Dave Doeren spoke with the media for his weekly press conference. Reviewing the Florida State win, looking ahead to this week's game against North Carolina, and more!
Opening statement...
Alright, well, Happy Thanksgiving week to everybody and yeah, I always love senior week we have 22. Players on our team that are in their last opportunity to play a game at Carter-Family Stadium. Special group, and as a coach and I was told to staff this in our meeting, like one of the most meaningful things you have all these milestones as a coach with players and and. One of them is senior night.
You know when they go out there and hug their their family and to have that moment on the field where they know that's their last time playing in their home stadium. It's special to honor them, and as coaches, it's our responsibility to do our best for them and help them prepare to play their best football in their final opportunity in our stadium. And so, there'll be a lot of things about these guys throughout the week that are are people put out and looking forward to honoring them the right way and also have two staff members that have been here a long time.
Smoke Hubert, one of our, guys down in the equipment area that been here forever and just a phenomenal human being. I love smoke to death and and there's not a player I've ever met that doesn't come back and want to say hi to him. Always has a smile on his face. Just a phenomenal human being and Smoke’s is retiring after this season.
And then my director of high school relations Henry Trevathan Jr., who I owe a lot to, has been with me one of. My first seasons hired Henry, a longtime high school football coach in North Carolina. And his father was a coach at NC State and he really helped me get to know a lot of the high school coaches and for them to get to know me. And I think one of the most first class human beings there is, and Henry's also retiring.
So these guys are at the end of their careers and this is their last home game. And so love those two guys going to miss him a ton. And so that's what this week. It's about being thankful and and a lot to be thankful for. Professionally, family wise, and I'm, would say that to everybody out there. It's easy to look around at what you don't have.
This is a week where you really got to think about what you do have and the people that you love. I love our stadium, 28 straight sellouts. Can't wait to have another game in there with you all and to get to do it against a rival team, which will get to in a little bit.
But before I do that, just really proud of our team and the grit they put on display in our win. Friday night against FSU. I thought it was just an amazing defensive performance. There's is a top scoring offense, one of the top five in the nation and held him to 11 points and just can't say enough about the performance that they had and we've had halves like that quarters like that, but not a game like that.
And it's really played, fundamentally sound our lowest game of mental errors. Missed assignments are lowest game of missed tackles. A lot of really key open field tackles. Moment of truth, pass breakups, interceptions. There's a great performance by those guys. And Coach Eliot and the staff and the players deserve a lot of credit. And. Yeah, it's a team win and there's a lot of good complimentary football.
Our opening drive we didn't score, but we moved the football, punted it down inside the 10. The defense, created a interception in the following drive. Offense took the ball length of the field, took a lot of time off the clock, scored a touchdown and we opened the third quarter the same way, defense three and out. Fair caught the next punt and offense went on a 15 play 79 yard drive for touchdown so.
That's the type of football we have to play to win games and it was great to see that. I thought we had a lot of what I call a moment of truth plays, that could go either way.
Contested catches that were made. Terrell Anderson, Teddy Hoffmann, Justin Joly. Just made some really good contact catches. You know bodies on top of him securing the football. I thought both our tailbacks ran the ball really hard, protected the football, our tight ends I thought had probably their best performance.
As a group, I thought they played really well against Georgia Tech, but we didn't have Justin, so to have the whole group out there and just see them all contribute the way that they did.
I was really good to see on defense. I thought Caden Fordham and Kenny Soares both played really, really good. Fit the run well, had good eye discipline, shedded blocks, tackled, pressured the quarterback.
Devon Marshall had a career game. Played really good against a very good receiver. 6-6 wide out, six pass breakups and two interceptions, and really played outstanding football. Really proud of Devon stepping up.
With us losing Jamel, there was more reps on him and Brian. And those two guys stepped up for us. Our punt team, our gunners. Noah Rogers gets a lot of credit for being a skilled receiver. I mean, he is a weapon on our punt coverage, and so was Wesley, and there's a reason their punt returner, when he muffed that punt at the end, I mean, if you watch the whole game, every time he's catching a ball, one of those two guys is right there in his face.
And making him catch a football with a gunner right there to tackle him. And those two punt, bumper recoveries, one of them, obviously, it's nice to have a lucky play every now and then. And that was one of the craziest plays I've seen, and proud of Caden Noonkester for getting on it and recovering it the way he did. And then Tra Thomas, he's playing left guard on the punt team. He's one of the first guys down the field. And it's a fair catch.
You don't see him ever slow down. Gets in a bent knee position. Returner muffs it.I've seen plenty of times where there's a muffed punt and there's a guy standing there on defense that could recover it, and he's straight-legged. And those guys had bent knees. They were ready to play. They weren't surprised. And they made a huge play and a huge moment. So it was a great win. It was great to get to six wins there.
