NC State Football
VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren Talks Pittsburgh
NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to recap the Louisville win and discuss the upcoming game against Pittsburgh.
We are going to have Johnny's initials on the back of our helmet, which you guys will see a 'JR,' on the back of our helmet this week to represent that.
Two of our players, injury-wise, will not be back this season. Brock Miller is having shoulder surgery... one of our special teams players and reserve linebacker. He has been playing with a banged up shoulder for a couple of weeks, and it's just not getting better... we're going to get it fixed.
Riley Nicholson's been out since the first kickoff of the first game and has decided to hang it up and medically go out. This was his second concussion since he's been here, and he had some in high school so he'll finish his academic career here with us. Unfortunate to lose both those guys for the season. Both of them were key special teams players for us and guys that we looked forward to having in our defense down the road.
Both of them are doing good mentally, and Riley is doing great. He's going to be a student coach and help us out on the field every day and finish his degree here, and Brock will be back with us in six months and have a great summer and be ready for next fall.
As far as the game this past Thursday, it was a great win. I thought our team really fed off of each other, and watching the film was a lot of fun... seeing not just the effort the guys played with but how they fed off of each other throughout the game.
One of our goals in that game was to start fast on defense. Louisville was such a good first quarter offense and shut them out the first quarter was huge. Offensively we moved the ball well early didn't get a lot of points but keeping us in that game the way we did and getting them frustrated offensively it was important.
I thought we really did a great job on both one of scrimmages. The fourth game in a row not giving up a sack, and they only had three TFLs and we had four sacks and six TFLS. They had three plays to our ten in the backfield.
The explosive plays, we had 10 to their five, and they're an explosive offense. We had three long drives that didn't end up points but kept their offense off the field which was important. The third quarter was huge that way. It was great to have three guys have 100 yards receiving.
Steph was a yard short but pretty impressive for that to happen, and Ryan to give those guys the balls he did. I was impressed with Ryan making some passes under pressure. He got drilled on one of the throws he made out to Steph and stepped up in the pocket on another throw he made to Steph was good to see. Pocket awareness was something he really wanted to work on this year and they showed up in this game.
The blocked extra point by Chubb, the kickoff return by Nyheim, and field position down punt by Nyheim, I thought were great special teams plays in the game.
I'm really excited about building off of that win. Turning to this week's opponent in Pitt, it's an opportunity to play in the NFL stadium, a great one at that, and a tremendous city up at Pittsburgh and Heinz Field.
It's a place that obviously believes in blue-collar and toughness. I know coach Narduzzi very well and respect him a lot and the staff. Offensively there are a shift, motion, jet team that uses a lot of bunch condensed formations to run the football and play-action you. They have a variety of backs that they rotate in there that are good players.
I'm really impressed with Whitehead playing both ways for them. That's an impressive thing for anybody... Henderson is probably the best returner that I've seen this year. I think he's tremendous and they do a great job schematically for him. It's going to be a great matchup seeing O'Neal, their left tackle, against our defensive ends. I think he's a really good offensive lineman.
Their defense... a lot of pressure. A lot of six-man pressures and a lot of press coverage on the outside. So offensively we will have to be able to handle that. We've seen a variety of that from different teams but not as much as we're going to get from one team as far as press coverage on the outside guys.
We haven't played Pitt since I've been here so look forward to that matchup and a chance to play someone we haven't played.
They have a linebacker, No. 23, that is top 10 in the ACC in tackles and tackles for loss.
I know they have a backup quarterback we're probably going to see, but he has played in multiple games this year. He played the entire game against Georgia Tech, so there's film on him.
He is a better runner than Browne... you see him scramble and make some plays on his feet so we have to be ready for that.
Obviously playing the last two quarterbacks we played gets you ready for a running quarterback.
They've bought into that, and now you have guys that it's not cool to be in there and not be serious, it's not cool to be in there and not play hard, it's not cool to be in there and drop a pass.
