NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss his team as the Pack wraps up preparation for rival North Carolina.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
My 30th game in the rivalry, and through the years, the coaches have come, coaches have gone. In that time, I've never seen a coach embrace this game more than you. Why is that? What point got you to that point?
It's been that way my whole life, going back to when I was a player.
These rivalry games are special, the bragging rights part of it, the way it makes your school feel, and knowing that you were a part of uplifting the community that you are a part of, and I'm a part of NC State. And so I look at it as an honor to get the opportunity to go out there and compete against somebody, and help our fans and alumni and students, and obviously our players, have that. And these are all these tough games, they're always crazy, hard-fought games.
And so I love rivalry games. To me it's what makes college football different. Pro football kinda has rivalries, and I understand they play each other more often, and things like that. But this game's going back to the 1800s.
There's a lot of people that have been a part of watching this one. So it's pretty awesome to have that kind of history when you're playing in a game.
Jacoby was able to complete 47 passes... your first win against UNC, you just needed to go 9 of 11. What do you remember about running the ball 58 times, and getting that first win?
Well, we rushed for like 400 yards in that game. When it's working like that, you go with what's working, and that was a game where we were able to really run the football.
And each one of these games has been different for them and for us. And it's a great way to get the first win in a physical way. And again, that's something I take a lot of pride in, is being physical as a program.
Jacoby was a tremendous leader for us. He deserves a lot of credit, and our turnaround programmatically, and what he meant, not only when he played here, but when he transferred here, and redshirted, and led as a scout team quarterback. And shoot, we played at Florida State, and he wasn't allowed to travel, cuz back then when he transferred, you were ineligible for a year.
And he drove himself in his car to Tallahassee to be in the locker room with the players and cheer for them. And that was the kind of man that he was, and that's why you see him still successful in the NFL. I mean, his intangibles are as good as they could be.
How much pride do you take, coach, in the fact that you've had great successes right over here?
Yeah, it means a lot. I probably wouldn't be here if I didn't, and that's the reality. These games mean a lot.
They mean a lot to the everybody who supports these programs. Like for me, for their school, for all of them, this weekend's full of these games, right? And the rivalry game matters, matters a lot. And I take a lot of pride in it, I do.
It's meaningful to this team and our seniors and all of them. So I understand what it's all about.
Caden said yesterday, probably his maybe favorite two games were the one with Emeka's big catch, and then I think 22 with Drake, Payton. Do you have a favorite game or a favorite moment that really sticks out to you?
Yeah, I mean, the comeback win with Emeka's two touchdowns, not one. I mean, what did it say, 99.9% chance of losing at that time, and we overcame those odds, it's pretty hard not to pick that one. It's funny now, and I was talking about this yesterday with Tony Haynes.
Two of the most memorable plays in NC State specialist history are fumble recoveries, Chris Dunn recovering the fumble in this game to help us win it and last week, our punter recovering his own fumble, and so pretty crazy. But that sequence right there where they made a 50 plus yard field goal to go up to nine, Emeka scores, Chris Dunn recovers, Emeka scores again.
It's pretty hard to top.
What's it like to be able to showcase your program to all the in-state recruits on a weekend like this?
Yeah, it's big. Thanksgiving, there'll be a lot of recruits here, in-state and out-of-state, and some of them were head-to-head with them on, some of them were not. But it's not just the two programs, we're showcasing our program. We're showcasing Carter Family Stadium, our fanbase, the family atmosphere that we have, the way these kids fight.
And so I like it, cuz a lot of teams are done. So a lot of high school kids can come to this game, and there are very few that are still playing.
Most of your home games just here have been at night. You've talked about that environment, but how much does that kind of environment help in a game like this?
Night games in the Carter are hard to beat, though. And so it makes for a tough Sunday or a tough Saturday, depending on which Friday, if you play Thursday night, which we have. But you can't exchange what we get from a crowd standpoint in the television coverage for a Thursday night, Friday night games are as good as they get.
So yeah, they can keep putting them on us at home. On the road, no, I wanna get home, but at home, I'm all about it.
You guys have limited the large runs. You had Duke, I think, Virginia, maybe ECU too early. Y'all have done a better job in this back half. What do you attribute that to?
I don't think it was ECU, but you're definitely right about Virginia and Duke.
It's about tackling. I mean, you give up a long run, one of two things happen. You either misfit it, so there was a guy out of a gap, or a guy got reached in his gap and you were short.
Or you had a guy there and he didn't make the play, and that was the UVA game. We have multiple plays where there's an unblocked player at the point of attack that just didn't get it done. And when we play well, any defense you talk to, when they play well, they don't beat themselves with mistakes, and they tackle well.
Those two things are critical. And you can put a player in position to make plays all day long. At the end of the day, at some point, it's their guy and our guy, and we gotta make more plays than they make.
And that's what this game's gonna come down to, is the execution, and tackling is execution. Gaps, defeating blockers in gaps, shedding blocks and violence. That's how you stop the run.
Going off of that, what's it been like for you to watch Coach Eliot and that staff really grow throughout the year? I know it's been a tough year for them, but just...
Yeah, I mean, so many different chairs changing in there on the personnel side with the injuries, and obviously his first season here. So new system, new vocabulary, and then what we've gone through with his family. It's been hard, and I think you're seeing them now growing, finally.
Not because we're behind the injury because we're not, but a lot of these kids now have been able to play successive games. And so when you do that, you get to get better.
And you get to build on your schemes. Hey, last week we ran this blitz, and that sets up this blitz for the next week. And so it does help you as a coach when you're putting certain things on film, and you know that with that comes opportunities for other things.
You've known him for a while, but what's the biggest thing you've learned about him as you guys have gone through this?
He's a professional, man. I mean, he does things the right way. He's willing to sit down and talk through things and have an open mind.
There's several coaches in this profession that are ultra hard-headed, that ego gets in the way of a good discussion, and DJ's the opposite. He welcomes that. His heart's in the right place.
He cares about his players, he cares about the staff, the school, the opportunity, all of it. And so it's great having him here.
What does this group of seniors mean to you?
Yeah, I don't know if I can put it in words.
The relationships are deep, even if they're one-year relationships. This team, as I've said a million times, has been really refreshing for me to coach. I'll miss all of them.
As players, I won't miss the relationship because it will continue. We're gonna keep in touch. These guys are great guys.
They'll be back on the sideline. They'll be cheering us on from wherever they're at, but I look forward to the last game in the stadium with them, to the goodbyes and all those things.
And it's my job to give them the best opportunity to win against the team that's gonna bring it. I know it's gonna be a hard-fought game. You've always had players come back to coach.
Any of these seniors that you could see be a future coach?
I'm not gonna name names cuz I don't know what's next for them. But there's a lot of them that would be good coaches. They love the game.
They love the X's and O's, the conversations, the competitive goods. So there's guys in the NFL right now too that played here when they're done. I'll be calling them if I'm still employed.
I'm gonna be calling them cuz I love having former players be a part of the fabric of this place and help us recruit. And nobody talks to a recruit better than a former player. They totally get it.
So that's it. Thank you guys.
