QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Monday Press Conference

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the upcoming game against Virginia.

AUDIO: Dave Doeren Press Conference (17:52)

Opening Thoughts...
Just going back to last week, I'm proud of our football team going on the road and playing well in a tough environment, with the crowd noise, the rain, being away from home, dealing with the week we had prior routine-wise.  I thought the guys did a really nice job of having great focus.

I thought our communication on both sides of the football was excellent. To play a football game on the road against a good team like that and do the things that we really preached, winning the turnover margin (plus two) and really played well on first down and on both sides of the football. We averaged over six yards, per first down attempt and they averaged three yards, which for both sides of the ball, set them up for good third downs and obviously the conversion rate showed that.

To play a whole game in the rain like that and be able to play catch like we did I think says a lot about the focus of those guys.

We were able to limit No. 8 who is a tremendous receiver. Obviously Nick McCloud played a really good football game, but we also had some good scheme where I thought we changed up coverage as well throughout the game on him, whether we're helping them underneath or over the top.

We had 15 explosive plays offensively, three in the run game, 12 in the pass game. Defensively, they had two red zone opportunities and both of them they held him to field goals or less. Offensively, we got down there six times and got two touchdowns and three field goals and missed one. We need to get more touchdowns in the red zone, it could have made that a much better game for us.

Probably the most glaring thing we've got to fix is some of the coverages... we have some young players on those units that we've got to get them better quickly if we're going to continue to use them. But that's something that we definitely need to address.

Individually, Ryan played a really good football game, threw a bunch of great balls.  Kelvin, Emeka, and Steph, all those guys... it was good having them all in the game.

Obviously we lost two of them throughout the game, but they're doing great. I just saw our trainer and we'll see where we are at for practice tomorrow, but he feels optimistic about both of them. We'll just have to see how they progress.

Offensive line in the game was the most physical I've seen them this year. That was fun to see them getting off the ball and driving people down the field. Joe Sculthorpe played the whole game at left guard for Big T, who had a sore back. We were at to put him in the game and hopefully we'll have T back this week. I thought Joe did a nice job. It was good to see him in there.

I think our defensive kids are playing with good energy. I think they're playing hard and they're not always perfect, we're missing some tackles here and there, but the guys are playing hard. That's the thing you like to see, and they're playing off of each other.

Louis Acceus played his first game at Mike for us because Isaiah was sore with his hip and really impressed with what Louis did in his first game. So feel good about the rotation we can have at Mike now.

James Smith Williams I thought had a solid game and Jarius Morehead.

Thoughts on Virginia...
They are playing really good football and they're very impressive. Coach Mendenhall has done a nice job building this program and you can see that they've got experience, good athletes, and tough schemes.

Thoughts on quarterback Bryce Perkins...
Yeah, he's dynamic like Lamar. Not only with him being able to hurdle people but how fast he gets to top gear and he's aggressive as a runner. He's not one of these quarterbacks that just tries to slide, he's going to get what he can get.

He's a good football player, and they got tough schemes. A lot of the plays are plus-one schemes where they have one more blocker. And so it's going to be a great challenge for our guys.

We have done well in the past against Lamar and we have not done well in the past against Lamar. So we need to put our best plan together, and it really comes down to tackling. You've got to tackle and you got to get off blocks so that you have extra hats there in case you miss. 

This is your first time playing Virginia. Does this game have a non-conference feel?
It has a feel of that, you know? I have not coached against Bronco, but I have seen BYU a lot when he was there. I have seen Virginia a lot now with cross-over film but have not played against them or game-planned against him.

Coach Drinkwitz has from when he was at Boise. So he does have some experience against them.

It's unique, but it is a conference game and you can feel that for sure with our guys.  I don't think they'll look at it at all that way. There's other teams that we played just like last year playing Pitt for the first time where it's the first time we played. You just do the best you can with your prep and get the guys rolling. 

Do you have an update on CJ and Thayer?
They feel good today, but we're not practicing today. Our trainer said that they are looking good. A lot of it depends on how they progress, and in the protocol you have to go through all the steps. But today they looked really good.

To get your best rushing output as a team this week, can you evaluate where you are with the running game? 
I think it was a lot better, a lot better. I thought we were getting off and knocking the line of scrimmage three and four yards down the field. I thought our tight ends helped us. Cary was in there straining. D.A. was in there straining.  

