DOEREN: "We Won't Let This Game Define Us"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 44-27 loss on the road against West Virginia.

NOTE: Click on the video above to watch Doeren’s press conference.

“The first half, offensively, we did some good things that kept us in the game. In the second half, we couldn’t stop the edges of the run game defensively. They did some good things offensively. You’ve got to give them credit. they did a lot of different things than we’d seen.”

“We adjusted as we went and didn’t do a good job getting players to understand the adjustments. We have to own that first and foremost as coaches. Players have to be able to take the coaching like we’d done. I thought we did a really good job of that in the first two games. We just weren’t ourselves in that football game.”

“The blocked punt was a major mistake and a mental error on that play. Obviously, we were trying to play catchup from that point on, and we weren’t throwing the football well enough to do that.”

“You look at 5-of-17 on third down particularly. We did some good things early, but when you give up 200 yards rushing, it’s hard to win a football game. That’s not who we are, and that’s not what we can be. Certainly, we won’t let this game define us, but we’ve got to own it as a staff first, and then our players have to do the same, and we’ve got to get back and fix it.”

“It’s a multitude of things whether it was dropped passes or batted balls. They did a good job of getting their hands up a few times when we had guys open. They adjusted. We ran the ball very effectively in the first half into the boundary, and they adjusted.”

“We just couldn’t get it going in the second half. We’re going to watch the film. I’m sure we’re going to see a lot of guys missing blocks. I’m sure we’re going to see them blocking us. I just thought in the trenches, which is where we’ve been good, we were not good today.”

“The edges. Whether it was a jet or whether it was a stretch play, they were running the edge plays on our defense. Several times, particularly early, there were RPO plays where they had posts behind them. So they put you in a deal where your defensive back has to make some plays, and you’re having to come up out of zone coverage and set edges, and sometimes we did.”

“A couple of times, they cracked our edge, and we didn’t replace it very well. They were putting their formations into the boundary in the second half, pinning our backer, and getting around it. They did a good job. Those were plays they hadn’t run, so we hadn’t practiced it, and we didn’t do a good job adjusting to them. That’s the biggest thing. You have to be able to adjust throughout the game when you get things you didn’t practice. That’s something we have to get a lot better at obviously.”

“Matt did some good things. We had nine penalties, which is out of character for us and too many. Some of that is the noise. The first play of the game, we’re not ready to play. We come off the sideline and have a delay of game. There are some things that we definitely have to do better from that standpoint.”

“I don’t think Matt played rattled. He was pretty calm on the sideline. He did some good things and a lot of things he’s got to do better obviously.”

“Back-to-back field goals. Obviously, touchdowns there would have made it a different football game.”

“It always is. From Pop Warner to NFL, that position’s going to be the position. For me to sit here and say I know where I’m at, with or without watching film, I couldn’t do that.”

“There are a lot of things that happen out there that are out of Matt’s control. We have to look at that. That’s guys dropping passes out there or not running the route at the right depth. There was a third down where the tight end was supposed to stop, but he kept running, so Matt threw it incomplete. Everyone looks at Matt like he’s throwing a bad ball, but the guy has to run the right route for him.

“There are a lot of things we have to do better. It’s easy to point the blame at me, and I’ll take it. It’s easy to point the blame at the quarterback, but there are a lot of people involved, and we all have to own it.”

“I told them, ‘They got embarrassed last week at Missouri. You’re going to get their best. They’re going to be disappointed with what they put on tape a week ago, and they’re going to come home and not want to show that to their fan base.’ I knew that was coming. I told them that was coming. Give them credit. They bounced back and showed up, and we didn’t do a good enough job."