NC State head coach Dave Doeren recently spoke on the Wolfpack Weekly Radio Show, where he discussed the bye week, the Richmond game, and much more!
On coming back for the home opener...
Always good to play in the Carter and to get to play a night game in the Carter for our home opener, and to do it in a fashion with a new uniform and 9/11 and all the stuff going along with it. I'm excited for the guys to get back in there.
They did a little uniform reveal on video today. How special is it? Guys love to get the new uniforms and things, though — the Wolfpack Warriors uniforms. How significant will it be to wear them, and for the reason in which you are wearing them?
Yeah, I think the shiny new toys are real for everybody, right? But it is a nice-looking uni at the same time, and the sentiment behind it is special. But also, for all the people who were a part of that and understand how hard that was, it's a great way to honor them.
How has this week of work been? How's the prep been getting ready for the Spiders?
Yeah, I mean, it's been a long week; every day seems like eight days when you lose a football game and play bad. As a coach, it sits pretty heavy on you, and the kids have worked their butts off. They feel the way that they should feel — disappointed, mad, and want to get better.
And so the practices have been intense. There's been really good coaching. Guys are making plans for every player, and what do they have to do? What do we have to do to help them?
It starts with our plan. The plan has to be one our guys can do, one they can teach, one they can absorb, and one they can execute in a way that lets them play fast.
You spend all winter, all spring, all summer getting ready to go play, and then you finally get to play, and it goes the way it did at Virginia, and then you got to wait another two weeks. As I mentioned earlier, it's a long time. What do you try to get done in that window of opportunity this early in the season?
Well, starting a week earlier, there are a lot of unknowns with as many new players as we have. And so we went back to work on the things that we thought we were going to get in the game that we didn't. Also, we looked at ourselves and what we could do better and differently to help these players.
It's not the same team that we've ever had, right? It's always going to be a new team, and knowing their skill sets is harder than ever because there are 51 new players on this football team. And that's not an excuse. That's reality.
And so you have to be able to diagnose your strengths and weaknesses, then figure out how you're going to use the former and hide the latter, right? And how can you take this player and this player and maybe make them into one player and share time with them because this guy can do this, this guy can do this?
And so there's just a lot of conversation in the staff room about the best way to utilize our players and have success with them. And we have one game to get that information from. That was very valuable.
Virginia was a good opponent, and they played well. And so it definitely showed us some things we got to work on, and we have.
So you play Week 0, right, which you just kind of bump the schedule up in the offseason. But then you have an off week, an idle week, and then you play a Friday, right? And then you actually later on in conference play fly out west, play Friday really late, Stanford. How hard is it to not just go Saturday, Saturday, Saturday? And you don't get to get that kind of rhythm when you're setting up your calendar.
Well, for a while now in this league, there hasn't been a routine. We've had Thursday games, Friday games. There was a Monday game last night that ended up being a late, late start.
And so I think the league is trying to find the best ways to get us the most visibility, which I understand, but it does get you out of rhythm. And so you've got to retrain, hey, today is Tuesday, but it's really game week Wednesday, right? And you've got to talk in that way for the players because that's meaningful. They know what happens on a game week Wednesday.
And as we get to the Stanford game, it's going to be even more challenging because we play at night. I think we kick off at 10:30 Eastern, and we usually practice in the morning. So we'll have to adjust, and we'll get to that later. But there's always something that makes each week a little bit more unique, and there are no routines in college football anymore because they're going to maximize their opportunity to be on television.
What indications have you seen in the last 10 days or so that give you an indicator that the guys are in the right frame of mind going into game No. 2?
Well, it started in the locker room after the game. I mean, several players are wanting to say the right things, talking about how they didn't play well, how it's on me, I got to play better. And I was quick to point out it's on me, too.
And we got to have you ready to play. You got to be able to cut it loose, and we got to give you a plan that helps you more. So there was extreme ownership on the players' side, and the coaches' side, and that's what you can hope for.
And then you go back to work. You get the guys in the meeting rooms, and you talk through it and try to — what did you see on this play? Where are your eyes at? What is that picture telling you to do? And then it gives us information, and then we make adjustments, and then you go to work.
