Dave Doeren weekly press conference transcript and video

Following NC State’s 30-20 loss to Clemson, Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren met with the media to discuss his takeaways from the weekend and also talk about the program’s upcoming primetime matchup with Florida State.

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Video and transcript highlights of Doeren’s weekly press conference are provided below.

Watch Dave Doeren’s press conference

Dave Doeren press conference opening statement transcript

Dave Doeren: “All right, I hope everybody’s doing well. Start off with the game against Clemson. It was a hard fought game. I thought our guys were excited, practiced well. It was a four quarter game, and, as you watch the film and study what happened, they made a few more plays than we did. We made a few more mistakes than they did and, really, that’s what it came down to. You go back to our game with them a year ago that we won, it was kind of a role reversal. We made some catches, Emeka [Emezie] made a one-handed catch in the end zone, Devin Carter made a back shoulder catch this year. It was the other way around, and we had our opportunities. You’ve got to give Clemson’s players credit. They made some great plays.

“We had two turnovers that led to 10 points for them, and we dropped two interceptions— one right before the half would have prevented a score. They scored a couple plays later. The other Aydan [White] dropped, which might have been a pick six. There was nobody on that side of the field. And we roughed the punter, running into the punter, which led to three points. So there was a lot of points that were put on the board in plays that we were a part of, I felt. And not to discredit Clemson, they beat us in that game, but we definitely led to that by beating ourselves, and I think that’s the biggest thing. When you lose a game like that, it comes down to a few plays. Sometimes you make them and, in this case, they did. So that’s how you lose a game on the road.

“I do think their crowd was very, very impressive. And it’s a factor when you have a D-line like them, with a pass rush like they have ,where cadence usually is the offense is friend. In a game like that, everybody’s getting off on the ball instead of on a cadence. Sometimes their D-line was better at it than our O-line, and now you’re behind trying to protect on a pass rush, and [I] can see why they’ve won so many home games in a row. It’s definitely an awesome environment to play in, and crowd noise for them is a huge weapon. From a positive standpoint, on offense, I thought Thayer Thomas had a really good football game for us. We were 100-pecent scoring in the red zone. We were 100-percent in our short yardage and goal line situation plays, which was improvement. They opened a game with the drive for a score, we opened the game with an answer with a drive and a score and both were long, sustained drives by both teams.

“It was weird to be in a game where there was only one possession each in one quarter with these two long drives. Negatives, we had three pre-snap penalties, and one of them really hurt us at the end of the game on a snap that became a fumble. We had two turnovers, which I already discussed, and we didn’t have enough explosive plays, which you can credit to Clemson’s defense. We only had five, and it’s hard to score enough points with drives that have to be sustained and sustained and sustained in a place like that.

“Defensively, I thought our defense battled. They kept us in the game. Our third-down defense, for the most part, was on-point, and we played hard. Negatively, we just, at times, started pressing and not trying to do our job, trying to do someone else’s and, inevitably, when you do that, you make mistakes. They had too many explosive plays. They had add 11 to our 5, so that’s an area we lost. And we didn’t create a takeaway and had two critical opportunities in the game. Just those two plays alone, if Devan Boykin has his, that’s one touchdown off the board. If Aydan White catches his and scores, that’s a 14-point swing in a game that we lost by 10 points. Plays like that, you have to make in games like that, particularly when you’re on the road.

“On special teams, I was really proud of Chris Dunn. This was a game, a year ago, that he had his worst moment in his career, and I know this was a game that he had circled and, to come back and kick the ball way did, to nail a 49 yard field goal and be perfect on all his attempts. Biggest disappointing part of the game for me, special teams wise, it has been an area that’s helped us win games, and I felt, not that it killed us, but the penalty that extended the drive on a running into the punter was was very costly, led to a field goal. Positively, Chris Dunn, I thought, did a great job. I thought our kicker on kickoffs, Collin Smith, our punter, our missile coverage. Darryl Jones really was a bright spot covering punts, had a couple of solo tackles.

“So, a lot to play for at eight weeks, seven games, and that’s kind of how we broke it down. We’ve got a seven-game season here and, as you know, the landscape of college football changes dramatically every week, every single week. It’s a one week at a time deal, and this week we play a really good Florida State team and the most impressive Florida State team we’ve played in a long time. Coach [Mike] Norvell and his staff deserve a lot of credit for the turnaround they’ve had down there.

