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NC State Football

QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Monday Press Conference

October 22, 2018
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the upcoming game against Syracuse.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch Dave Doeren's press conference.


Opening Comments...
I'm excited to get back into game week.  Obviously disappointed in last week. To win a game at Clemson against a great football team we needed to play our best... and we didn't do that. We just never really got in a rhythm in the football game.

We needed to play an error-free game and create a bunch of turnovers. I thought we did a good job of limiting their run game but didn't do a good enough job in coverage.

We had back-to-back turnover drives where we gave up 10 points and not us really, which is probably the most disappointing part of the game to me. Win or lose, we all expected to go in there playing the way we've been doing.

We're 5-1 and getting ready for another game. We have a great game coming up against another really good football team... a team that's undefeated at home and also a five-win team like us.  

I'm impressed with what coach Babers has done and the way their players are playing... big win last week in overtime, they lost an overtime game the week before which shows a lot of resiliency.

They are plus-8 in turnover margin at Syracuse which is very impressive. They've created 17 takeaways which leads our conference.

They have a very experienced group.  

Their returner is a very dynamic player, he's been there for three years and is really good. They are punting and kicking the ball well and playing really well at home.

Offensively they are maximum-speed tempo and they are running the ball well... they always have good receivers with big guys on the perimeter and quick guys in the slot.

Defensively, I think their d-line is really talented... the defensive tackle, Slaton, is a redshirt senior and big kid who makes a lot of plays. Having Cordy back in the secondary... he's a veteran guy and a leader.

These teams mirror each other in disruption... we'd been tremendous on third down until Clemson, and this is a good week for us to bounce back.

What was wrong with Ryan in the loss at Clemson?
I don't know if there was one thing, I don't think we got into a rhythm. Ryan made a really good throw to Kelvin on one drop and that was a momentum play that could have helped us in the game.

As a team, when we got behind, one thing we've been good at is doing our job and playing with fundamentals and playing hard... we got behind and guys started to try to do too much instead of just doing what the play calls for them to do.  When you do that in football it's never good.

It wasn't Ryan, it wasn't Kelvin. It was across the board as a team.  We just got away from what we're good at.

Offensively, I don't care what offense you run, if you're getting stopped on every third down it's really hard to have a rhythm.

Ryan hasn't had many bad games... this looked like the Louisville game in 2016.
I wouldn't put it that way.  He had a couple of throws he'd like to have back but he also had some good throws. I told our team the same thing, let's get back to being us.

We didn't play well enough to win, and they did. We have to own that and move on.

We can't let it beat us again.

Is it easier to flush a game like that where nothing goes right than if you come up short?
Probably so. 

We just didn't give ourselves a chance to win the football game, and they did everything the way we would have liked to have done it. They executed really well.

When you're playing in a game against a good opponent, you have to play to the best of your ability.  You have to make your plays that are there... you can't turn the football over when you are driving, you can't have guys drop passes they always catch.  

It's basic stuff and things we've done.  I told the guys you are a very good football team.  Just do your job and get back to that.

Is there anything to playing indoors?
Maybe so. We'll practice in there.

We've played well in the Dome when we've been up there... this is a different team and that doesn't mean anything for this year, but our guys have adjusted.

I think our preparation will be good to have them ready to play. We just have to go make plays.

It's early in the week and several injuries; any updates?
I don't have anything for you and I won't.  We'll see how long it takes those guys to get back.  I haven't talked to Justin yet, we'll meet at 3:30. All of them were feeling better, but I don't know where they are at yet.

Is it tough to scheme for two different quarterbacks?
It could be.  Depends on what they do differently. We have enough film on Devito to kind of know how things change.

Devito can run, they just haven't used him that much.  We have to see what their plan would be if he goes in. If it's like against Florida State or UNC, we have to see.

Thoughts on what they control regarding the Atlantic Division...
We don't control that. All we control is winning the next game. We have six games on our schedule that we need to approach the same way we did the first five.

What was going on there with the pre-snap penalties?
There was one where they stemmed late, and they got us. A couple of them were just Fedd being a young player in that environment. He wasn't the one that jumped, but with the way the cadence worked it through off the timing with him and Bradbury.

We adjusted and it didn't bother us late in the game, but early in the game it affected us.

Last year's seniors had to overcome adversity. Is that something the current players can take advantage of?
I think our guys... yesterday the message was very clear on how we need to move forward.  They were all on board with that.

They need to learn from that, get better, and get ready to play another important football game.

You kept Ryan in that game late.  Were you just trying to get him some confidence?
I just felt that was the best thing. We talked about Matt going in the series before he did. We probably could of but just didn't.

It wasn't a long conversation... we talked about finishing and at that point in the game we thought we could drive and score.

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QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Monday Press Conference

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