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NC State Football

VIDEO + QUOTES: Dave Doeren's Weekly Quotebook

October 5, 2020
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media via Zoom Monday afternoon to discuss Saturday’s win over Pitt and the upcoming road game against Virginia.

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


Opening Statement

“It was great to go on the road and beat a Top 25 team in Pitt, particularly when we were coming off of a game where we really performed as bad as we probably could have. To see the fight and resiliency of our staff and our players and how they worked through that and learned from it, I’m very proud of them.

The positives of the game offensively: obviously the two-minute drive at the end, 1:30-plus with no timeouts, the way they operated, the poise of Devin Leary, the way the guys caught the football, Thayer [Thomas] on the fourth-down conversion, the protection by the linemen against a really good defensive front, the backs and the tight ends… There’s been a lot of good quarterbacks here, and I think it takes a lot out of a guy on the road against a defense like that to take a team down the field and score a game-winning drive like he did. No offensive turnovers. We were 50 percent conversion on third- and fourth-down when we combine those two down-and-distances. We were 100 percent scoring touchdowns in the red zone. We gave up one sack to a very good defensive front. I thought, individually, Devin played a great game: 300 yards-plus, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and very poised and accurate. He gave his receivers, tight ends, and backs a chance to catch the ball. Cary Angeline and Emeka [Emezie] both performed well catching the football and making big plays, and I thought Dylan Parham was really physical in the run game in this game for us at tight end. Ricky [Person] made some critical runs in short yardage when there wasn’t a lot there that helped us stay on the field. A couple of times, there was an unblocked player that he just made miss, ran around, or ran through. I’m very pleased with that. Negatives, on third down on offense, we need to improve our short-yardage run game. We’re making plays, but it’s not as clean as it could be. On the opening drive of the third quarter, we were three-and-outed, and that’s something we want to create momentum in that opportunity. Operationally, as good as Devin was, there were some things in the RPO game that are there for him to take advantage of, and he did at times, just being consistent. I loved the way we battled. I didn’t like the procedural penalties. We had three. I thought our cadence was a weapon in this game, and it beat us three times. All three of them were at the receiver position, jumping offsides.

On defense in the positives, we stopped the run: less than 100 yards rushing and 2.5 yards a carry. We overcame a busted coverage on the second play of the game. It didn’t rattle the guys. I thought they played well after that series. The story of the game was the red zone defense in this game. They were down there five times and only got two touchdowns. We held them to a goal line stand and potentially would have had another. I thought we stopped him on the one sneak. He definitely did not have forward progress, but they ruled it a touchdown. They were really tough when they got down there. We played really well on third down throughout the game. Individually, Levi [Jones] was very impressive. He played four positions in the game for us. With what happened to Tyler Baker-Williams being out, Levi had to learn sam, which he always has, and nickel. He played our dime, and he also played an extra backer position on the goal line. I was very proud of Levi in this game. He had some extra-effort plays. I thought Malik Dunlap played his best game of his career. He tackled well. He had a big hit on a bubble and a nice tackle on the line of scrimmage early in the game. Drake [Thomas] and Payton [Wilson] were both very physical and active. I thought Isaiah [Moore] had some really good plays running through and disrupting things. I was really impressed with what Josh Pierre-Louis and Taiyon Palmer did, finding out Friday that they were going to be playing. They got one day of practice as our nickel going into that game, and [Pitt’s] leading receiver coming into the game was their slot receiver. I was very proud of those two young men. On the negative side defensively, the busted play on play two can’t happen. I didn’t think we aligned well when they went fast tempo to some of their formations and getting that cleaned up. We had to substitute a lot due to our personnel issues we had with Tyler being out. Twice, they broke the huddle with 12 men on the field and were not called for. That forced us to have to use timeouts for substitutions, and we didn’t have enough timeouts at the end, so we ended up with a 12-man penalty. Those are things we’ve got to do better, but we also need the rules to be the rules. I felt like we lost contain on a few unblocked plays off the edge that could have ended drives. One of them was a fourth down where Payton lost contain, and that would have been a stop. We had three costly defensive penalties. It was a great teachable moment when Pierre-Louis targeted the quarterback, and if he’s six inches lower, it’s a pick-six, and we’re up, 24-7. Instead, they stay on the field and get a field goal, so it was a 10-point swing. We had a third-and-16 defensive holding and a DPI.

