner. Obviously, we didn't tonight because he had more on his plate in the backfield, but I'm not surprised. You come to practice every day since he's been here, and you see what kind of electric player he is and, all through high school, the kind of player he was there. We've got a really good tandem in that backfield, and tonight he had to step up and take on the entire load, and obviously he did a tremendous job.
On consistently answering Georgia Tech’s scoring…
Well, that’s complimentary football. We hold them to a field goal; we answer with a touchdown. It's just things like that where both sides of the ball have to feed off of each other, and when we play complimentary football — 11-man football, guys doing their job and answering the call when they need to — we're really a good football team. It's unfortunate it's taken us a while to play a whole game that way. We haven’t, other than Campbell, but against a Power Four team, it's just been halves of football where we played well. Tonight, we put it all together. I've been telling them that: “It'd be really fun to see how good we are if we could play four quarters of complimentary football.” I don't think anyone can beat us when we play like that. Tonight, it's nice to have an illustration of what that looks like.
On Fordham stepping up…
I told him and Kenny Soares this week: they should have 20 tackles in this game. It's that type of game. Our game plan, as you saw, there's a lot of motions and perimeter plays, and it was to take those away and make them run in the box. We felt like Caden Fordham and Kenny at linebacker, Brandon Cleveland in there, Sabastian [Harsh], and all those guys could win in the box in the run game enough for us to take away their explosive parts of the run game. For the most part, we did that. You're not going to completely stop Haynes King. He's a really good player, and my hat's off to him. I've always enjoyed watching him. He's a tough kid, but the defense did enough to give our offense possessions and field position where they could go score.
