NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren: "You Have To Give Your Best"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following Thursday's practice to discuss the upcoming game against Syracuse.

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Did you think Eric Dungey was a mythical player?  Someone that people just talked about, but you never saw?

No.  We saw him on film a lot. He's a really good football player. I have a lot of respect for him.

He's obviously tough to continue to play the game, but the way he plays, he's really competitive.  He's their leading rusher, super accurate, understands their offense.

He's their heartbeat. You can see it, the way he competes.

Any injury updates in the secondary?

Mike's playing, and Dexter is a gameday decision.

Steve Ishmael has really stepped up for them.

Good player.

How do they use him, similar to last year?

They put him over to where the transfer they had last year was at. 

He goes up and gets the football, runs good routes, and he's been playing four years for them so we've seen him a lot.  He has good length, good timing with their quarterback, and he's in a system where they are going to give him opportunities.

He'll be a challenge for us, for sure.

How does the defense challenge their passing game?

They are very good after contact. That's one thing that jumped off the film to me. They don't just throw it underneath and get five yards. A lot of times they turn those into first downs.

We have to tackle well in space, we have to run to the ball, and we have to get our hands up in the throwing lanes too and get some tips.

How is the team handling the pouring of affection from friends, family?

We told them to block the noise just like we told them to when we didn't win a game.  It's no different, how you handle success and failure.

You just have to turn your eyes into what your job is for the week.

It doesn't take long when you turn on Syracuse's film and you see how they played against LSU to respect who we're playing and understand you have to give your best to win that game.