NC State football head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the home opener against Richmond, how the team needs to improve, and much more!
Opening statement...
All right, well, the funnest part of this job is the post-game press conference when you didn't get it done. And as I said after the game, that's on me. We got a good group of kids, and as staff, preparation is a big thing. You prepare your guys to play well, and when they don't, you own that.
And so all you can do is look forward, and I look forward to the opportunity to get back on the grass with the guys during the bye week, and there were three really physical practices. We lost the line of scrimmage in that game, and that's not the style of football I want to have. We need to be aggressive on both sides of the ball, establish our run game, and stop the opponent's run game.
Obviously, you go on the road and play a good team, and Virginia is a good football team. You can't lose the turnover margin at the line of scrimmage and have a chance. And I thought we did enough things to stay in the game for a while, had an opportunity, drove down the field to get it to 17-7, turned the football over going into the red zone, and from there, defense was playing too many snaps, and over time, that's going to wear you down.
So, you give Virginia credit for the job they did. They beat us. They outcoached us.
And then as a coach, you eat on that. It sits in you. It wears you out.
And all you can do is go back to work, and so that's what we've been doing and looking forward to playing our first home game, a really cool opportunity to be a part of the 25th anniversary of 9/11 and wear our black camo uniforms in support of those we lost on that day, the first responders, and just a terrible event.
I think people my age, and those of you who were old enough to know what that was like, know exactly where we were in that moment. And so, it was a horrible day in our country, and the chance for us to play football that day was special.
We so often take for granted what we have. And so I'm thankful that we get to play a home game in the Carter, see our fans, get our players back in their stadium, and get to play against a really good football team. I have a lot of respect for what the coach has done at Richmond.
Been there a long time, has done a great job. His kids play hard, and they're sound, 2-0. You watch them on offense, defense, and special teams.
They're well-coached, and they have some good players. Their defensive end, number six, is a hell of a football player. I turn on the film, and it's like watching Cian Slone from our team last year.
I mean, the dude's just got a super high motor, plays really, really good, smart, tough. Tailback for them is a really good player. The quarterback can make all the throws.
But, to me, these games are more about us. And I'm not saying that because of who we're playing. I'm saying that because of how we just played.
We need to go play our style of football. And get C.J. in a rhythm; let him make plays. The guys around him have to play well for him.
And then, defensively, creating longer-yardage situations where we can generate takeaways. And anytime you're in a football game, and you allow somebody to run the football, takeaways are going to be harder. And you've got to make them more one-dimensional, get them behind the chains, and create opportunities for your pass rushers and your DBs and linebackers to get their hands on the football.
So, looking forward to all that. On the negative side, we lost A.J. Richardson for the season. He had a bicep injury.
And I hate to lose a captain. And it's his second year in a row, oddly enough, getting injured against Virginia for the season. And I hate it for that young man.
He's going to make a great recovery and be back with us in four to six months. But it'll cost him the year. And so, next man up, something that, unfortunately, we've been used to.
Outside of that, we came out of the game very healthy. But losing a player of his magnitude from a leadership standpoint creates an opportunity for the guys around him and also creates some loss in the roster. So, feel for him.
And I know he'll do a great job bouncing back. Open it up for any questions.
Coach, when you guys watched the film back, what did you notice that led to C.J.'s inconsistency in being accurate with the football?
Yeah, I think he was just super excited to play early on. I think the energy, the excitement, and the buildup of the game. I don't think it's nervousness as much as it was just being overhyped.
And then he was off on a couple of throws that he normally makes. And one of them, there was a little bit of pass rush, so he was having to move to his left and throw a football. But it's a throw that he can make, and he knows that.
And I think when you get off rhythm with your quarterback or with your run game or whatever it is, your offensive coordinator at times can get off rhythm with it. You're trying to get guys back. And we just never got in rhythm, man.
And as players and coaches, we need to do a better job. Obviously, it's our job to try to script success when you can. But we played a team that played really well, and we didn't play well.
And so it magnifies the issue. And the biggest thing is, offensively, you always want to start fast if you can, but you want to get in a rhythm. You want to get the ball to some playmakers early, which we had a chance to do a couple times and didn't get it done.
And then, if I could follow up, how have you seen his response over the last week after coming off a game he probably wants back?
Yeah, he's pissed off at the world just like I am. He's a competitive dude. He owned it after the game, which you would expect.
And like I told him, all you can do now is make it up to him and get back to basics. And I think there's a lot of reflection for players when you go through your career. When you play well, think about what made you play well.
Think about your week of preparation, your sleeping habits, even your nutrition, and your film study, all the things that you did. And then you played well. You want to repeat.
That's what we call a routine. You want to repeat those things. And when you don't play well, you want to do the same thing.
And so it's just him reflecting on it and going back through it. I have no doubt he'll bounce back in a big way.
