Doeren: "There's A Lot To Play For"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the Wolfpack's 47-28 win over Florida State.

Opening Statement...
I was really proud of our guys tonight. I thought there were a ton of positives in the game. We wanted to start fast and I thought we did that. We held them to zero points in the first quarter and got that fumble.

I thought Stephen Griffin really played a good football game. I thought Xavier Lyas came in and gave us a good pass rush and two sacks.

Offensively, Jakobi Meyers had an excellent game with 125 yards. Ryan (Finley) took care of the ball and made good throws. The backs: Reggie (Gallaspy) had another 100-yard game and the offensive line was great. Florida State has a great defensive end and I thought we took him out of the game.

We kicked the ball well: Chris Dunn was 4-4 and we punted the ball well.

I just thought it was really good execution in a lot of ways. Obviously they made some plays too, and they have good players, so  you expect them to make some plays.

There are some things that we’d obviously like to get better at, and we will, but to be undefeated at home and to win on Homecoming, to get off that losing streak and play the way we did, I thought, a very clean football game.

I’m very proud of our guys and our coaches. I thought we had a good game plan. It’s not easy going on the road and getting home at one in the morning one week and 3:30 in the morning the next week. With all the injuries we’ve had, it’s been challenging. It’s great to get back in the win column and (become) bowl eligible... all of the above."

At what point did you have a sense things would click for you guys today?
You know, I just think the look in our guys’ eyes after the first two series. We kind of knew their game plan and the formation they were going to do. You saw us knocking them off the ball early. They were top-10 in the country in rushing defense coming in here, that's a pretty good sign.

You've had some athletic defensive linemen. What did you think of Larrell Murchison's interception?
t was awesome. It was incredible. He popped out, and it was a great call by Hux (defensive coordinator Dave Huxtable). What a great play. A phenomenal play. I'm proud of him.

Thoughts on the redzone offense...
You'd always love to get a touchdown. Obviously... Captain Obvious right there.

We scored 47 points and you'd love to have touchdowns instead of field goals, but to be a positive guy, last year we weren't getting field goals.

I'm pretty happy with what we got from Chris Dunn today but we're going to continue to work on getting more touchdowns.

Thoughts on running game...
One hundred and seventy-seven yards rushing helped us keep them off the field. I thought we were physical at the line of scrimmage. You saw a lot of surge in the line. They have a really good middle linebacker.

I was impressed. I thought Reggie Gallaspy played a really good football game The offensive line and tight ends created some seams fo rhim.

Did you see improvement tonight in your pass defense?
Yes and no.

At the nickel position, yes.  I thought we gave up too many big plays on the corner.

No. 15 is a heck of a player for the them, but he made too many plays on us. Does it need to get better? Absolutely. We’ll continue to work to get better.

Ife we're plus-two in turnover margin and you can’t run the football against us. If we limit the big plays, we’re going to score enough points to win a lot of football games. A team that comes out and throws the ball that many times, they are going to get some yards but we can't give up the big ones.

Eurndraus and Shug were out, what did you see from your defensive linemen?
We had to move Darian inside because we lost both nose guards in the game, same week. I was proud of Darian.

It forced us to elevate Xavier Lyas and you saw Kante in there more.

There were a lot of young guys out there on defense... when you're talking about Nick McCloud, Shug Frazier, and Eurndraus Bryant not playing, that hurts your rotation at this time of the year.  It was good to get good production from young players.

Have you mentioned going undefeated at Carter-Finley?
I ’ve told them (the team) a thousand times. It’s been 32 years since it’s happened. It is a goal of ours. It’s a huge goal for our football team.

Did you feel confident they would play well today?
I did (feel good). Absolutely. Homecoming is a big deal. You’re playing for your alumni. You’re playing for your former players. You’re playing on national television at 3:30. Everyone likes that kickoff time. It’s Homecoming. All the alumni are back and you’re playing Florida State, a storied program.

It’s not very often that you beat Florida State two years in a row. That just doesn’t happen a lot for anybody. For us to do that on Homecoming, to keep the undefeated winning streak, and to keep the bowl streak going.

There’s a lot of positive things happening for our guys and there’s a lot to play for still.