“They signed 13 players from the portal. They are much older team, and the guys that weren’t portal guys are guys that have been with them now for three years and have bought in, and they understand the scheme, they understand the expectation, and you see they’re playing really fast. Offensively, it’s what you’d think. You turn on film against Florida State, and they usually have tremendously good skill players, and they do. Their receivers can all run and they’ve got a 6-7 receiver, [Johnny] Wilson, number 14 on the outside. Tight End [Markeston] Douglas is a great player. Their O-line is playing better. It’s been an area they’ve struggled in the past, and they’re playing much better on the line.

“They’re very balanced, averaging 200 yards-plus in rushing. You’ve got to give them credit offensively they’ve improved a lot. On defense, they’re fast. They don’t do a lot, but they do it well. Their D-line is active and number five, transfer defensive end, is in the backfield making plays, blocking kicks. They do play a lot of press coverage on the outside, not always, but [they] play a lot of it and force you to make contact catches and get off of bump and run. They’re well coached on the special teams. John Papuchis is really good football coach for them. They’ve blocked two kicks, their point point extra and field goal block teams, their returners are the same guys playing on offense that make plays. They’re really good players.

“Excited to play, I’m excited to get back in Carter Finley stadium, play in front of our fans. It’s teacher appreciation day, so we get to praise the teachers that have helped us in our lives. And I know, for all of us on this call, and that’ll be listening to it, if there’s somebody like that, I would ask you to reach out and say thanks to someone along the way that helped you or may be helping one of your sons or grandsons. I think it’s profession that is very underpaid and very difficult and definitely professional deserves a lot of thank yous when they can get them.

“From our team standpoint, we’re partnering with Hilinski’s Hope Foundation for college football mental health week, eliminating the stigma and increasing increasing mental health resources for universities and colleges.

“We’re fortunate here. We have a great partnership with our mental health team, and [Dr. Ariane Machín], who works with football, does a tremendous job. Grant Gibson, Tim McKay and Cory Durden are going to be a part of handing out things to our players after we have practiced the next couple days. It’s something that I think used to be looked at as a weakness or a stigma and and now, to us, and to those that are involved in this, it’s about bringing awareness and understanding it’s another resource that can help you grow.

“We don’t just need help physically, but we need help mentally, and it’s something that people should take advantage of if they’re not. There’s a lot of people coming out of COVID, as we all know, that suffered with mental health illnesses and trying to bring awareness to that. I know, last year, Emeka Emezie did a lot with that with our team with the Hilinski Foundation, and we hope to continue that this year.

“Lastly, I think this is just an opportunity to respond. I think, in life, you find out who you are when you’re knocked down. It’s easy to be everybody they want you to be when things are good, but the best way to get over that feeling is to go back to work, put your head down, focus on what led to success earlier. We know what the formula is for that here. It’s a great week of preparation, a great week of practice, a 1-0 mentality doesn’t mean you get to celebrate wins and and then linger with losses. You have a 24 hour window and, for us, that window is over. So I’m excited about the opportunity to get back on the grass, in the meeting room with our players and our staff and go back to work against a really good Florida State team.”

Q&A Transcript

Dave, correct me if I’m wrong but, I know he’s been there a while, I don’t think you guys have faced Jordan Travis yet mainly due to injury. Can you just evaluate what he adds to that offense not having seen him yet?

Dave Doeren: “No, you’re right. He’s been injured both years so, very athletic first of all. He can run run with the football. Comparing him last year to this year. Last year, I thought he was an athlete playing quarterback. This year, he’s a quarterback. He’s throwing accurate passes. He’s reading coverage. He’s giving his receivers chances to make plays. He’s moving around in the pocket, extending plays not just to run. I think he ran to run, scrambled to run, where now he’s continuing to keep his eyes downfield. He’s playing really good football and, like most quarterbacks, the longer you play, the better you get, and he’s got a lot more game reps now.”

I know Bryson Speas is really kind of like a Swiss army knife for you guys, but it seems like he was at left tackle a good bit, especially in the second half. Is that something we should expect to see more often?