Reggie and Trent run hard. We don't have Nyheim. We don't have that guy that's going to turn a five-yard run into a 50-yard run, which helps your stats a lot. It's going to be more of a slugfest in the run game, which hurts your numbers, but that doesn't mean it's not good.  I thought we were very effective running the football in that game and we want to continue to take those two and three-yard runs and make them into four, five, six and more.

We had three explosive runs in the game, but I thought it was just the demeanor of the run game was completely different and will continue to improve. 

How satisfied are you with the passing game? 
Yeah, and I think we averaged 10 yards per completion on first down too so  a lot of these passes aren't third down passes. I'm really pleased with it and I think it all ties together. I think when the o-line can be physical in the run game and then it helps them in pass protection. When you have to defend the run game, it helps our routes in the pass game or double-moves... it all ties together and it's getting closer, getting everyone healthier as we go.

We'll continue to help that, and I like the direction that's heading. Ryan's just playing really, really good football right now, and his receivers are playing hard for him so there a good thing going right there and we expected it to be like that. 

Did you tell Chris Dunn you just need him to make the layups?
I try not to talk too much to the kicker. Okay. I'm very positive and encouraging to those guys. I think in general, kickers and punters are very hard on themselves. And the biggest thing that I remind them of is routine.

Chris and AJ are very talented, both of them.  So if they can just focus on the steps they need to take and not everything else, then everything will be fine.  If Chris keeps his eyes down through contact, he makes almost every kick. And so the conversation always is, is well coach, how far do you need me to be able to make it from? I'm like, "Wherever I put the ball down," but ideally if we can get a 45-and-in to be 70 percent or better you'd love in that.

Right now other than the one that bounced off the upright, which was unfortunate, I think he's kicking the ball pretty good. 

How happy are you with your defense? 
Well, I'm excited that the kids are just playing the way they are together, and I think the energy that they have is fun to see. I think our back-end is playing at a higher level than it did last year. I think our d-line is not as flashy, but it's doing a really nice job in gap integrity and they're playing hard.

I do think Pratt, being as athletic as he is, has helped us. Isaiah and Louis have helped us at times with their athleticism.

We have to tackle better in space. I think that's something that's shown up a couple times outside. We missed three tackles at corner in the game, and we missed one at nickel the game before that. So those are things it's always going to be that way, and that's the hardest play, these space plays against spread offenses with really good athletes. 

Anytime you tackle well in space on defense and don't give up explosive plays you will usually play a really good game, so those are things we'll continue to work on.

But going into league play, it's just now it's like each week it's different... they have so many option plays and zone plays and different schemes. Then next week you have BC and they're pounding it at you and the next week it's this... now it's the ability to transform what you do week-in and week-out and be good against something completely different. That's the fun part of it, and that's the challenge you have as a defensive coach in college football right now. 

With the kicking what has been te biggest challenge the previous three years?
More than anything, it's just trying to stay positive with it.

It can be depressing when you drive up and down the field and don't score and miss field goals or settle for going for it and don't get it. That's been hard and I think it's been hard for coach Drinkwitz too. 

We know now that then we get to a certain yard line, we can play normal football versus always be aggressive on fourth. We'll still be aggressive on fourth and one, two, at certain points, but it's a different ballgame when you know you're going to get three points.

There was nothing I could do other than what I tried to do. I tried to bring in more competition for the position and it just didn't sort out the way we wanted it to until now.

Ricky Person Update...
We shut Ricky down for two weeks. We just couldn't get his hamstring back to where we wanted it. He's a tough kid... we completely shut him down and we're actually testing him today to see if he's ready. There's a possibility that he's out there this week... we just have to see where he's at conditioning-wise.  
Until we know if he's healed or not, it's a question mark.

Is there difficulty in making sure your playmakers stay happy?  Is that a challenge?
The happiness is in winning. That's the message. So whatever we gotta do to win.

It's one thing if you go out there and lose and your good playmakers don't touch the ball, then that's a problem, but when you're winning games and scoring points like we are... if it's Thayer, if it's Jacoby, if it's Kelvin, if it's Steph, nobody cares.

That's not to say that good players don't want to touch it. They do, but they understand if they just do their job then those plays will come.