They take it very seriously in that room, and I think before there were a lot of immature guys in that room. He's created a culture that they've bought into and now the older guys are forcing the younger guys.
You see Jakobi Meyers grow up this year and buy into it. The effort play he had on Jay Sam's long reception was incredible... the way he ran down the field and tried to get an extra block for him. There was a play late in the game where we throw a bubble screen out to Jay Sam, and he cuts a guy and gets up and flexes over the top of him. That wasn't him last year.
I think he's now taking pride in something that that room is cultivated within him and that's because of Coach McDonald's leadership.
The way I look at college football and pro football is if you can just, all right this is what we did last week, here's what we've got to do better next week. If you do that then you're staying ahead of the teams that are trying to catch up to you. We have to do that. We can't ever think that we've made it because we haven't. We're at the halfway point right now and we want to continue this ride. The only way to do that is to improve.
We've put ourselves in a great place but that doesn't mean we're satisfied at all. It just means that we're in a place that we want to be and got a great focus on where we want to go.
I've coached against Shaun Watson before. He was the offensive coordinator at Nebraska when I was at Kansas. He was a pro-style coach then and he ran a lot of spread stuff with Louisville and in Texas. You can kind of see the growth that he's had and then obviously they probably asked him to keep some of the stuff Matt was doing that worked for them.
There's a lot of things that they're doing on offense right now. You see the one-back spread stuff and then you see what we call a bunch where there's three receivers or tight ends in tight and there's a variety of plays that come out of their bunch packages with tempo. Then you see the double-tight wings and the Jets so the good thing is defensively we see that from our offense we had to defend that here because we do a lot of that stuff here too.
I think we're doing pretty well on offense right now, so.
I think all programs that play well on offensive line and defensive line are pretty good programs. Right now I think we see an O-line that has matured under coach Ledford's leadership and an O-line that has had a great opportunity to go against a great defensive line in camp, and in spring ball, and bowl prep.
We don't play anybody up front that is better than what they get in practice. We don't. So when you have to block, whether it's Chubb or Street or Roseboro or James Smith-Williams on the edges. Hill, Justin Jones, Big E... we've got good players up front. So our o-line has been benefited from the competition in practice because you've got to be on or you're getting embarrassed.
Now they've created a brotherhood that they have and a culture that they have. I hated to see Bradbury and T go down in the game, but what I loved to see was how mad it made those guys and how hard they wanted to play for them when they weren't in there. How excited Joe Sculthorpe was when he went in and we ran the sneak behind him because he knew that that was a big play in the game.
It's just a great environment in that room right now, and they're playing for each other. That's a tribute to Dwayne [Ledford].
In the Syracuse game had it been later in the game we would have gone for two.
I guess I just have to put stock in the fact that we're playing these analytics companies that do this for a living a lot of money. I'm going to trust that they know what they're talking about.
When you're up 11, the difference between 12 and 13 isn't significant. If you kick it, you're up 12... that takes their two-point play out of play.
A touchdown and two field goals is different. Seven points and six versus six and six, and they have a field goal kicker who hasn't missed all year.
But you can call the analytics company and have this conversation with them, and they'd probably enjoy it a lot more than I would.
It worked out though.
Opening Statement...
Player-wise, as you guys know, Darian Roseboro's father, Johnny, passed this past weekend. I'm looking forward to having Darian back with the team, and the funeral is today... a small, private gathering with his family.We are going to have Johnny's initials on the back of our helmet, which you guys will see a 'JR,' on the back of our helmet this week to represent that.
Two of our players, injury-wise, will not be back this season. Brock Miller is having shoulder surgery... one of our special teams players and reserve linebacker. He has been playing with a banged up shoulder for a couple of weeks, and it's just not getting better... we're going to get it fixed.
Riley Nicholson's been out since the first kickoff of the first game and has decided to hang it up and medically go out. This was his second concussion since he's been here, and he had some in high school so he'll finish his academic career here with us. Unfortunate to lose both those guys for the season. Both of them were key special teams players for us and guys that we looked forward to having in our defense down the road.
