NC State coach Dave Doeren: ‘I’m going to battle and fight and the team is going to fight’

NC State coach Dave Doeren walked up to the podium for his weekly press conference Monday with an honest assessment of his team’s performance after its 59-35 loss at Clemson over the weekend.

“Frustrating performance, to say the least,” Doeren said. “Not much you can say when you’re outplayed and outcoached the way we were.”

The Wolfpack, which gave up four straight touchdown drives to the Tigers to fall into a 28-0 hole it could not recover from, did not execute at a high level — especially on defense. For Doeren, it was not what he wanted to see from the Wolfpack in a big-time game. 

It led to frustration within the fan base and the Wolfpack’s Murphy Center. And that will lead to NC State evaluating various position groups.

“When you watch the film, there’s several guys that are playing really hard and there are several guys that aren’t,” Doeren said. “A lot of positions are being evaluated, a lot of people are being challenged.”

Doeren noted that every position on NC State’s defense is being looked at this week. The line could generate more “knock back”, while the linebackers could communicate better. Doeren also thought every position group could improve its tackling — NC State had 10 missed tackles at Clemson, according to Pro Football Focus — and the Pack “can definitely play better at strong safety and nickel.”

That, in a way, opens the door for the likes of junior cornerback Devon Marshall to see some action at nickel, while redshirt freshman defensive end Isaiah Shirley appears primed to earn more snaps on the line. Redshirt freshmen linebackers Kelvon McBride and Kamal Bonner could also have an added impact this week in practice, pushing to earn their way onto the field with consistent defensive snaps. 

While Doeren did not commit to any one player being taken off the field, in particular, he did say Shirley “is a guy that’s going to get more playing time.”

And this week’s practices? Those will be full of players competing to either keep their starting spot or lose it. 

“There’a a lot of competition that’s going to be on that defensive field this week,” Doeren said. “It’s not one guy. There’s multiple guys, different plays. … There’s going to be a lot of enthusiasm on that side of the football to get it right.”

Getting “it right” boils down to fixable things on both sides of the ball, in Doeren’s eyes. 

For the defense, it is setting the edge, while destroying blocks at a high level and tackling with technique. Doeren also wants to see the unit playing with maximum effort, something he did not consistently see against the Tigers. 

And for the offense, the main priority is to give NC State’s defense a chance in the field position battle. The Wolfpack lost two fumbles in the first half, allowing the Tigers to start on the plus side of the 50 and the defense couldn’t keep Clemson out of the end zone on those possessions.

“Guys have to understand the value and the honor that it is to be out there in the red and white,” Doeren said. “It’s going to be a fun week of practice. I’m excited about going out and challenging guys. … Not throwing anyone away, our job is to get players better and get them to play at a high level. So far, we haven’t done that as well as we’d like.”

While there seems to be a palpable amount of frustration for the Wolfpack, Doeren is the type of coach that thrives in these situations. He helped NC State rebound from a 4-3 start to win its last five games last season.

Now, sitting at 2-2 with three straight home games, Doeren is in a similar turnaround situation that he feels he can pull off. 

“I told the team this, I’m built for stuff like this,” Doeren said. “I love adversity, I love obstacles. I’m going to battle and fight and the team is going to fight. I’d ask for the fans, as frustrated as they are, to fight with us.”

The support of NC State’s fan base is something that Doeren is looking for to aid in his team’s bounce back from a lopsided loss at Clemson. 

“There’s a lot of fair weather people and bandwagon people out there these days,” Doeren said. “The Wolfpack needs to be the version that’s not that way. I watched it last year with our team and it came back the right way. I watched it with our basketball team. This needs to be a group of people that supports these kids because they’re going to fight.”

Fight is what Doeren loves to preach. And this is an opportunity for him to do that, while also getting the Wolfpack back on track against Northern Illinois before the heart of the ACC schedule opens up the rest of the way. 

Doeren knows the Pack has a lot of football in front of itself, eight games to determine where the team ends up at the end of the year, but it will have to “come together” down the stretch. 

That’s the goal of the week, and a solid effort this weekend could right the ship for the Wolfpack, which will not see another top-15 team the rest of the season. But for now, Doeren is determined to have the Wolfpack prepared for an upstart Northern Illinois squad this weekend.

“You get up and you fight,” Doeren said. “That’s what you have, a coach that’s going to fight. As long as I’m breathing, I’m going to fight my ass off. And I’m going to get these kids to do the same.”