Dave Doeren: “Yeah, I think Speas is that for us. He can play every position but center, probably could play there if we moved him there, but he has been rotating with Tim Mckay and [Anthony] Belton. In the game, we felt like we needed more help on the left side. It was a tough matchup at times, and sometimes you get in that environment and just having a more experienced guy. Speas went in the game and handled the crowd noise better and was having more success, so we rode with him. Now I’ve said this to you guys before, we look at all three of those guys as starters, and it’s great to have the ability to rotate guys and help when one guy maybe is not playing as good as he has been and have an answer for that. It’s nice to have that ability.”

You guys didn’t run the ball particularly well, obviously, and there weren’t many openings up front. How do you balance the part of you’re not going to face many fronts with that level of talent the rest of the year versus the amount of you know how you guys executed in that game?

Dave Doeren: “Well, I think you’re right about the first thing. I think that d-line is special for them, really special. Probably got a little impatient, Aaron, with the run game. When you get down by two possession sometimes that happens. The game flow did that a little bit in the second half.

“I think moving forward, yeah, we want to be more balanced than we were in that game. Sometimes with RPOs the ball goes where the ball goes to. It’s not because we didn’t want to hand it off, the read told him to throw it. So sometimes those plays that are called are runs that are being called it’s just if we’re going to put a screen with a run and they don’t play it a certain way we’re gonna throw it out there to the screen. On the stat line, it’ll look like we’re not running the football a whole lot, but that’s really not what’s happening in the play call.

“So that happens a little bit, too. But, I think it’s a combination of a really good D-line, the RPO how that played out and us not being patient enough at times with running the ball.”

You just mentioned this is an opportunity to respond. I’m wondering what you’ve seen out of the guys since you’ve been back, or what you need to see out of them during practice this week in terms of just their mindset when it comes to that?

Dave Doeren: “Yeah, they were like all of us. We were tired, first of all yesterday. We got home at 4 a.m., and so that doesn’t help. But everyone was mad, frustrated, disappointed, tired. And by the end of it, they were ready to move on, and today I know they’ll have juice. They’ll be ready to practice, and our leadership and experience on this football team will help in a situation like this.

“Last year we had similar things. We lost a tough game by one to Miami and responded with one of our best games against Louisville, I think, next week. I think it’s just the team that knows how to do that, and we have our hands full. We have a really good team coming in here. But judging by how we’ve responded in tough situations in the past, I know this team will be ready to play on Saturday.”

Are there a couple of players on the team that you look forward to to help the guys through this, to get them on to the next week that you can point towards to to help them put the game behind him?

Dave Doeren: “Yeah, your veterans. We talked with the Leadership Council first and then with the team. Isaiah Moore, Devin Leary, Grant Gibson and the guys that are captains, Drake Thomas, that’s where you look first and, and then within the position groups, there’s kids in each room that understand that the seasons not defined by one game. It is if you allow it to be and it turns into multiple games.

“There’s a lot of good things said in the room, and I know those guys will take it to heart. There’s a close group, and there’s a good demeanor about them. There’s no concern on that side. The concern is just we’re playing a great team this week. I don’t think it’s gonna be whether or not we’re ready to play. We got to play good enough to win.”

Have you had many players that have maximized their talent to the point the from from a walk on, basically to being a major cog in an offense like Thayer Thomas?

Dave Doeren: “On defense at Wisconsin, we had JJ Watt. Who obviously is one of the greatest ever play that walked on. I haven’t really on offense had a player like that. We probably had an offensive lineman at Wisconsin that was similar to that at a different position group, but Thayer is unique in what he’s done here.

“If you guys had, if you really dig into his story, and look at what he’s done, like to his body since he got here, too. Like, he’s 150-some pound guy. I mean, the pictures of him, obviously it’s five years ago now, but talk about a change physically. He deserves all the credit for that, for the time and what he does on a daily basis, like from a recovery standpoint, what he does in the weight room, what he does in the training room on the jugs, machine and film study.

“He’s very unique. Above the one percentile line when it comes to his work ethic.”

What would you say is the next step is sort of developing or growth for your receivers at this point?

Dave Doeren: “I think just connecting on more deep balls, and this isn’t all on them, right? We are overthrowing balls, too. So I think just getting that downfield production to be more consistent. Putting the ball where they can catch it for Devin Leary, giving those guys a chance to go up to make plays and then when he does that, making the play.