Yeah, is there anyone in particular that you're hoping will step up in light of A.J. Richardson's injury?
Yeah, there are a lot of guys; that's the one position where we do have some depth. And so, the opportunities for these guys to play will be there. And we're going through the week right now, seeing who's the most ready.
But Da'Karri Nelson's a veteran player. Bailey Benson played really well on special teams. LaCorian Hodge has made some plays for us.
We're really excited about Jordan Moreta and Ziggy Moore. So we have options. And it may take some time to see who becomes that guy.
I'm surely not going to tell you who it is now, but several players are getting the opportunity in practice to earn that spot.
Yeah, Dave, appreciate the time. One quick one, I wonder where you were on September 11th?
I was in a position meeting at the University of Montana. And we met in the mornings there. And I remember it vividly because my father was in Boston at the time and was supposed to get on one of those flights.
I don't remember the flight number, but he was supposed to be on one of those flights that ended up crashing. And so my sister called our secretary, Linda Cardinal. She came down, knocked on the door, and said, " Hey, you got to get on the phone.
Your sister's calling. She's freaking out. And, of course, she thought he had crashed because, at that time, cell reception was nonexistent.
We couldn't get anyone on the phone. And I think it took us four or five hours to actually get somebody to tell us that he didn't. What happened was the cab that picked him up that morning didn't show up.
And so he missed the flight. Thank God, right, that he missed that flight. But I'll never forget that day because, for four or five hours, we thought we had lost my father in a plane crash.
It was crazy. And then we just, staff-wise, all stood around the TV watching, and I remember seeing the first tower on fire. And then you see this plane coming in and hitting the second tower, and you're just like in shock.
How could something like this be happening in our country? And I try to describe that to the team. And it's, when you're 18, 19, you're like, yeah, it's a good story.
But for those of us that witnessed it, I mean, it was intense. And the things that came out of that with our country were crazy, and the war that followed and everything else.
That's incredible. Wow. I didn't know that story.
I hate to even transition like this, but you've been at that FCS level. When you look at a team like Richmond now, how much more difficult is it for those rosters? I don't know how much you watched last year, but they're getting picked apart by guys like you and, you know, guys at the P4 level.
And just how much more difficult would you imagine it is to coach at that level than it was when you were there?
Yeah, I mean, I'm sure it's hard. We're all getting picked apart, man. So I don't think it's unique to anybody that we're losing players; they're losing players.
It's just college football now. And for them, I'm sure it's more of a feeder system approach at that level now, where you're going to be losing a lot of your guys year in and year out because you don't have the means to keep them, probably. So it would be very challenging.
I mean, when I was at Drake, we didn't even have scholarships, so we didn't have to worry about stuff like that. But at Montana, I mean, we went to back-to-back national championships. We had great teams, and we would have been stripped of players for sure.
And we had a DB that went to the NFL. We had an offensive lineman that went to the NFL, so there were guys there that definitely should have been at the Division I level. So, yeah, I feel for them.
And my son, Connor, is now a student coach on Coach Healy's staff at East Tennessee State. And so I hear it from him firsthand when he loses teammates every offseason. And it's hard on them, because, shoot, they lose half their guys sometimes from their recruiting classes.
So that amount of turnover is very challenging.
Yeah, Dave, you were talking about regrouping and how you move forward after a game like that. I'm curious, when you're dealing with the psychology of a team, how big of a setback is that — that kind of a jolting performance with a team that has some confidence and guys back, and it turns into such a thud of a performance. How do you manage that?
Yeah, well, it's a reality check. I think maybe sometimes you hear people talk about you all summer, and you forget how hard it is to win a football game. We were playing a really veteran, old football team in that game, and we didn't play the same way they did.
I mean, they were executing. They were playing together, and we were pressing; that's how it felt to me. And so it's a learning opportunity.
We have a lot of football left. We have 11 games on the regular season schedule. And like I told them, they gave you a good blueprint.
Last year, we beat that team, and then they won 11 games. And so those kinds of moments can be huge growth moments for your team, and having a reality check in week one isn't a bad thing. I don't like losing, but the lesson from that loss can be really, really big for the turnaround.
And so that's what — not that I'm hopeful — that's what I'm counting on from these guys: that I own it publicly, but our players, man, they own it in the locker room. Like, those guys are on each other about what they should have done better, and the same goes for my assistant coaches. So, all you can do is take a negative situation and try not to relive it, right?
And so to do that, you have to take all the things that went into it and get back to what makes us a good football team, and that's been the emphasis.
You've talked in the past about what military appreciation means to you, considering your background coming from a military family, but also now with this 9/11 tied to it and your experience, I guess, what does it mean to be able to honor those people, and do it here in the state of North Carolina?
