Doeren: "That Was A Fun Win Against A Great Team"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the Wolfpack's 35-21 win over Virginia.

Opening statement...
It's great to be 4-0.

I'm really proud of our coaching staff, players and appreciative of the fans. I thought our guys really played hard and physical football against a very good football team. I think Bronco has done a very nice job and their quarterback is a tough guy to tackle.

Defensively, we had an excellent gameplan, especially in the first half. They changed some things up at halftime and we had to adjust as we went.  To hold him to basically nothing in the first half...

Offensively, to be able to run the football effectively against a very good defense was great. I thought Ricky Person really sparked us, and Brady and Reggie did some good things.

Ryan and the receivers continue to help us, not just on third down but all game. It was good to see Kelvin get in the endzone there.

That was a fun win against a great team and we’re excited to be where we are right now.

Our home field advantage is as good as it gets,and we need everybody in the stands next week against a very good team in Boston College, so I’m giving our students a heads up please stay here for the game Saturday. 

On quarterback Ryan Finley throwing in tight windows...
He just has to be smart and not put the defense in a bad spot. He has really good wideouts and he’s going to trust what he sees, and he has the green light all day long.

If he feels like he can throw it to somebody, he's proven he's going to make good decisions.  Nobody’s perfect, so I’m not saying he won’t make a mistake.

On having Ricky Person...
He’s still not a 100 percent, but that’s as good as he’s felt, and he really wanted to be on the field today. Thursday we were trying to make a decision if he was going to play or not and he said, "Coach, I'm playing."

That kid is a warrior, I gave him the game ball and I thought he battled. He’s a change of pace back and makes people miss and we’ve been missing that.

That's what we've always had, a guy who can make you miss and a guy who can run you over... you want that guy that can put his foot in the ground and change direction and he can do that.  

Has Chris Dunn helped you sleep better at night?
Yes, for sure... seriously. Two years, it's been hard. You saw it on their team today, they didn't have a kicker and it affected them. They were going for it on fourth down quite a bit.

Chris is doing great. It's great to have him here.

On the game plan for Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins...
I thought Coach Huxtable and our guys did a great job. We put some stress on our corners today... it hurt us we gave up a big play in one-on-one, but we felt like if he couldn’t run the ball today then it would be hard for them to beat us.  

There's give and take with that. At times we mixed it up, but it was really about packing the box on him and tackling him.  On the one drive we didn't tackle him they went down the field and then the other drive was all those fourth-down penalties.

On Cary Angeline's touchdown...
He was so excited.

That’s the first time I’ve seen him excited to be honest with you. It was awesome, and I told him it was the first of many.

I was really happy for him and he had a good week of practice, so it was something that coming.

Emezie had a really good game with some tough catches...
He's having a good year and during training camp he and Steph were rotating... we look at him and Steph as starters. 

He's come a long way... I'd attribute that to him learning how to follow. What he and Steph do, they work as hard as anyone in the country, and he went wherever they went.

It's easy to say you have great leaders, but you need guys to follow to know who to follow. I thought he did a great job of that this offseason.

It feels like it's pick your poison with all those receivers...
It's definitely challenging.  You can't look at one guy and say we'll take three out of the game. You can do that, but you'll suffer on the other side.

We had to prove we could [run the ball], and we did today.  

176 rushing yards and they had less than 100, that's a good days work.

What was your impression on the pressure?
I don't think they are built to pass protect right now. I think they want to run the ball and play-action the ball. They max protect a lot to protect the line.

Our d-line did a good job of beating one-on-ones and sometimes two-on-ones, and we had a few pressures that won... early we brought a pressure and Pratt got a sack.

At the end of the day it was our d-linemen beating their o-linemen... it's good to see that.

Your thoughts on Larrell Murchison...
He's playing great.

He's disruptive and so into it right now. He's doing really well. I'm proud of him. We brought him in last year and he was playing behind BJ and Justin Jones... he redshirted and bought in, and he's become a very, very good inside player and rush player.

He has a lot of energy and passion and our guys feed off of him.