“We’ve had a pretty good history here since Kelvin Harmon, Emeka Emezie. Devin Carter does a nice job going up for deep balls, but we win a lot of 50-50 balls here. We have for a while. We need to get back to that. And that’s not just on the receivers or the tight ends or the backs. It’s the entire offense.

“Give the quarterback a chance to make that throw and make the throw and then go out and finish the play. I think that’s the thing that we can improve on. We’re catching the ball underneath. You’re seeing some good yards after contact. The guys are blocking better than they have in the past. It’s just being more explosive and connecting with them so they have a chance to be more explosive.”

I wonder if you could talk a little bit about what’s happening in the profession. I think we’ve seen five or maybe more coaches let go already this season. What that says to you about, I don’t know if it’s the calendar, change, the portal, the early signing date or just less patience? But when you see colleagues of yours being being let go so early in the season what does that mean?

Dave Doeren: “I don’t really like it. I think it’s crazy how hard we work all offseason and summer and fall camp and you sign kids, you develop kids. You get into the season and then three, four or five weeks and it’s done. As you know, there’s a lot of time left. There’s seven games left. I mean, if you win seven games, even if you are 0-5 you’re in a bowl game. So there’s there’s a lot of season left.

“I don’t disagree with you that a lot of these decisions are now being made because of the portal and because of early signing dates and people wanting to get in front of recruiting their classes and things like that. The student athletes are the ones that are getting cheated right now. Because they’re having to play their seasons with a lesser staff. In some cases, multiple coaches. I think Colorado fired the head coach and their defensive coordinator the other day.

“It’s just new, and it’s going to be something we got to get used to, I guess. Things don’t usually go back to the way they were when things start going faster in this world. I don’t think it’s a great trend. But it’s not my job to make those decisions.”

Everyone likes to focus on the quarterback and there were high expectations for Devin coming into the season. What’s your evaluation of the way he’s played so far?

Dave Doeren: “I think some good, some bad. I think it’s a multitude of things. It’s hard to probably put in a couple of sentences. I mean, had some games where he’s really looked really good. In this last game I thought he played really tough. He took some shots in the Clemson game, and he just kept battling. His toughness, his work ethic.

“He’s throwing the ball underneath and intermediate really well. I think from a deep ball standpoint, we just got to get that little tuned up. But I think the first game he was trying to be perfect. And after that he’s improved each week. This last game, I thought he did some really good things. Just at times, he didn’t have a chance, Andrea, their pass rush was a factor in that game. I think you have to give them some credit there, too.

“But excited about the direction he’s going. I think he’s really noticed some things that he can do. He’s looking at little things. His leadership has been awesome. I look forward to the next seven games with him and one week at a time.”

Obviously the first priority is winning the game but you just played in the first top 10 matchup in program history. You had the national TV audience, a lot of attention. There’s the variables that go into each week outside of the game with recruiting and so forth. How much value do you think your program got out of the past week with all the attention?

Dave Doeren: “No, it was great for our program, and it was earned. That was a top 10 team being us against a top five team on national television and it was a heck of a football game. So, I think, let’s not forget that. I’m proud of our our staff and our players and all that. but I’d rather win.

“But I think it was great, to answer your question. I think this team has earned respect. For the first time in my my tenure here, I can say that. I mean, last year we were ranked and lost the game by one point and we dropped out of the top 25 with one loss. I think there is some respect for this team and what it can do.

“Obviously it’s just getting back on track now, and in the Atlantic Division, that’s easier said than done. We’re going to play back to back, this will be our second of three against undefeated teams because team we play next has a bye week this week at 5-0, so schedule doesn’t get easier.”

You were a young guy with Florida State first came into the league in the early 90s, but do you have a good appreciation for what them entering the ACC did for ACC football in terms of the talent they brought in, other teams having to close that gap and facilities and the other things that they did?

Dave Doeren: “You know, Chip, probably not the way you do. I have great respect and grew up being a great college football fan. Was watching all of Bobby’s teams. Coach Bowden is a mentor and a role model in this sport for coaches. I’ve studied them. I used to love watching them play. So many of their players are guys that I was fans of growing up watching, so I have a lot of understanding of that.

“But with regard to how it changed the ACC, I wasn’t here for that and was part of other conferences during that time. So I didn’t really pay attention to that part of the question.”