Yeah, it's awesome. I mean, we have over 100,000 active troops in our state, and I love the interaction when we get it with them. I know that military appreciation day is later, but this is another way to honor not just the military but the first responders who were, NYPD and all the firemen that were there on the scene, and we've all watched the shows, the movies, you name it, about what happened that day and how crazy it was, and it's just a chance to, for those that are up there watching down on us and for those families that went through it to know that people care, and that that was a hard moment on everybody, and we're just trying to honor that with, our uniform that we're wearing but also the chance to go play in a free country, that we have because of what all these people in the military do for us.
Coach, you talked about the practices being pretty physical coming off of that loss. Can you talk about whether anyone stepped up that you weren't expecting, or if any voices got louder this week? Can you talk about any practices or leadership you might have seen?
Yeah, Ronnie Royal III, I thought, did some really good things. Brian Nelson II on defense — you hear their voices. You always hear Popo talking down there.
On offense, CJ definitely brought great energy to practice. I think the guys around him are doing a good job, and they've magnified our fans' disappointment by a million, and that would be what you have on the coaching staff and in the locker room right now. We expected, and still expect, to play really good football when we get the opportunity, and we know how limited those opportunities are.
I mean, this is the weirdest sport because you train 300-plus days a year to play 12, and it's not like baseball or basketball, where you lose and play two days later. I mean, your opportunities are limited, and so you've got to maximize them, and that's been a huge point of emphasis. So there's a lot of volume.
There's a lot of talk, and there was a lot of action, and that was more of what I was looking for. Words are great. Action's better.
And so getting on the field and getting back to it and working hard on the things that we need to do better, not just with the players but with the coaches, and not being predictable, like being able to disguise things better and do things better, I call it dress up the pig in different costumes, right? Like, run the same play with different looks, and you've got to do a better job of being creative. And so all these conversations are going on, and now it's, all right, we've talked about it.
Now I want to see it. And then you go to practice, put it into action, watch it, and critique it. And then what should we change?
What should we tweak? What does the player like better? All right, now let's do that.
And then you keep doing it until you have what you're looking for. And so there's been a lot of positive, constructive conversation amongst the staff, amongst the team.
Yeah, when you're talking about Linebacker, how encouraging was it for you to see the way LaCorian played at Virginia, got in there with the sack, kind of really came to his own, I guess, in his first true run in a game?
Yeah, he's gotten a lot better. He's learned a lot about how to practice and prepare, and he's got a unique role for us on third down, and he played well on special teams. And when you take little roles, and you do well in them, your role gets bigger.
And so, the thing he has to do is continue to make the reps count when he gets in there.
I know it's been a big talking point, but the quarterback run against Virginia — not everybody you play is going to have a quarterback that can run like that, but did you see things that you guys did against the run that maybe you think other teams might try to exploit if they go back and watch that film?
Well, yeah, I mean, in two weeks, we'll play Vandy, and their quarterback can run, so it's about leverage. First of all, we lost leverage. What I mean by that is we let the ball get outside of our contained player on seven different plays, and that cannot happen against an athletic quarterback.
And you credit them for getting in some formations we hadn't practiced, and our guys didn't adjust well. That's on our coaches to make sure they understand how to adjust to any formation. But you've got to have your leverage points, and guys that are in those positions a couple of times and were in the right position have to stay outside of those blocks.
And when you turn it back, one guy turns it back to ten, and now you have the pursuit angles that you coach, and those plays would not have been as big. And so there's just a lot of things. Some of them are eye violations: guys are supposed to be keying the fullback or the tight end, and he comes back, and they don't see him.
And so those are discipline things. And so there's a lot of little things there, between how to line up, what you're looking at, and then playing the block correctly. And that was the biggest culprit.
A couple of times he scrambled on drop-back passes. Now that's a different conversation, with your rush-lane integrity, and then if you have a spy or different guys in coverage who can come get him.
How much of a difference do you see that when you played Virginia, there were so many new players for them, so many transfers, so many people that you had to watch in different uniforms? And then this week, like almost every player, almost every key player for Richmond is somebody that played for them last year.
Yeah, it's a lot different. It's a lot different when you talk about in-game one, playing a team that had 31 new players from the transfer portal, and a lot of people are facing that challenge. I'm not alone in that.
I know that. It's unique because you are watching them play for someone else in a different system, doing different things with them, and you can only get so much out of that. I mean, you definitely get what kind of mover and speed and that, but how that transitions to the next team, and how they're going to use them or not, there's a lot of guesswork.
And as the season goes on, that guesswork's gone, right? Now, whoever plays Virginia next has the benefit of seeing how they're using those 31 players, just as the teams that play us will. And then, over time, there's an inventory of what that team does with these guys, how they use them, how we can attack them, and who we think is good and who we think is not good.
So, the early games are always the toughest when it comes to the unknowns, and sometimes you hit the mark, and sometimes you miss. I didn't look at that in terms of how we played them. We got mostly what we thought, with the exception of the downhill quarterback runs.
