NC State head coach Dave Doeren recently spoke on the Wolfpack Weekly Radio Show, where he discussed the loss to Vanderbilt, previewed the App State game, and more!
How has this week of work been getting ready for App State?
Yeah, it’s been good. The guys, obviously coming off a tough one, you worry about their mindset, where their head and heart are, with a lot of noise on the outside.
They came to work, and I couldn’t be prouder of this group of guys for just showing up. Not that anyone’s accepting anything; we all want to get on the field and play again, but the way they went to work was cool to watch.
The leaders of the football team rallied the guys. The energy they brought to practice Tuesday was very refreshing.
I think of three words: resolve, resilience, and respond. That’s part of your DNA. Why do you feel that’s important, and how much do you want that thread to run through your entire program in moments like this and successful moments as well?
I heard this from Thunde today, and it really resonated. You’re not measured by how many times you’re knocked down. You’re measured by how many times you get up and fight.
One thing that I take a lot of pride in is not having a quitter’s mentality. It’s quite the opposite. It’s bringing out your best when your best is really needed. As a leader, I think that’s when leaders shine.
I think it’s easy to be a leader when things are good. Things were not good coming out of that game. I’ve had to do a lot of work with our staff, our players. It’s all hands on deck, and it’s fun to see these guys want to fight with us.
There’s a lot of resiliency here in this program, a lot of grit. Obviously, that dates back a long time to NC State. I think Jimmy V is the backbone of that here at this institution, and I’ve obviously done my part to follow suit.
You mentioned on Monday that the 2016 Clemson game lingered and affected a few other games. Did that come to mind again after Vanderbilt?
It took me a while. I had no words, and shock is an understatement. I couldn’t believe that happened, like everybody else, I’m sure.
But I had to think about it, and I talked to our coaches about it. Who’s been through something like this? Clemson was different. It’s not different in the sense that I felt like we won the game for four quarters and then lost; it was a player kicking a football and not making the kick. It’s a physical error. Guys miss kicks.
When you’re in a situation like we were in, where something totally unexpected happens, it feels different. Totally different.
But I knew immediately: I’m not going to live that again. I’m not going to let this team lose twice from one loss.
In the case of the Clemson game, it took us a month to recover as a football team, and then we won four of our last five games that season, I think. But I don’t want to go through that again, and I certainly don’t want our players to have to.
We’ve talked about it. Popo did a nice job in one of our team meetings because he went through something similar at Miami, where they fumbled at the end of the game; it was returned for a touchdown, and they lost. I think it was Georgia Tech; maybe it was. Very similar, where they had it wrapped up and really didn’t need to run the ball. They could’ve kneeled it.
He talked about that and what it was like on their team. It was good for our players to hear, not just from a coach, but from a teammate, how they can bounce back and become the team they want to be if they use it as ammunition.
Part of the shock was how well you played throughout the game. It was a high-level, competitive football game on the road against an SEC team. There was a lot of good in that game, which is also probably what makes the ending so crushing. How do you get that message across to the players?
As I said in my press conference, I was really proud of the staff and how they prepared their players, how the players took the coaching, and how they executed the game plan.
The other team made a lot of plays, too. They’re a good football team, but we kept finding ways to stay ahead. When they’d score, we’d score. When we needed a stop, we got a stop. It was really complementary football.
We played physical. They were a really good defense. I thought, coming in, they were one of the biggest pressure teams we’d probably play, and holding them to one sack said a lot about the efforts of our O-line, running backs, and CJ getting us in the right protection at times.
Let’s talk about your offensive line. Spike wasn’t able to go, Teague moved to center, and a lot of your guys played all 82 snaps in that heat. They also didn’t allow a lot of pressure on CJ. From an offensive line standpoint, what impressed you?
Rico played right tackle. Jimarion was at left. Spike didn’t play, and Teague moved in.
It was his second time ever playing that position in a game, against a really good defense. I thought he played really well, and he’s just going to get better and better.
He’s grown a lot, man. I’m really proud of Teague Andersen for stepping up in that football game, snapping, and, as you mentioned, doing so in that heat.
I don’t think people realize that was probably the hottest field I’ve ever been on, and I’ve played in Vegas.
We were told it was the hottest game in Nashville football history.
Yeah, ever. It felt like it was 150 degrees down there, and 155 literally on the field. The surface was 150. I get in the sauna quite a bit. It was hot down there, man.
But our guys just hung in there, and you never heard them complain once. Our training room staff did a great job, and our nutritionist pumped fluids, and we still had guys who cramped. Both sides, I’m sure, did.
That was tough. It’s funny to me. You can have a lightning strike 8 miles away and still play for 30 minutes, but if it’s 155 on the field, you can play for 4 hours. Somebody make sense of that.
It was a hard-fought game for both teams, and Vandy’s quarterback made a couple of incredible throws toward the end.
CJ Bailey threw for 275 yards and three touchdowns. On one touchdown to Keenan Jackson, pressure was coming to his strong side; he hung in there, knowing he was going to take a shot, and launched it for a touchdown. Was that one of the most impressive throws of his career?
He had several. There was another one where they were in an all-out blitz, and we had a little play where he checked the running back around the edge of the blitz and dumped it over the top. He got really crushed on that play, too.
He’s giving up his body for his team. He played a great football game, except for two plays. That’s all anyone’s going to talk about — the two — instead of the game he played, and that’s unfortunate because I thought CJ really had a special day.
