Doeren: "I'm Really Proud Of Them"

NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media after the Wolfpack's 33-21 win over North Carolina.

Opening Statement...
We were down to our third-string guard at one point and I thought Fedd-Jackson came in the game and really played his butt off for a true freshman. That was great to see.

Gavin Locklear did a great job on punts returns. Germaine Pratt with another huge pick.

I'm really proud of them. To have six ACC wins, it hasn't been done in 23 years. I think that's a big deal for this program. Talk about going in the right direction, I think that's a great sign for what we're doing here.

There were about 150 recruits down on that field watching us. It was a great atmosphere by our fans, and our student section is awesome. I love those guys and appreciate them so much.

It's great to end the year that way, and I look forward to going on the road and recruiting with a win over our rival. 

We'll great ready for whatever bowl that put us in on Sunday.

Senior Day you said you always remember Senior Day.  What did you get out of your group?
You're always worried in the first part of the first quarter about them being too emotional, which I think they were.

I thought we started good on defense and on offense we scored, but we kind of stalled out.

There's a lot of chippy stuff going on out on the field.  I'm not going to say they were being cheap. I couldn't see it all, but our guys were saying a lot of stuff was happening.

We just didn't handle it well.

Once we got settled down and talked in the locker room how we wanted to be and act... we wanted to talk with our pads and put it on the scoreboard. 

We did that, and I was really proud with the senior leadership after we settled them down. I think we had to channel it a little bit.

Coach, they were able to complete some balls and get some PIs, what were you able to do in the third quarter?
Playing better.

I don't know what PI is anymore. Does anybody?  I really don't.  They told us before the season that if four hands were going up for the football it's not PI, and that happened twice today and it was PI. I don't get that.

I understand it's a judgement call, but it's not being called consistently on either team, for them or for us. If you're a defensive backs coach, there's probably not many of them that have hair.

You're trying to coach your guys to play with technique, and you can't play no-touch football out there. OPIs and PIs, I think the whole thing is a joke right now.

Our guys just settled in and played... we didn't play a lot. We put a guy in the middle of the field, played some Cover 3, Cover 2... 17 is a good player for them. We knew they'd throw the ball to him. We adjusted and got a little better pass rush at times there.

Is the beauty of Nyheim that if you're patient with him, you know he's going to break one?
Yea, but that's part of the stretch play too. 

It allows your o-line to run off the football and play with some speed.  There's going to be some, two, three-yard rushes, and then all of a sudden they'll get tired and you can split them. That happened there at the end.

I was really proud of Reggie Gallaspy with his big run after the catch on third down. I think that was a huge play in the game for us. Those two guys all year have played well off each other, and Jay Sam finishing the game with the touchdown run, it was fun to watch that.

Nyheim insisted he was playing this week. What was your talk like with him?
We had to go through the concussion protocol, and he went through clean all week.

He told me on Sunday they'd have to amputate parts of my body for me to not play against Carolina.  I said, "Well, protocol is protocol." He went through it and did everything.

For his legs it was probably a good thing because he didn't practice all week.  He was out there watching so he got pretty fresh standing around. Friday was the first day he was able to do anything on the field for us. 

Coach talk about the relationship you have with your seniors.
I've been through a lot with them. Good, bad, terrific, ugly... watched a bunch of young guys make mistakes and grow up.  

Those are going to be some incredible people on our planet when they are done playing football. If you want to find a terrific person to run your company that will outwork people and be tough and persistent, that senior class is that. They are great human beings and will be great fathers.

They are fun to coach. They just play hard and love the game. It's a special group of guys and a great bunch of role models for our young guys.

Pass the torch down, and that's what we talked about today. It was a legacy game for them. To be able to say they won three of four against Carolina, sixth conference win... it hasn't been done since they were born. None of those guys were alive. Think about that.  That's a lot, so they've done a heck of a job helping us build our program the way we want to build it.