DOEREN: "We've Got to Be Ready For Their Speed"
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media for the final time before Saturday’s road contest against Florida State.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s interview.
You seem to like to defer to the second half. With their success in the first quarter, would you change that?
It’s a discussion that we’ll have. We look at conditions first and see if there’s weather, wind, or any of those things. Obviously, they’ve been really good.
The advantage of being out there on defense is, if you get the stop, you get better field position usually on your opening possession, and then you gain a possession coming out in the third quarter. We’ve been really good at having a momentum play at the end of the second quarter and then having the ball back in the third.
That’s the thought behind it, but obviously it’s something to consider in a game like this.
When you have a chance to score before half and then get the kickoff, how much momentum does that give?
I think it’s huge. We call it a two-fer. We have a chance to get two scores back-to-back like that. It’s a really big deal in games. There’s a lot of momentum going into the half when you can do that and if you can start fast in the third – which is something we need to do better.
We broke out in a lot of games last year. We were into halftime with a three-point lead or a seven-point lead, and then you look up, and you're up by 14. Those kind of things can help.
How much extra incentive are there for Bailey to take extra snaps behind center on Saturday?
We’ll just have to see how much he’s out there to answer that question.
Anything you’ve seen on film to explain FSU’s first-quarter prowess?
We’ve talked about it. I couldn’t give you... they are still playing good football. They’re just not executing as well [in the second half]. The defenses are probably not used to the speed that they play at.
It’s kind of like playing Georgia Tech when Paul Johnson was there. It’s similar; you’d see a lot of people catching up as the game went on. They have great skill. They really do, so we’ve got to be ready for their speed.
Were there a couple of things to correct from the West Virginia road trip?
I didn’t think we had great sideline energy. You go from having 115 teammates to 72 this week. Obviously, the crowd’s against you. That’s the same on every road trip.
It’s just a young team, and there wasn’t the calming James Smith-Williams or Nick McCloud. I had to learn from that.
We’ve got to educate our guys better about the road. It was a great experience in a bad way for our guys. They learned a lot from that trip. Not that I’m glad we lost that game, I’m not, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to go on the road before we start conference play and play in a place like that.
Is it odd this will be their third ACC game versus your first?
It’s unique. Obviously, they opened with Boise, as well. They’ve had a good schedule. I think, next year, we open with an ACC game, if I’m not mistaken, on Thursday night. I don’t know who it is yet.
That’s out of my control, as you know. Having the State Fair here kind of makes our scheduling unique, as well, because we don’t play home games for that window. It pushes people front and back in our schedule.