And we didn't win the line of scrimmage. We didn't win the turnover margin. We didn't get open to man-to-man coverage. Like, there's a lot to work on coming out of that game, and so that's what we did.
What did you like when you watched the film about Virginia?
Yeah, I mean, there's certain things. I mean, I thought up front, Spike Sowells Jr., I thought played a really good football game at center. His first college start at center, I thought he played a really good football game. I was impressed with him.
I think our punter obviously was a standout in the game, and that's great to see because we were hoping he would be like — that's what he showed us in training camp, but you don't know.
I thought our special teams played well. When you look at the field position and the way we flipped the field, covered punts, they had zero yards in the punt return game. And a year ago, they really hurt us in the punt return game. Like, that was a huge factor in their field position a year ago.
And so that part of our three phases of the game I thought was really, really good. Outside of that, Popo Aguirre, 18 tackles. I thought he did a great job in the middle of the defense.
How often do you look at film? This is not necessarily just for UVA. This is a film question. How often do you look at film, not necessarily to get surprised, but you look at it in a detailed way, like slow motion? It's all happening so fast on game day, where you look at it in slow motion, and you go, well, that's not exactly — that didn't manifest in the way I thought it might based on that.
Like, does film ever not surprise you, but you just need to see it a little slower and a little closer to fully dissect what went on when you guys get those pads?
It's never as good as you think, and it's never as bad as you think. And the video is very telling in many ways. And sometimes you get away with things. Sometimes you get away with nothing, and your margin for error is zero, right?
And that was one of those games where that's how it went for us. And that's just the way it is. And you got to show up and play well when your opportunity is, right? And wherever it is, it doesn't matter — home, away, in-country, out of country — you got to play your butt off, and especially when you're playing an 11-win team from the year before.
I want to ask you another question about film study because that was my first game on the sidelines in a long time. And I know sometimes after a game you're asked a question you may not have seen. You see the game differently on the field. How different is it when you go up top and start looking at the All-22?
Yeah, I mean, the iPads help me see a lot more now. Some games I get to look at that more than others. And especially when one side of the ball is doing well, it gives me a chance to really watch the other side. And in that game, neither side was doing well, and so it was hard.
But to your point, when you go up in the press box and look down during the game, it's a lot different, and it's no different than watching film because you get to see the entire picture and the splits and the stances. You can see it all.
And that's why I liked calling games from up there when I was a defensive coordinator. I just thought it gave me a much better opportunity to make the right calls for the guys.
How do you watch a game from the sidelines? What do you look for? Do you always look at the ball?
No, I mean, a lot of times I'm looking at the line of scrimmage. Or if there's a point-of-attack thing that I know is going to be tricky, if there's a matchup I want to watch, if I'm wanting to watch this receiver on their corner and see how he covers him on this play because it may set something up.
But I know the play calls, and so my eyes go where I feel like they need to be. And then after the ball's snapped, I'm going to the point of attack most of the time.
I learned something that will help me on the sidelines.
To the tippy-top level of the FCS in Montana, your experience there. Richmond has had a few top-25 FCS teams in recent years. Coach Huesman's been there since 2017.
He's done a nice job there with the Spiders. How good is really good FCS football? What are your recollections of that and that high talent level? They have the preseason SoCon Defensive Player of the Year and the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year.
Yeah, I mean, there are really good players in those leagues, as you see now, because a lot of them are getting pulled up. But during my time at Montana, I mentioned this the other day: we had multiple players who made NFL rosters.
And I had a corner that went to the Giants. We had an offensive lineman that played for Seattle. And so there's a lot of good football players at that level. And some of them may not have the measurables at this level, but they have long arms and speed, and they're tough, and the coaches are really good.
I really enjoyed coaching in the Big Sky in particular. There were a lot of good teams in those years I was there, especially in the playoffs. We played App State in the playoffs back when they were really good and beat them in double overtime. We beat Furman in the national championship. We lost to Georgia Southern in the national championship the year before.
There are a lot of good football players and NFL talent who probably aren't sticking at that level anymore. But you're gonna face some of them. Each team's got one, and this team has a really good defensive end.
Being on that side of the ball, how will a Richmond team circle this game? This is a big game for them. How do you describe the hunger that they will play with to your players if they've never faced that before?
