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NC State Football

Dave Doeren: "The Margin for Error is Small"

October 15, 2022
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No. 15 NC State head coach Dave Doeren met with the media following the Wolfpack's 24-9 road loss to No. 18 Syracuse Saturday evening.

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


Opening Statement

We did win the turnover margin, but they did a better job than us running the football and controlling that part of the game. We really had some penalties and some negative plays on offense that set us into second-and-extra-longs. It’s hard in a scenario like that with their crowd noise. Their crowd was fantastic for them. It made it difficult, and they’re doing that with a quarterback that’s played in a half of a game. It was challenging. You’ve got to give Syracuse credit. They played better than we did. We were shorthanded in multiple spots, and as the game went on, it got worse. The margin for error is small when you’re in a position like we are. I was proud of Jack [Chambers]. I thought he played hard. I thought he did some good things in the game. We just didn’t do enough to get enough points out of the drives that we did have to make it a game there. We had a one-possession game there, finishing eight points [behind] on the scoreboard with a chance to stop them on a third-and-long and didn’t get it done.

On if there’s any frustration knowing there were points left on the board…

Of course. Three field goals, and they’re all red-zone drives. Every time you lose a game, there’s frustrations. Like I said, the game that we were in — I know it didn’t end up a one-possession game — it was a one-possession game. It’s third-and-12. We’re going to get the ball back, down eight, and have a chance to go score a touchdown and get a two-point conversion to tie. We didn’t stop them there.

On a bad snap resulting in a field goal on the first possession of the second half…

We would have [cashed in with a touchdown]. It’s similar to last week’s game from that standpoint. Instead, we get a field goal out of that drive which was good to get points. Trading touchdowns for field goals, it’s hard to win.

On the crowd noise leading to false starts…

It was challenging. The dome plus the attendance made it difficult. In the game plan, there were some things we wanted to check to versus certain looks, and we weren’t able to get that done. Whether it was the play clock running out where we had to call timeout twice on those scenarios or just flat-out can’t hear the cadence or silent count we were doing. Guys weren’t getting off the ball at the same time. The crowd noise was a factor.

On when he got the news on Devin Leary’s pectoral tear…

We found out Sunday that he had a partial tear and that it was possible it was rehabable. They were getting more opinions looking further into it, so it was about 1:30 p.m. on Monday after my press conference that they told me. At that point, I decided not telling people was best for our quarterbacks to get ready for Syracuse’s defense and them not have that advantage to know who’s playing in the game. That’s why I did what I did with that, but I didn’t know before the press conference [on Monday]. I found out after. Monday, Devin will get surgery. It’s not his shoulder; that’s the good news. It’s his pec muscle which, from a throwing situation, is a lot better situation than having a torn labrum or a rotator injury.

On how tough that news was for Leary…

He’s been through it before. I don’t know if that makes it better just because he knows how to go through the mental anguish of not playing. I was proud of him. He immediately turned to Coach [Tim] Beck and the quarterbacks and said, “How can I help you guys?” He’s a great teammate in a tough moment for him. I’m very proud of him in that.

On the team coming into the game having a heavy heart knowing what Leary’s going through…

We obviously feel for Devin. We felt we were coming in here to win a game. It wasn’t like that wasn’t on the table, but we feel for any player on our team, particularly one like him that’s been through this already.

On having so many players go down and seeing who’s available to play…

It’s tough, man. [Devan] Boykin went out, and we’re already short-handed in the secondary. We lost Cory [Durden], and then we lost Josh [Harris]. We moved ends into tackles. It’s tough. It’s not easy to win a game when you’re in that kind of situation. The bye week’s coming at a good time for us.

On whether he thought Garrett Shrader’s arm passed the line of scrimmage on his 34-yard completion to Damien Alford…

It looked like he was from the sideline, but I don’t get the same viewpoint that they have on video. It was probably close, and the refs said that they thought he was right on the line.

On Boykin’s status…

“I don’t know. We’ve got to get through the injury report that we’re about to get tomorrow first. We will get Trent Pennix back. I know that for sure. The rest of what happened today, I couldn’t answer that. I just don’t know.”

On if Chambers will continue to be the starter moving forward…

“Yeah. The plan is to play both [Chambers and M.J. Morris]. I think, moving forward, we’ll have the chance to play him and M.J. Jack played really hard and did some good things. There were times where it was difficult for him with that noise and the pressures they were bringing. He made a lot of plays with his legs for us today. He didn’t turn the football over. He showed good poise and didn’t get rattled. We can definitely grow from that game and take these next five one at a time.”

On if Syracuse has a legitimate chance to take down Clemson next week…

“There’s upsets all the time. They’re playing at Clemson, so you’ve got to give the home team advantage because of that. It’s going to be a great football game. That’s a good football team we just played. Obviously, Clemson’s playing Florida State tonight. That’s another good game at Florida State. There’s a lot of things that can happen in the next five weeks for a lot of teams.”

 
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