Special-teams wise, Chris Dunn continues to be a weapon. On kickoff, Trenton Gill is doing a great job kicking off. I think he’d tell you he had a subpar day as our punter and one he’ll get better from. We just missed some opportunities. We were close to blocking a punt, and we were late off the football and missed it by an inch. You’ve got to be able to take every inch you can get when you’re rushing a punt, and we were short. Dylan Parham gave great effort; he was just late off the football. I thought our kickoff return was poor. We’ve got to clean that area up.

Overall, I’m just super proud of the group. When you watch the film, it’s a game where you feel like you could have won decisively if things changed, but they didn’t. We stuck together and hung in there, and it’s an opportunity to learn from our errors. I think they learned that they have to practice a certain way if they want to play a certain way. That was really good for our guys to have that. We didn’t just win the game on Saturday. As a team, we talked it yesterday. We won that game starting on Monday with their attitude, their performance, and their meetings. They practiced with great effort, and now we’ve got to learn from that. You can’t let a win on the road get to your head. We can’t, at any means at any time, get a big head because of one thing we did well.

We move onto playing Virginia who were the Coastal champions from last year. They’re a very veteran football team with a lot of seniors, juniors, grad transfers, and graduates on their team and their starting lineup. Even where they’ve lost starters, they’re replacing them with third- and fourth-year players, and that’s a tribute to what they’ve been able to do there in their developmental program, keeping guys from transferring out and staying healthy. They’re very sound. They’re big. They remind you of a Big Ten team when you look at how big they are. They’re strong. I’m impressed with how they don’t beat themselves. They’re a low-penalized team. They’re a team that doesn’t give up a lot of plays in their backfield. They’ve only had six plays in their own backfield in two games, and obviously Clemson was one of those teams. They’ve turned the football over with their new starting quarterback, but they’ve made up for it with seven takeaways in two games on defense. They’re a very good opponent. It’s another road game, our third straight in three weeks.

Offensively, I think, like every offense, things are about always going to be about their QB, and when he’s playing well, they’re playing well. He has turned the football over. He’s a tough kid. He’s a good runner. He’s a good scrambler. Their receivers bring some different things. They’ve got some small, quick guys, and they’ve got some really big guys. They’ve got guys out there that are 5’9” that can really run, and they’ve got 6’7” receivers and tight ends that are big targets. Their tailback, No. 21 [Wayne Taulapapa], runs really hard. I think he’s a tough guy. He gets a lot of yards after his first contact. They’ve got five experienced players on the O-line. They’ve only given up two sacks a game.

On the other side of the football defensively, they’re very sound. They have very long guys on the edge. There’s a lot of experience. They’re 3-4, and they get into some nickel packages. They do a lot. They do a good job mixing it up. There’s a lot of good coverages, a lot of good disguises. Their kids play hard. They’re strong up front. They play with good technique. They mix up what they do. Their linebackers are tough kids. [Nick] Jackson is a young man that we wanted here quite a bit in recruiting. I think he’s a really good player. [Zane] Zadier has been there a while for them at mike and plays really hard. I mentioned [Charles] Snowden off the edge. He’s a really good football player. No. 7 [Noah Taylor] on the other side does the same. They’ll drop those guys. They’ll rush them. Their safety, [Joey] Blount, has been there a long time. They’re in the backfield a lot. They’ve got seven sacks and 16 TFL in just two games. They’re very disruptive. When you look at them compared to the teams they’ve played, they’re plus-14 in making plays in the backfield compared to their opponents, so that tells you what they do. They’ve only committed six total penalties playing aggressive like that. They’re a well-coached football team. It’s going to be a great challenge, and for us, it’s just about getting better. We’ve just got to continue to learn from the last game, keep a big chip on our shoulder, play harder each week, play smarter each week, and take the mistakes off the film that we just had on it.”

How much of the adjustments made between Virginia Tech and Pitt were a matter of pride for putting a better performance on the field?

