Dave Doeren: “I was really proud of them”

NC State bounced back from its two-game skid in a big way Saturday night, beating Florida State 38-22 at Carter-Finley Stadium to improve to 5-3 on the season. 

There was a lot to like as Bailey Hockman set career highs in completions (24), passing yards (265) and passing touchdowns (three) and Thayer Thomas set career highs in catches (11) and yards (135) and added two touchdowns. 

Head coach Dave Doeren spoke to the media via Zoom after the win, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say: 

Opening statement

I really appreciated the way our guys put it back in and competed. It’s hard when you lose a game like we did against Miami, when you invest so much and come up short, to be able to do it over. I was really proud of them, the way that they put it all back in and invested. We started fast offensively and defensively. 

I thought we really played a clean first half. There’s a lot of things that were fun to watch during that. I thought Bailey operated well and was very accurate. Thayer had a heck of a game, career highs in both catches and yards. It was great to see Tyler Baker-Williams get that interception and get us back in the takeaway column there. There were just a lot of positives. We were able to finish the game with a physical run game eating up about six minutes on the clock there after a score for them. So I’m happy to get the W. It’s great to be back in the win column and I look forward to what that does for our guys mentally moving forward.

Was it part of the game plan to get Thayer more involved or was that just something Florida State was giving you? 

They were just giving us the slants inside. The way people play us, there’s obviously a progression and different route concepts. We were expecting a certain form of quarters coverage. If the mike went a certain direction, he was going to go back to a certain side where Thayer was. That was kind of what they were playing. 

We had to feel them out a little bit. There were quite a few things that went differently for Florida State with their quarterback out and then defensively [Hamsah Nasirildeen] played for them, which we didn’t expect to see him. So they were doing some things with weak safety blitzes. It was one on one in the slot with Thayer and he was able to take advantage of it.

Bailey started the first drive 8 for 8 for 93 yards and a touchdown, can you talk about how that set the tone?

He was on fire early. He was very accurate. He had a great week of practice. That’s why he was one of our game captains today. He was very well-prepared. He knew what he was looking to do with the football. He threw on time. They max blitzed him in two empties. They had an unblocked guy coming right at him and he was able to work the ball arm angle wise to open guys and convert. So when your quarterback’s playing like that and you can get off to a good start, it gives a lot of people on the sideline confidence, so I’m excited for him and the progression that he’s made in these last two weeks. 

Seeing the type of performances Bailey Hockman’s had the past two weeks, how much does that change the outlook for the rest of the season? 

Any time your quarterback’s playing well, I don’t care what level of football you’re playing: You’ve got a chance to be really good. He’s played at a high level for two weeks. So we’re very excited, and offensively there’s a lot of confidence with Bailey, not just with the players but the coaches. So it’s good to see him be in that role and take advantage of the opportunity that he has with Devin being out. Obviously he made the most of it the last two weeks. We’re really excited about how he’s playing and I know the players are too. 

It’s hard to have a quiet 94 yards rushing but Bam Knight did that. How big was that for his confidence as well? 

I think he got robbed of about 25 more yards on a great stiff arm. To call an offensive facemask on a running back, that never happens. But he played great. Bam’s been a catalyst for us on offense and special teams. He’s done a lot of things. Every time he touches the football, it’s exciting. So we’ve just got to get him the ball more, probably, but really happy that we were able to get the run game going. I thought their defense did a really good job stopping us in the run game. We had to throw to score points there for a while. It was great in the fourth quarter to be able to finish with the run game. 

Thayer’s been so reliable, did you feel like he was kind of due for a big breakout game like he had tonight? 

I’m happy for him, for one. He’s just one of those kids that works so hard. He never says anything, whether he has zero catches or 11. We gave him and Bailey a game ball tonight. The players wanted to give a speech. He just said ‘I don’t say much, let’s just keep winning.’ That’s just how he is. You love it when guys like him that are just the grinders have a game like that. I think it says a lot about the karma he has. I’m really happy for him.

Is there any update on Joe Sculthorpe or Emeka Emezie?

They’re fine.