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NC State Football

QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Monday Press Conference

November 26, 2018
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss the upcoming game against East Carolina.    


Opening Statement...
It was great to get another win in a game and really proud of our players and coaches.  It means a lot when you get an in-state rivalry win, and to do it three straight, nine in the last 11, is very meaningful for our guys and our program.

I’m very happy for our seniors, for them to get that win and proud of how the guys battled and made some really marquee plays in key moments when we needed to make a play, whether it's offense, defense, or special teams... guys rose to the occasion.

Reggie, playing the way he did. Jakobi Meyers with the acrobatic catch, Thayer, on a third-and-five, making a really good catch on a ball behind them... the offensive line battling, grinding, being the more physical group I thought in the fourth quarter. Tin hen overtime to have six runs consecutively to go down and score was awesome for our kids.

Overall, we were 4-for-4 in the redzone, 100% touchdowns, so I think that's an area we've improved, and on defense they were down there five times and got two touchdowns.  Our third-down defense, they were only 25 percent, so a lot of positive things.

We had some kids that are banged up battle through and just play their butts off. I thought Roseboro really did a nice job playing with a bad ankle and Terronne Prescod the same thing.  It just means a lot to those guys to play for their teammates and play for each other, so hopefully we’ll get a few guys back.

Obviously you guys know that three of our players were suspended for a half and all three of them I've spoken with and they understand what's acceptable and what isn't and what our standards are in our program.  I thought the conference made a pretty black and white... if you threw a punch during the game, then you would have been kicked out and that's the same punishment for doing it after the game.

Our guys know they can't do that. They’ll learn from it. We'll use it as a teachable moment and move forward.

Moving onto to ECU, it’s the last game in Carter-Finley for our senior class, and I’m asking our fans and students to be here to support them, what they've done programmatically to help our program deserves that.  They've won more ACC games in the last two years than any team in our conference but Clemson, and so they've done a really good job helping us build this program.

Our fifth straight bowl game with the senior class, so I would love to see an incredible fan support and a bunch of people out there cheering their butts off for a bunch of guys that play their butts off for you.

Offensively, I think Holton Ahlers is a really good football player. The quarterback, I'm really impressed with him and was in high school too. I recruited him and think a lot of them.  He's tough and gritty.

They have a thousand-yard receiver in Brown, and I think Tony Peterson, their offensive coordinator, is very creative with what he does.  There's a lot of formations, a lot of motions, bunches and stacks... a lot of good things that they do.

Defensively, they play hard. They're not very big, but they're fast and quick. They have a defensive end, Harvey, that is a force... 24 tackles for loss and 13.5 socks, which is really, really impressive on the edge of their defense. They've had 97 TFLs and 33 sacks this season so they’ve made a lot of plays in people's backfield.

With two suspended starters, how do you think that will affect your team?
Well, it's not ideal, losing your left tackle and right tackle, but we'll find a way.

Fortunately they're allowing me to split the suspensions up if I want to. So maybe a first half, second half deal. We don't have great depth there, but I know our guys, staff-wise, will put together a good plan and the next thing up... opportunity for somebody. 

How much will you talk about 2016 games played against them, which was a difficult loss. And how much will you talk about this is likely the last time you'll have this group together with how the draft selections and bowls go?
It's already come up about 2016. The last time we played, our guys, a lot of them, were in that game and so that's already been brought up, not just by me but by them.

It's just a conversation with not beating ourselves and that's really what we did down there last time. 13 penalties... turnovers. Just didn't play good football.

Obviously you went through this last year with Bradley. Does it change the dynamic at all, adding in perhaps not knowing who will play in the bowls? 
Well, we'll have that conversation when we get to the bowl. Last year was a little different when you're playing in a bowl game and Bradley's going to be a top-five pick.

BJ played the whole game, so every other senior played in the bowl. We'll see. It'll be a conversation.

Thoughts on Brock Miller’s performance...
I was really proud of Brock, excited for him to see him cut it loose and make all those plays in space.  He really showed some athletic ability, but we knew he had it and for him to get that stage and to take advantage of it, I thought it was awesome for him.

I think that boosts his confidence for when he is out there, and whether he's out there in this game or the next one, I know that he's going to seize the moment and that's all you can ask for from young man.

I’m just really proud of him.

Is there any concern at all with all of the energy in the North Carolina game? A letdown this week? Also what other motivation do you have? 
It's their last time playing together in Carter-Finley Stadium. What else do you need?  We are beat up, but we were beat up the last four games so our guys will find a way. 

I don’t see letdown in our program. I don’t see that.  We're going to fight and scrap and motivate... our guys will be ready on Saturday.

You seemed to change to your policy this year on injuries.  Did something happen?
No, I just don’t have to so I’m not going to.

If there was a rule...
I guess you could say it was disclosed previously, but you never knew if it was real or not. There was no penalty if it wasn’t. I could tell you half the stuff we read wasn’t true.

It wasn’t an enforced policy.

I just don’t think you should have a policy where everyone doesn’t have to do it. What’s the point?

Would you speak to the 11-5 ACC record over the last few years and how it speaks to the dramatic improvement of the program?
I didn't know that until someone said it last week, since 2016 when we went to Carolina, we’ve won more ACC games in the league than anyone except clemson.

So I told our staff the other day, sometimes you don't feel like you're doing very good... we've done some great things and I think that's the beauty of our guys is they know they can even do better.

You like the results that we're getting, and you always want to improve upon where you're at. I think to be in that position, that's just continuing to have upward trends in your program. That's very visible when you look at how many players were drafted, you look at how many games we've won in the league... today the ACC all-conference team comes out and we're going to be very well-represented on that.

It's just continuing to show and not just talk about faculty

More on this game and what it can mean for bowl selection...
That's one of the reasons I wanted a 12th game. If we were 8-3 and another team was 9-3, maybe it can hurt us. A nine-win team gives you a little bit more than an eight-win team when it comes down to a tiebreaker (for a bowl).

I wanted our players to have another opportunity to elevate their status as a program and winning nine games at NC State is not something that's done all the time and back-to-back nine-win teams, maybe 10 if we can win out, there's a lot to that for the history of this program.

I wanted our kids to have every opportunity to reach those goals.

Has their been talk of a ten-win season?
They know, they can count how many are left and what it can be, but that doesn't win games. Our fundamentals and our technique and our execution is where our mindset is right now.

How good has CJ Riley been on special teams?
He's been outstanding.

Back to when Dravious Wright was here, that's probably the only other player we've had that's had the impact that he's having right now. If he made two tackles that he missed he would have been phenomenal.

Thoughts on Mack Brown to UNC and recruiting against him in the state...
When I was at  Kansas, he was at Texas, and I’ve known Mack a long time and respec him.

I think he's a really good person and a good coach. When you're at Kansas recruiting against Texas, it's not really competition, they kind of select who they want there, so I look forward to competing against him.  We’ll see where it goes.

He's a very good person. He's done a great job in his career.

Are you content with where you're at right now?
Never, I’m never content. 

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QUOTEBOOK: Dave Doeren's Monday Press Conference

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