“They were very humbled in week two. Virginia Tech did a good job, so you’ve got to give them credit, but I don’t think we had the same edge in practice. I talked about that with the team on the Tuesday of Virginia Tech week. I thought we were sloppy. I didn’t think we were the same as we were the Tuesday before preparing for Wake. They needed to get their stuff together, or they would pay for it, and we did. We didn’t prepare the same way. You’ve got to understand that you’re going to play how you practice, especially when you’re talking about young guys. Maybe an older player can get away with that, a guy that’s got 30 starts, but that’s not our roster. We have to take every day like it’s got to be like how I want the game to look.

We learned a hard lesson. You’ve got to credit the leadership on the football team. They said they’re not going to have that. It’s one thing to lose a game where you played as hard as you could play. It’s another to go out and get embarrassed like we did. I was proud of those guys. I think there is a lot of pride on this football team when it comes to how we play the game. We talk about wanting to play hard, tough, and together, and we didn’t do that in week two. We definitely responded. I think there were some things schematically that Tony [Gibson] did better with the front to allow them to play a certain way with the backers and our fits, and so that, from week two to week three, improved as well.”

How is this team built differently when it comes to their mentality compared to last year?

“We have really good leadership on this football team at every position group. Last year, and I’ve spoken on this, and this isn’t to be negative to the 2019 roster because they wanted to do well, we had a lot of injured players that were counted on on that roster. You were asking freshmen to lead, and we just weren’t ready in those rooms to do that. Right now, you’ve got veteran leadership at each position group, and I think that really makes a difference. The message doesn’t change from the coaches as much as people think. I think the thing that changes is the players hold each other accountable a certain way when they’re player-led teams. Every team has coaches that motivate, coach, and detail things, but when your teammates are holding you accountable and demanding things from you, and the guys that are doing that are also the guys making the plays on game day, not the guys in the training room, it’s a big difference, and I think you’re seeing that when we’re playing well.”

Is Leary all the way caught up, or is he still trying to catch up even more from losing time during fall camp?

“No, I think he’s always trying to get better. When you’re a young player, and I’ve said this many times, there are certain things that happen to you in practice where, all of a sudden, something clicks, and that speeds up the curve of how good you can be. He’s going to be constantly doing that through this season. He lost spring ball, and he lost those days we’re talking about. For a young quarterback, he’s still a redshirt sophomore. He played really well. He’s our starting quarterback, and we’re very excited about the growth we’ve seen from him in the last two weeks, and I’m sure you’ve seen it as well. You can’t ever say reps don’t matter for a guy that’s 18, 19, 20, 21 years old. They’re critical parts of their development.”

What did you see from Emezie that was different from what he’s done in the past?

“I was happy for him. He’s a hard worker. He expects a lot for himself. He’s been making plays; he just hasn’t been making game-changing plays this year until Saturday. He wants to win. He wants to be part of the reason we are winning. Sometimes, as we all know in our society, people want that the day they want it. Like I told him last week, you could see his frustration, ‘Keep working, and good things will happen. Don’t be disappointed because you stopped working and, all of a sudden, there was your opportunity, and you weren’t ready for it.’ He did that. He just kept working for it, to his credit, and made some key plays. Devin gave him a chance, and he did what he needed to do. I was extremely happy for him, and I think it’s a great story for our team. We talk about that. Five catches without a touchdown doesn’t make him happy. He wants to score like all good receivers do. He just had to keep working to get to that, but it was great to see him have that moment.”

How much does Leary’s performance change what this offense is capable of with more balance between run and pass?

“I think it’s huge to be able to be balance, for one. Our offense is built around a lot of things, but when people are going to put eight or nine guys in the box, you have to throw to win. We showed that we can do that. I think it puts more pressure on the defenses we play because we’ve been able to run the ball efficiently. We have three good tailbacks. Our O-line has been physical. You’ve got to pick what you want, and now Devin has that confidence. The receivers are catching the ball well, so that continues to allow us to show more balance as we get into the game plan.”

Was it the players taking it upon themselves to practice better, or was it the coaches have to stress the importance of practicing better?