And now we get ready for UNC. And, I tell you, watching them on film the last two days, they've gotten a ton better, one of the more improved teams that I've watched. When you get to the latter part of the year, you watch every game. And so when you watch them game one through game 11, I'm really impressed with their improvement and particularly on defense.
Their defense is playing at a high level, and it starts with their defensive front and their linebacker. But those guys on the defensive side of the ball, they're playing really well. And, 30 sacks on defense. Number nine, Melkart, playing at a high level, 10 sacks. And number 40, who comes in with him and for him at times, Tyler Thompson, is a very good pass rusher, seven sacks himself. And then Andrew Simpson, I think, really good linebacker, a guy they got from Boise State. He's playing at a high level, and they do a lot with him. Good blitzer, good tackler, good pass rusher.
And then in the secondary, they're playing well. I mean, their corners and their nickels, they press you up and they play tight coverage. They contest footballs. Doing a lot of good things on that side of the football. Your quarterback, I thought he played really good against Duke.
Watching him in that game, Gio Lopez, got a strong arm, quick release, mobile, takes contact, fights for yards, hard to bring down. UNC's always had good skill to throw the football to.
And I think he's playing good football for them at quarterback, their tailbacks run hard. And we know a lot about one of them, Davion, teammates with CJ in high school. But the freshman, June, those two guys are playing good ball. They're downhill, tough, thick. They pass protect really hard.
So, looking forward to it, man. And these games, records don't matter. You never have two teams that are close, in vicinity and been playing. It's the oldest, longest-standing rivalry in the ACC. It's an awesome rivalry football game, and I look forward to playing them against a really well-coached group of guys.
And so it's going to be a fun week. You take Thanksgiving, you take the seniors, you take the rivalry and all the stuff that goes with it, the pageantry of not just our game, but college football in general. There's a lot of huge rivalries this week. So it's one of my favorite weeks in sports in general. Questions.
Yeah, I know Bill Belichick came to campus a couple of times back when he was with the Patriots, scouting, former guys that you had, Bradley Chubb, Nyheim, all those guys, do you remember some of those pro days and some of those visits and just what your interactions were like?
Yeah, he came once during Bradley Chubb's, that class where we had those four d-lineman drafted that he came, and it was great to be around him. Yeah, a lot of questions. Coach Belichick always called head coaches because he was the GM as well. And he was one of the few head coaches in the NFL that would call you once a year, twice a year to talk about your roster. And so I was always impressed with just his attention to detail and, how involved he wanted to be in the process of building his team in New England.
And one of my mentors, Brett Vioma, and one of my former teammates at the time were coaching on his staff in New England, so I was able to go up there and watch their OTAs and spend time in their meetings and watch him coach and so have a lot of respect for Coach and how he did his job up there.I haven't got to spend much time with him since he's been at Carolina, just at our ACC meetings.
But, being a younger coach at that time and getting to sit in those meetings and listen, Brendan Daly, who was his D-line coach at the time, who's now with the Chiefs, was with them for six or seven years. And, just a really detailed guy, understands the game, has a great eye for how the game's played.
So it's great having him in the conference. And, like always, I love coaching, and I love the matchups, and I love the Xs and Os and the chess match of the game and all that and look forward to the competition in our game with him and have a lot of respect for him.
Coach, what's it like for you on third or fourth down when Will, comes in the game? Obviously, you guys have run him a lot when he's in there. What's it like when the defense kind of knows it's coming and you can still, pick up the first down and get a big run like you did, this past week?
Will will say this, too. The guys are blocking hard for him. And Will does a great job. He's a really strong kid. We stopped him at 500 pounds on a squat max. He could have gone way up higher than that. I mean, he is really strong. And so he's gotten better as the season's gone on at how to read the different runs we have with him and where the soft spots are and when they get filled up, where to go. He's just got a knack for it. And we knew that when we recruited him that he could run.
He can throw the football really well, too. And I know you guys haven't seen it. We see it in practice. And there are plays for him to do so. We just haven't gotten there yet. But it's a big deal when you can go out on the field on third and two or less or fourth and two or less and know that when you run the football, if they have an extra guy, he can run through that guy or drag that guy or push that guy forward, knowing that you have that type of runner.
To follow up, how important is it to have a kind of runner like that to take, a carry off of Hollywood or Duke, when you're using them as much as you are?
Yeah, it helps a lot. I mean, there's a lot of contact at the running back position, and it's not just on run plays. It's in pass protection.And so, you have to do your best throughout the year to try to manage the amount of contact that your runners get. And to your point, I mean, I don't know off the top of my head how many short yardage runs we've had. But the number that Will's had compared to what they would have had with those runs, it definitely makes a difference.