I told the team we wouldn’t have had 31 points if that kid didn’t play the way he did. That’s life. People want to talk about the worst things instead of all the other positives. I understand why, but that kid did play a hell of a football game.
Keenan Jackson had more than 100 receiving yards for the second game in a row and three touchdowns, and he’s the ACC Receiver of the Week. He and CJ came in together and have played together for three years. Should you expect chemistry between those two, and have you seen that early on?
Yeah, and Keenan earns all these plays in practice. That kid is a tireless worker. He’s the first one in and the last one out in his position group.
He spends a lot of time recovering so he can be fast on game day. He’s a really smart football player, gets guys lined up, understands coverage, and he’s a great route runner with a big catch radius. He can stretch, so I’m happy for him.
I think when guys like that, who work really hard and make plays, do that, that’s what you want because it helps you against the other guys. “Hey, look how he works, and then look at his production. Look at how you’re working.”
It’s easy at that point to preach the practice habits to guys because they’re paying off for him.
Jaren Sensabaugh, a Nashville native, entered FirstBank Stadium as an interception. Do you think that was the best game of his career so far?
He gave up two touchdowns, too. I was really happy for him about the interception. It was a big-time play because there was really a bust. We should’ve had a guy running down the middle of the field, and he overlapped and made a great play.
Jaren’s just going to keep getting better. I’m really proud of him. If you ask him, he’ll tell you it wasn’t his best game. He got beat on a double move twice.
He’s still a young, inexperienced player. He’s very mature. He’s very smart. He’s going to grow a lot from that game, and he competed his butt off.
That’s life as a corner, man. Your mistakes can be really, really costly. Your eye discipline and everything that goes into it. He’ll get way better from that game, and next time they run one of those plays, I expect him to be all over it.
How about Brian Nelson II? How do you judge corners who don’t get many opportunities because they’re in the right spot, and proactively stop those opportunities by being in the correct position?
Brian’s done a great job. He’s been tested at times, and at times the ball’s gone away from him. He’s doing his job. He’s playing well.
I know he’d tell you he can tackle better. That’s one area he needs to step up in: the run game. But he’s really been consistent, and it’s been all training camp.
It started when we started in July. He and Keenan had a competitive training camp. Those guys were on each other every day, and that’s what’s made them both who they are right now. Iron sharpens iron.
Let’s go to the safety position and another guy who’s had to work back from injury, Brody Barnhardt. What did you think of the interception and the plays he made late in the game?
Ronnie had a stinger, and he came in the game. They targeted him three times and had zero completions. He had an interception, which was a really smart play.
That wasn’t his guy. He was a lurk player on that defense. He saw the formation. He knew the play was coming. He saw the linebacker beat, ran over the top, and picked it. It was a great play.
Really proud of him, man. Happy for him, too, because that kid loves the game. When he got hurt last year, it crushed him. To see him back healthy, playing and having fun, it’s good.
King Mack was productive at times as well. We talked before the year about the depth at safety, with Tristan Teasdell in the mix as well. How did King Mack play for you? How did Tristan Teasdell do?
That group has a good rotation. They complement each other. They all have different things that they do better.
King’s continuing to get better. His eye discipline in game one was a problem, and he’s worked really hard on that. People have copied some of Virginia’s plays and run them on him. As soon as he got in the game in game two, they ran the same play on him, and he defended it perfectly.
He’s a really good open-field tackler. He’s fast. He’s great on our coverage teams. He hit 21 miles an hour in practice Tuesday. So he can run.
App State is 3-0. They beat Maine, won at ECU, and beat Charlotte. What jumps out on film about App State?
Their offense does. Their skill is really impressive. Their receivers, and they play a lot of guys who can run.
The quarterback’s 75% accuracy downfield. It’s not just short game. They’re pushing the ball. The tight ends are involved.
The quarterback is really what jumps out: just how accurately he’s throwing the football, getting the ball to the right guys, and letting them run with it.
Defensively, statistically, they’re playing really well. They’re very sound. They play hard.
When you watch the film from one side of the ball to the other, there’s a lot of speed on that offense, and that jumps out to you.
The head coach is now in his second year there, and he’s got more players who are his recruits. You can see that they’re playing together as a football team, and they’ve had two close wins in a row. They’re a team that knows how to battle.
On Monday, you mentioned the late Shawn Clark, who passed away this week, a year ago. What was it about the friendship you guys had? Why was there such a mutual respect between you two?
I don’t know. Sometimes you just — it’s like a guy that’d be your brother. He was a kindred spirit.
We had very similar interests off the field and very similar philosophies about football and how to treat people. He was a guy who had gratitude, who treated people with care and respect. He never big-timed people. I like being around guys like that.
He was a real human being. When Jacob went to App State to be a student, Shawn called me. He’s like, “Hey, man, give me his number. I’m going to go pick him up and take him to lunch.”
He’d never even met Jacob. I’m like, “Dude, really?” He’s like, “Yeah, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to make sure he’s comfortable here in Boone, NC.”
I didn’t ask him to do that or prompt him to do that. He heard that Jacob was there, called to get his phone number, and took him to lunch. I’m like, “Jake, you’re going to lunch with the head football coach at App State.”
That was his first week on campus in Boone, NC. It just told me, "This is a real dude. The kind of guy who would do something for your family even though he doesn’t even know them.”
That’s why, now that he’s not with us, Sara and I really, really care about their children. We don’t know them that well because you don’t get to spend much time with other coaches’ wives and kids, but we do.