“I demanded it, but they followed through, and that’s the biggest thing. Every week, we ask for that, but they learned a tough lesson. All of us that have children know that you can tell your kids not to do things, and until you catch them doing it and they learn a tough lesson, they don’t hear you. Sometimes, that’s what has to happen. I think the leadership of our team took advantage of the opportunity to come down hard on a bunch of guys and demand some things out of them. We weren’t 100 percent; our roster didn’t all play as good as they could play. We’ve got some guys that have got to get a lot better from that performance. Overall, you saw a big jump in our production and what we can do when we practice better.”

How hard is it for guys to call other players out? How nice is it when those players respond in a positive way?

“I think it’s how you do it. It’s got to be constructive. It can’t be personal. We’ve talked a lot about that. It takes courage for a teammate to tell you something like that, so you need to understand he’s coming to you from a place of love, that he cares, and that he wants to win. If you’re out there playing, you’re supposed to be a trusted player that’s going to do the right thing, and you would want the guy next to you to tell you that just like, if you were the guy doing it right, you wouldn’t want to watch the guy do it wrong and no one say anything to him. That’s the brotherhood of trust. You’ve got to be able to say those things, and you’ve got to do it in the right way. You can’t be demeaning, but you can be demanding. Our team has gotten better in that area.”

How good is it to have the tight end group playing so well in all facets of the offense?

“It’s a major part of what we want to be. You want to have multiple personnel groups. You want to use the talent of those guys when they’re out there, and they have the physicality on the edge that Dylan [Parham] is showing us with some of his blocking in our zone game and stretch game. To see what Cary does vertically, he’s a big target. You’ve got Thayer running down the hash on one side and Cary on the other; those are two pretty good targets for the quarterback to have on the seams. He’s just very reliable on third down and in the red zone. D.A. [Dylan Autenreith] is kind of the Swiss Army knife. He just goes wherever we need him and does things right. He plays hard and does a lot of things behind the scenes with this group to help them get better.”

How much easier to preach the message of staying ready and the “next man up” mentality when you have examples like Josh Harris and Devin Boykin making the most of their opportunities?

“Those things bring the stories to life. Taiyon Palmer, Josh Pierre-Louis, Devin Boykin… Earlier in the year, it was [Rakeim] Ashford playing for Tanner [Ingle]. Josh Harris was in our goal line package the last two weeks, and obviously you got to see him this weekend with Alim [McNeill] and C.J. Clark in the middle as three big, stout guys that are tough. It was great for Josh to get on the field. He had an injury a year ago, and he’s trying to get some weight off still, but he plays hard in there. He’s a big guy. He’s hard to move, and he made a great play on the one run.”

Have those guys’ practice habits changed?

“Josh has been on the scout team going against Grant Gibson every snap, and he goes hard everyday. He is getting better. He’s getting his conditioning the way we want it, and that’s how he earned his spot on that unit in the goal line package. That’s where he got it. We’ve been repping Taiyon Palmer. He had an ACL injury a year ago, so we’re trying to get him to game speed. Actually, going into this game, he earned a couple starting spots on special teams, so we’re seeing his improvement. It just happened that he was called in there. What a play he made in the end zone. They were in the slot fade, and he had perfect coverage, great timing, and a great pass breakup. It was really good to see that from Taiyon.”

There hasn’t been a letdown the week following a Top 25 win in your tenure. Is that something that actively discussed afterward to avoid it, or the topic avoided?

“It’s funny; we don’t ever let up. What you have to do is look at your team, and every team is different. You have a veteran team, and they’re going to handle a win or loss differently than a young team. You have a team that’s not led by players, and it’s more coach-led. In this situation, we have a real-time example of winning a game, thinking we’re all that, getting destroyed the following week, then winning another tough game.

Our guys know they can’t step back. The chip on our shoulder has to grow. That’s the best thing that’s happened. I said that after we lost the [Virginia Tech] game: ‘It’s a loss, but it’s only a loss for the season if we don’t learn from it.’ I think we learned a lot from that game with Virginia Tech, and it helped us beat Pitt. Now, we’ve got to use that lesson of how we prepared going into that Virginia Tech game and not let it happen again to play a really good Virginia team."

 
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