You mentioned your seniors. I think seven of them have been with you from the start, whether four years or six years in Anthony Carter's situation. Obviously, some others transferred in. But what has it been like to see the seven that you've kind of seen from the beginning to the end, stay at one school? In Anthony Carter's case specifically, you probably have now known him maybe eight years of his life.
Yeah, you're right. It's interesting now in football, all these guys are my seniors, and some of these relationships are much longer. And so, to your point, I look at senior day just like I do graduation when they graduate.It's a milestone. And so, to be able to be a part of it, Sean Brown, Caden Fordham, AC, the home visit, Brandon Cleveland, you go down the list. And there's a lot of guys. And Wesley didn't come here right away, but I recruited Wesley Grimes for multiple years in high school and didn't get him.
And so, I've known Wesley and his family a long time. Same thing. And it's meaningful. And the relationships don't end. Yousef's another guy. I recruited him really hard in high school. And fortunately, he got an extension to his clock because of his scenario, but he would be a senior. Matt McCabe, been here a long time. And so, Matt, undergrad and master's degree. Caden Noonkester, long time. And so, these relationships go deep, and they don't end, and that's the beauty of them.
These kids come back here, and whether they're continuing to play and they come back and train, like you see with some of our guys, or you just, have them back on the sideline or they show up at a practice, or you see them at a basketball game or an event, these relationships are lifelong.
And I'm thankful, to them for staying, because obviously in today's climate, that doesn't always happen. And for what they've done, at NC State, and what they'll continue to do. These guys will end up giving back to this university. These are guys that care deeply about this place. And I know that the impact's been them on us and us on them.
When you coach in a rivalry game like this, is there more pressure on you? Are you looser? Like, how does coaching in a game like this sort of differ from other games? And maybe at the end of the season, like, are you willing to try some, and we all saw that fake field goal that Duke pulled off. Are you willing to try some stuff that you've stored up for a game like this?
If it's there, I mean, we have, I faked a punt, yep, in the game Friday night. And pressure's a privilege, in my opinion. Like, I don't think that this game or the last game, now look at all these games as big games. And I'm excited to be out there. We're going to prepare and have plays ready. And if the opportunities present themselves for whatever the play may be, whether it's going forward on, forward down, when people keep asking me about the fourth and sixth call, like, I mean, I thought that was the right thing to do in the game.
And is there pressure around those calls? Yeah, there is in every game, because if it goes wrong and they go score and you lose, I'm getting beat up over the head about the call, right? And that's not why you make it. You make it because in that moment, you have a good play call ready. And that's what we were talking about. Like, hey, if we don't get this, it's going to be fourth and sixth. Should we go or not? And do you have a call that you like? And when the answer is, yeah, I got a good call, okay, then we're going.
And then it's like, okay, well, let's see if we can get them to jump with a field goal unit. If they don't, we'll call a timeout and we'll run it. If we get them to fourth and one, have a call ready. Like, those are all conversations we're having on the sideline. And I'm not sitting there thinking, oh, there's a lot of pressure on this call.
Maybe I shouldn't do it. Like, I mean, you're either willing to take risks because you believe in your plan or you're not. And if the answer I would have got back is, coach, I don't really have a good play call for that, then my decision would have been different. But we did.
He had a play he liked, and it was going to one of our best players. And CJ liked the play, so it was an easy decision to make in that moment. And that's what practice and preparation and film study and these late nights up here is all about.It's giving yourself a chance to make those decisions. And they're not as risky when you put the time in. You're prepared for the moment.
Has the math changed in some ways? You're not the only coach this weekend. I saw that rather than kick the field goal to go up six, went for it to try to put a game away. We've seen several teams now, when you're down 14 and you score that touchdown, go for two, try to make it a six-point game. And that way, if you score again, suddenly you're in the lead instead of having to make that decision at that time. Has the math changed on some of this stuff?
I think there's all of us use these analytic companies, and they give you what the percentages are, what the odds are in these situations. And then as a coach, you got to go with your gut. You got to go with how the game's going. Our defense was playing really well. So kicking a field goal and trying to hold them to a touchdown was an option. If we were in a barn burner, it wouldn't have been, right?
But that receiving core they have was really good, and that quarterback was a really good player. And I just felt like, for us, the book said it's an either-or call. And we had a good call with a good quarterback and a good tight end, and I felt like it was the right decision. And it's not because there was pressure or no pressure. It's because I felt like our odds of scoring there were really good. And I'd do it again. I think you got to go with your gut in those moments, and you got to trust your playmakers to make plays.
Touched on Caden earlier, but what's it been like seeing him this year who leads all power conference players in tackles? What's it been like seeing him just get back from his injury a year ago and also the kind of role he's had to take in the defense, especially with Sean exiting the lineup early in the season?
