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NC State Football

VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren's Weekly Quotebook

November 18, 2019
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media ahead of his Thursday night matchup against Georgia Tech.

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


Opening Statement:

“Going back to Saturday night, I felt like our team did some really good things. Obviously, there’s no feeling good about not winning a football game, but there were a lot of positives that came out of that. Losing the turnover battle and the third quarter of that football game cost us the opportunity to win, but I thought, on the line of scrimmage in particular, offensively and defensively, we played as good as we’ve played at the line of scrimmage, holding them to 77 yards rushing and 12 tackles in their backfield and, on the other side of the football, rushing the football efficiently and having some explosive runs. I think ‘Ickey’ [Ekwonu] and Josh [Fedd-Jackson] both had seven knockdowns. There are some good things there in the front that are happening. I thought we had better disruption.”

“Obviously, turning the football over, as we mentioned in the postgame presser, gives us a really difficult task to win the ball game. It’s something we have to take a lot more seriously and something we have to get our freshmen to do better, and in my history in this game, it’s really hard to win when you’re minus-three. That’s obviously where we’re focused: taking care of that football, giving ourselves a chance to get points on the board by doing so, and helping our defense with field position. It is an opportunity for these guys to continue to learn. I’m so impressed with our guys’ resolve, the way that they fight, their attitude, and their will. It’s just got to be continued improvement on a daily basis. We’ll use the opportunity as a lesson to learn from it and grow. No one here enjoys the process of growing through defeat, but everyone here fights and presses on, and that’s the biggest part of this program that I’ve enjoyed with these players. God gave us all an opportunity to live, fight, enjoy the life we have, and never give in, and that’s the mindset that we carry here. It is a short week. It’s already game-week ‘Wednesday,' so there’s no rest for the weary. We woke up the day after the game, and it was already ‘Tuesday.’ We’ve got to get on a plane here Wednesday, head down to Georgia, and play Georgia Tech.”

“We’re playing a football team that’s in their first year with a new staff. They’re playing a lot of young players like we are. Offensively, their quarterback is a very good athlete. Their slot receiver is probably one of the fastest players in the league. I think their tailbacks run really hard. They’re physical backs. Defensively, I think Geoff obviously has a great history as a defensive coach. You can see that they do a lot of things with their front to try to disrupt the run game, bring different pressure, and play press coverage on the outside to deny your quick game. Up front, they’ve got a lot of guys that they rotate. Inside, they’ve had some players make some plays. Their linebackers are tough kids. Their safeties are big. They’ve done a good job of taking the ball away. They are minus-five in turnover margin, but they’ve forced a lot of turnovers on defense. For us, being able to handle their movement with their front, protecting the football, creating plays, and finishing plays with the ball are critical in this football game, and it’s an opportunity for us to bounce back, get back on the field, and go compete.”

On Georgia Tech’s Special Teams:

“They have an excellent punter. He’s one of the better punters probably in the country. He does a really nice job with his operation and hang time. Their gunners get down the field in their punt coverage. No. 10, who’s the slot, is one of the returners, and he’s fast. We have to do a really good job with our hang time, our ball placement, winning our one-on-ones, stacking guys, and not allowing them opportunities to get space for him.”

On the Most Difficult Challenge with a Short Turnaround

“It starts with your recovery. Normally, today would be an off day for our team, so we’re practicing tonight because of class conflicts. You’re on the field an entire day ahead of when you would be. It’s probably harder on the staff than it is anything. We won’t practice as long or as much because we don’t have as many days. For us, you’re trying to watch 10 games that they’ve played and also look at yourself and fix problems because the game is a lot about us not beating us. It’s just really quick. We’re leaving town Wednesday, so we practice tonight, practice tomorrow, and have walkthrough, then we’re on a plane. I think when you’re dealing with injuries, health, and also just fatigue, going from a Saturday night game to a road game is really challenging on the staff and the players, but we look forward to that opportunity. It’s a great chance to play a nationally-televised game on a Thursday night, so we’ve got to do everything we can to get them back.”

On How Difficult the Quick Turnaround Will Be For the Freshmen

“They’re resilient guys. The thing that has impressed me with them is their resolve and their fight. I don’t think they’ll flinch one bit. It is what it is. These guys will go out there and battle. To answer your question, I don’t think I’ll be able to truly answer it until after the game because I haven’t seen them go through it yet. By all indications of their mood and their mindset yesterday when we met with them, they were great.”

On the Coaching Staff Refocusing

“I told the team after the game, whether we won or lost, we don’t have time to think about that game. We had to come in, and there’s some plays in that game that we have to learn from, so we watched it quickly and put it to bed. We know that we’re 72 hours away from competing, so you’ve got to flush it. You have to.”

On the Turnovers Versus the Lack of Takeaways

“I’ve never been through a stretch like this where we’re not getting the ball back. In that game, we had four or five hit our hands which makes it even harder because we were in position to make those plays in that game and didn’t make them. I think recovering fumbles, a lot of times, is luck. One, you have to get a lot of people to the football to have that luck, but a lot of times, as you’ve seen, sometimes balls just bounce back to the team that fumbled it, and that’s out of our control. Does it make me shake my head? I don’t know, but right now, I’m ‘Next play.’ That’s what I’m trying to do. Obviously, I’d love to light every candle in the world and do every trick there is to gain some good luck coming forward here, but I don’t really have an answer for why they’re not coming our way.”

On Emeka Emezie’s Performance Versus Louisville

“He was definitely an impact in that game. He made a great catch over the middle on fourth-and-10. He made a great catch on the sideline with tight coverage. It was good to see him have success again. I think that’s huge for his confidence as we finish the season. There’s a lot on him, with C.J. [Riley] being out, as the most experienced guy, and he takes that responsibility very seriously. I was happy to see him gain that success to help him.”

On the Freshmen That Have Surpassed Expectations

“I think a lot of them have. I said this to them the other day: 'This is the season that’s going to make us who we’re going to be. Because we’re going through these tough times, we’re going to be way better for it if you just persist.’ I’ve seen the resolve in those guys. I’ve seen the improvement. I’ve seen some mental toughness from some of those guys and leadership. It makes you excited about what’s to come for them, but I just can’t look at it at just one way. We need everybody to have the same resolve. When you have little margin for error, it’s hard to win football games. It really is. I don’t think people understand how hard it is. For us, it’s about giving ourselves a chance to win. It starts with your mindset everyday and executing it in a certain way where you’re never beating yourself in the process. That’s what made us a good football team here in the past. We’ve been physical, we’ve taken care of the ball, we’ve gotten the ball back, and [now] we’re not doing those things. To earn the right to win, these guys are growing fast, but they’re still not where they need to be.”

On the Urgency of Winning to Earn Bowl Eligibility

“I think they understand that it’s sudden-death mentality if you’re thinking bowl season, but we’ve got to win this one first. It’s the only one that matters. If you get this one, then you can talk about that. I will tell you that the senior class has never finished a season not in a bowl game, so those guys are talking about that. They want that. The bottom line is if you don’t turn the football over and you make a few more plays, then you get that. That’s what I have to constantly remind these guys of. It’s great to talk about what you want. It’s more important to understand what it takes to get it."

 
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