Both of them are doing good mentally, and Riley is doing great. He's going to be a student coach and help us out on the field every day and finish his degree here, and Brock will be back with us in six months and have a great summer and be ready for next fall.
As far as the game this past Thursday, it was a great win. I thought our team really fed off of each other, and watching the film was a lot of fun... seeing not just the effort the guys played with but how they fed off of each other throughout the game.
One of our goals in that game was to start fast on defense. Louisville was such a good first quarter offense and shut them out the first quarter was huge. Offensively we moved the ball well early didn't get a lot of points but keeping us in that game the way we did and getting them frustrated offensively it was important.
I thought we really did a great job on both one of scrimmages. The fourth game in a row not giving up a sack, and they only had three TFLs and we had four sacks and six TFLS. They had three plays to our ten in the backfield.
The explosive plays, we had 10 to their five, and they're an explosive offense. We had three long drives that didn't end up points but kept their offense off the field which was important. The third quarter was huge that way. It was great to have three guys have 100 yards receiving.
Steph was a yard short but pretty impressive for that to happen, and Ryan to give those guys the balls he did. I was impressed with Ryan making some passes under pressure. He got drilled on one of the throws he made out to Steph and stepped up in the pocket on another throw he made to Steph was good to see. Pocket awareness was something he really wanted to work on this year and they showed up in this game.
The blocked extra point by Chubb, the kickoff return by Nyheim, and field position down punt by Nyheim, I thought were great special teams plays in the game.
I'm really excited about building off of that win. Turning to this week's opponent in Pitt, it's an opportunity to play in the NFL stadium, a great one at that, and a tremendous city up at Pittsburgh and Heinz Field.
It's a place that obviously believes in blue-collar and toughness. I know coach Narduzzi very well and respect him a lot and the staff. Offensively there are a shift, motion, jet team that uses a lot of bunch condensed formations to run the football and play-action you. They have a variety of backs that they rotate in there that are good players.
I'm really impressed with Whitehead playing both ways for them. That's an impressive thing for anybody... Henderson is probably the best returner that I've seen this year. I think he's tremendous and they do a great job schematically for him. It's going to be a great matchup seeing O'Neal, their left tackle, against our defensive ends. I think he's a really good offensive lineman.
Their defense... a lot of pressure. A lot of six-man pressures and a lot of press coverage on the outside. So offensively we will have to be able to handle that. We've seen a variety of that from different teams but not as much as we're going to get from one team as far as press coverage on the outside guys.
We haven't played Pitt since I've been here so look forward to that matchup and a chance to play someone we haven't played.
They have a linebacker, No. 23, that is top 10 in the ACC in tackles and tackles for loss.
I know they have a backup quarterback we're probably going to see, but he has played in multiple games this year. He played the entire game against Georgia Tech, so there's film on him.
He is a better runner than Browne... you see him scramble and make some plays on his feet so we have to be ready for that.
Obviously playing the last two quarterbacks we played gets you ready for a running quarterback.
More on George McDonald and the wide receiver group...
Well, first I think he has a high standard that he holds them to every day. There is no forgiveness when it comes to that standard. He doesn't give them a day off when it comes to what he expects them to be able to do.They've bought into that, and now you have guys that it's not cool to be in there and not be serious, it's not cool to be in there and not play hard, it's not cool to be in there and drop a pass.
They take it very seriously in that room, and I think before there were a lot of immature guys in that room. He's created a culture that they've bought into and now the older guys are forcing the younger guys.
You see Jakobi Meyers grow up this year and buy into it. The effort play he had on Jay Sam's long reception was incredible... the way he ran down the field and tried to get an extra block for him. There was a play late in the game where we throw a bubble screen out to Jay Sam, and he cuts a guy and gets up and flexes over the top of him. That wasn't him last year.
I think he's now taking pride in something that that room is cultivated within him and that's because of Coach McDonald's leadership.