Yeah, I mean, I talked about it, but to be honest, it's more about the hunger that we should have to win this football game.
It's not the first time we've played a team in a league below us, whether it's a G5, G6, or FCS. Like, we know that they've got nothing to lose. But after that, we got to put our stuff on film. Like, we've got to play our style of football, and if we do that, it doesn't matter who we're playing.
It doesn't matter if it was Game 1 or Game 10. Like, if you don't show up and play to your brand, to your DNA, like, you got no chance. And losing the line of scrimmage, losing the turnover margin, it's not NC State football.
What does Richmond show you on film? They have the defensive end. His name's Camden Byrd.
He has four sacks in two games. Noticed also that they've allowed only one red-zone trip in two games. They've played Bucknell. They've played Howard. Does anything else pop out on film? The way the running back plays? Their quarterback?
What else? The quarterback can throw the ball. I mean, they push it down the field. They do a nice job in their vertical passing game, and they'll get the ball a lot to their tailback, No. 3. He's done a really good job in the first two games. He did fumble in the last game, but he's made a lot of plays.
But defensively, they're sound. I mean, they're a quarters-football team, 4-2-5. They know how to line up and how to play. They play hard, and they've got a couple of difference-makers in their front.
And so it's been hard for people to get to the red zone because they've had a lot of negative-yardage plays on defense.
The last time NC State played Richmond, do you remember that game?
Yeah, game-winning field goal.
That's right. Niklas Sade. He kicked the first field goal, I think, in the game and the last field goal. 2013.
People wonder, how in the world can that game be so close? Well, you guys turned it over four times. Those are the kind of things that contribute to games like that. How much will a clean game be critical for you guys on Friday night?
Yeah, I mean, you watched a game last night with SMU and Florida State. Four turnovers made that a close game. Otherwise, SMU blows them out.
And when you turn the football over, you're giving up possession, which means you're potentially giving up points on the board. And if you do that multiple times, that's multiple points on the board.
And yeah, I mean, it's all about long, sustaining drives that end with points. I mean, you do that over and over. What happens is what happened to us. Our defense got tired.
And over time, that's how you blow people out. You get their defense tired, and now your offense can run plays all day long, and it's hard to stop somebody when you're tired.
And that's the one thing when you're playing a team like them. Like, we need to get them tired because they won't have the same rotation given their roster size. They're just not.
So that plays to our advantage if we can have good, sustained drives and get off the field quickly on defense.
How does linebacker look this week? I know you mentioned AJ Richardson's banged up.
Well, he's out. I hate it for him. He's just had one of those two-year careers where he's in one game and out for the season.
It's just tough because he's a great kid, and he's a big-time leader. I hate it for him, and it'll create an opportunity on the roster. And I'm not gonna divulge who's playing there this week.
But now that I've mentioned the names — whether it's Da'Kaari, whether it's Bailey, Ziggy, Moreta — guys are gonna get opportunities in this game, and we're gonna find out who's gonna be the guy moving forward to play next to Popo.
I feel great about LaCorian on third down. I think he does some really good things, but he's still, from a body type, a little bit undersized to be in there on first, second down, and short yardage.
So we got two really good freshmen, and it'll be interesting to see how fast these guys grow; that's why they came here. They wanted an opportunity to play. And I told them at practice today, "You have the opportunity. What are you gonna do with it?"
You've had to have this conversation with AJ for two straight years. What can you say to the guy? How has he handled it?
And how do you try to replace him? Well, he can still be a captain. He can still do that. But how do you try to replace him on the field?
You don't replace him on the field. Like, it's going to be somebody that's not AJ. It's somebody else's opportunity to be their best, and the guys around got to play better. That's just part of next-man-up football.
But like we saw with the Hurricanes, they lost their goalie, and an unknown dude comes in and, man, becomes the MVP of the Stanley Cup. So who knows what's gonna happen with this position?
And I'm looking at it as a positive for the guys that have the opportunity. And the conversation's not easy with a guy that loves the game as much as he does. Like, it's just more of, "I'm sorry. I feel for you."
He's a very spiritual kid. Not sure why this is happening to you, because you're a good kid and you're doing the right thing. That's a question for you and the big man. Just know that we're here to support you.
