DAVE DOEREN: "There's No Time to Lick Our Wounds"
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 34-20 loss to Louisville Saturday evening.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Doeren’s press conference.
Opening statement
“James Smith-Williams is okay. I don’t know if he’ll be back for next week or not, but just so everyone is aware, he’s okay.”
“I’m obviously disappointed. I think our guys played really hard. We don’t make enough plays. We had four balls go through our hands tonight that should have been interceptions. We don’t play the ballon deep balls and get pass interferences. We stopped the run. I thought we played physical. Offensively, we did some good things, but we can’t turn the ball over the way that we are and have any hope of winning.”
“I love the competitive spirit of my football team. I think they are battling. I do. They have spirit. They have fight. We’ve got to make more plays that are there to be made. We had two 3rd-and-12’s defensively where they scored touchdowns on us. That should be off the field. One of them is on us; we run a blitz, and they had a mismatch in coverage. It was a good play by them on Brock [Miller]. The other one is on Tanner [Ingle]: busted when we were in three-deep, and he squeezes too hard on a seam route when he should be outside on one. Little things like that are really frustrating, but I like the spirit of this team, and I like the fight in this team.”
“I like some of the things from Jordan Houston and Bam Knight. Bam can’t fumble. Obviously, Devin [Leary’s] got to take care of the football, but he continues to not get rattled and do some good things as the game goes on. I thought he scrambled and did some good things. I thought our offensive line battled and did some good things. We had some good pressure on their quarterback. That’s a good rushing football team that we held to 77 yards rushing. We can’t give up the big, explosive play, and we’ve got to make plays on the football that are there to be made. Even the fake field goal: we had a guy right there, and it went right through his hands into their guy’s hands. That’s what happened.”
“That’s where we’re at. We have a four-day turnaround to go play Georgia Tech, and it’s going to be a short week. We leave town in three days. We’ve got to get ready for that one. There’s no time to lick our wounds. We’ve just got to get back to work.”
On the effective blitzes in the first half
“I don’t know if they were picking them up [in the second half]. There were some that we ran that got here. There were some that we ran that didn’t. The 3rd-and-12 touchdown was a blitz that got picked up, and Brock ended up having to cover No. 1, and that’s not good for us. Good job by them, and bad job by us. That’s on us as coaches.”
“There was some good pressure on them early. I thought we battled our butts off in the first half. The third quarter was really bad, and the fourth quarter was okay. The third quarter killed us.”
Were the turnovers a product of youth or was there something else going on there?
“Well they were all freshmen... all three of them."
Closing statement
“I would like to thank our fans that came tonight. I know that it was cold, wet, and raining. Hang in there with us. These guys are going to battle for you. Our next home game, as you know, is a big one. We’ll be down in Atlanta this week playing our hearts out and coming home for Thanksgiving to play You-Know-Who. Hang in there with us. These kids are going to fight their butts off, and we need you to do the same. That’s who the Wolfpack is: a bunch of people that fight, and we need you to fight with us as we head down this tough stretch. We’re excited for the opportunity to do that.”