What is your reaction to seeing this program back in the Top 20?
That's been our goal along and so it's great to see the progress. We're not focused on where they have us right now. We want to continue to stay and climb, and the focus here is what are we going to do in week seven? That's all we're talking about.The way I look at college football and pro football is if you can just, all right this is what we did last week, here's what we've got to do better next week. If you do that then you're staying ahead of the teams that are trying to catch up to you. We have to do that. We can't ever think that we've made it because we haven't. We're at the halfway point right now and we want to continue this ride. The only way to do that is to improve.
We've put ourselves in a great place but that doesn't mean we're satisfied at all. It just means that we're in a place that we want to be and got a great focus on where we want to go.
Pittsburgh is running jets... I think they are still trying to run Matt Canada's stuff. Do you see that on film?
Yeah. There's some of it. Yeah.I've coached against Shaun Watson before. He was the offensive coordinator at Nebraska when I was at Kansas. He was a pro-style coach then and he ran a lot of spread stuff with Louisville and in Texas. You can kind of see the growth that he's had and then obviously they probably asked him to keep some of the stuff Matt was doing that worked for them.
There's a lot of things that they're doing on offense right now. You see the one-back spread stuff and then you see what we call a bunch where there's three receivers or tight ends in tight and there's a variety of plays that come out of their bunch packages with tempo. Then you see the double-tight wings and the Jets so the good thing is defensively we see that from our offense we had to defend that here because we do a lot of that stuff here too.
That was a tough decision for you with Matt Canada. Is that something that worked out well for everyone?
I think. Like I told someone the other day, I wish him nothing but the best and excited for anything that comes his way. I've never got into this business to wish ill-will on anybody. I made a decision that I thought was best for the program and time will tell.I think we're doing pretty well on offense right now, so.
How happy are you with the recent play of the offensive line?
I'm ecstatic about it.I think all programs that play well on offensive line and defensive line are pretty good programs. Right now I think we see an O-line that has matured under coach Ledford's leadership and an O-line that has had a great opportunity to go against a great defensive line in camp, and in spring ball, and bowl prep.
We don't play anybody up front that is better than what they get in practice. We don't. So when you have to block, whether it's Chubb or Street or Roseboro or James Smith-Williams on the edges. Hill, Justin Jones, Big E... we've got good players up front. So our o-line has been benefited from the competition in practice because you've got to be on or you're getting embarrassed.
Now they've created a brotherhood that they have and a culture that they have. I hated to see Bradbury and T go down in the game, but what I loved to see was how mad it made those guys and how hard they wanted to play for them when they weren't in there. How excited Joe Sculthorpe was when he went in and we ran the sneak behind him because he knew that that was a big play in the game.
It's just a great environment in that room right now, and they're playing for each other. That's a tribute to Dwayne [Ledford].
I want to ask you a sensitive question. What's the deal with the two-point chart?
What do you mean?We thought against Syracuse you had a chance to make the lead a three-score game, you kicked it to make it 16. Last week it was 11 and you went for two to make it 13. The chart, I think, says make it 12.
Our chart says 13. I don't know what chart you're using, maybe it's Pop Warner. I don't know but there are fourth-quarter charts too. So as the clock gets lower it's different.In the Syracuse game had it been later in the game we would have gone for two.
To make it three scores?
Yes. But when you're up by 20 or whatever it was, and it's 30 minutes left in the game or I can't remember the exact time we had that discussion on the sideline. Is it time to go for two? It didn't say so, so we didn't.I guess I just have to put stock in the fact that we're playing these analytics companies that do this for a living a lot of money. I'm going to trust that they know what they're talking about.
When you're up 11, the difference between 12 and 13 isn't significant. If you kick it, you're up 12... that takes their two-point play out of play.
A touchdown and two field goals is different. Seven points and six versus six and six, and they have a field goal kicker who hasn't missed all year.
But you can call the analytics company and have this conversation with them, and they'd probably enjoy it a lot more than I would.
It worked out though.
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