Yeah, Caden's playing really good, and he's gotten better and better and better as the year's gone on. And he's playing with a lot of confidence. When Sean went down, we moved him from the wheel to the mic, and it took him a couple games. And then he's just really hit his stride. And he knows where to fit. He's communicating at a high level.
His pass coverage has gotten better and better and better as the year's gone on. He's playing square. He's using his hands, beating blocks.And he's just tough, man. He's a really tough kid. And so I'm really happy for him. Any time you have a player that, I mean, football means a lot to him, and his team means a lot to him, and they get injured, you really want that bounce back to be big. And for him, it's been a tremendous senior year. And he's playing as consistent as any MIKE linebacker that I've watched on film. Every game, he's leading us in tackles.
For the players who, maybe are new to the team and haven't played in this rivalry yet, are there specific, highlights from previous games or stories from previous games that you or the staff or the rest of the team are telling these guys to kind of get them hyped up?
It's not a game you have to hype your guys up for. I mean, it's really evident here, and I don't know how it is at other places. When you get to your rivalry week, my job is to educate the team on the history of the rivalry, and I'll do that because, to your point, there's some guys, Sabastian Harsh comes here from Wyoming. He grew up in Nebraska. So, I'm going to educate him on how long this game's been played and what it's been like and all those things.
But the locker room talks. Like, these guys tell each other how important they want, how they want these guys to play, and then with senior day, and so, it's a two-fold thing. It's me talking about it with them, and then it's them. And at the end of the day, it's after that discussion is over, it's about executing. Like, you don't win the game because you want to or because, you don't like playing your rival or whatever it is. You win the game because you execute better than they do.
And you have fewer mistakes. You make more plays. You don't beat yourself. You don't have, costly penalties or, things that you can prevent from happening. Your guys strain really hard, and you come up with some critical-moment plays in the game, and that's how you win. And educating them is part of the process.
I know you've talked in the past about how when you first got here, you were told not to wear that color, and you understood how important it was from the start. But was there a sort of welcome-to-the-rivalry moment during a game that you kind of remember that stands out in your mind when you really sort of think you fully understood what was going on?
Yeah, I don't know if I've had, like, a moment in time. Like, I've told you guys many times, like, the biggest thing that's unique about this is how close we are together geographically. And we used to stay in the Marriott downtown when I first got here, great hotel.But when you go down in the lobby, the gift store has NC State stuff, Duke stuff, and Carolina stuff. And I'm like, man, this is our team hotel. That shouldn't be there.And that's just how it is. As you know, this city has a lot of everybody in it, you know, has ECU. It has apps.
Everybody's here, right? And it's just different that way from where I've been for most places. At SC, you saw a lot of UCLA, too. That was close by. But when you're at Kansas, you don't see Missouri stuff in Lawrence. When you're at Wisconsin, you don't see Minnesota stuff in Madison. You don't see it. And if somebody was from there, they wouldn't wear it. And that's just how it is.
But here, you see everything. And to me, that was like, man, this is different. And then you meet a booster, and he's like, hey, man, good to talk to you. Hey, this is my wife. Sorry, she went to Carolina. Or sorry, she went to Duke. Like, they'll throw that at me. And I'm like, okay. And so there's a lot of mixed households.
And that's what makes this unique, is the closeness of how many people you're going to bump into that went to those schools when you play them, and the fans and the mixed households. And, the kids in the classrooms at the schools, right, they're all wearing different colors. And it's unique, it's not like that in most places. It's not. And very rare to have rivalries this close together and have three of them like that.It's really, really unique.
Coach, you mentioned earlier just this week about being thankful and grateful.This team has gone through a lot both on and off the field this season. I'm curious what you feel the most gratitude for right now as you talk to us, as you kind of reflect on everything that's occurred over the past, what, 12, 13 weeks?
Yeah, I mean, it's two things. It's the staff, how we've worked together through all this, and what Coach Eliot and his family went through and how we have all hung together through a really hard thing. It just showed the humanity of a lot of parts of a football program and the way that our players have stayed together.I mean, I'm not going to get into all the injuries because from the outside, you think those are excuses.
But we've had more than I've ever seen on a football team, and they're all different. And the way these kids just doesn't matter.Like, the next guy comes in, and the guys that are around them are helping them, and they're coaching them. And even though we've lost some tough games here and there, like, these kids are unbelievably coachable. And so it's just been a refreshing year that way.
And so I'm just super grateful, to the people I get to be with every day. I'm talking professionally right now. It's been awesome.And do we all want more wins? Absolutely. But the work environment and the coaching environment that I have right now, I'm completely grateful for that.
