NC State coach Dave Doeren looking for Pack to return to program’s ‘DNA’ this weekend
NC State coach Dave Doeren challenged his team to play with a certain type of toughness this week in practice. He didn’t think the Wolfpack displayed that in the 59-35 loss at Clemson last weekend and the coach wasn’t pleased with what appeared on film.
Some players were playing his brand of football with maximum effort and intense physicality on every play. But some weren’t. And this week’s practice slate was a time for the Pack to clean that up before Northern Illinois arrives at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s a certain brand of football that exists at NC State and it needs to be on the field,” Doeren said Thursday. “And it wasn’t last week. It starts with being a physical bunch of guys. That’s, in essence, the DNA.”
The Wolfpack, looking to get back to one of the program’s key pillars, went good-on-good several times this week, out of the ordinary routine for Doeren. He wanted starters going up against starters to set the tone for practice with a different sense of physicality and speed.
NC State’s defense appeared to take a brunt of that postgame and it seemed to be the same by the end of the week. Doeren noted that there will be a few new starters on that side of the ball this weekend, while the 12th-year coach did not name specifics.
“At the end of the day, they have to care a lot about their film,” Doeren said. “Their film is their resume. As a coach, I look at that film as a reflection of my coaching. And in both cases, we’ve got to be better. It’s a we, us and ours venture around here. I take it personally.”
“I understand when we don’t play well, it’s a reflection,” Doeren continued. “And I don’t like that reflection. I’m doing my part to get this thing right, now it’s their turn to go out on that grass and fight for it.”
Doeren noted that the first 11 on the field this weekend are those playing to the Wolfpack’s standard.
“At some point, it’s not tryouts,” Doeren said. “It’s the best guy, that’s the toughest guy, that’s the most consistent guy that gets reps. … Guys aren’t being given up on, but they’re being challenged.”
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Doeren is looking for maximum effort on the practice field. And even though Northern Illinois, a Mid-American Conference team known for playing with its own sense of urgency and smash mouth football, is on the horizon, Doeren was focused on his own squad’s ability to exert itself.
Because at the end of the day, that’s what he is looking for. He wants to see his team playing to full exhaustion no matter what the outcome of the game is.
It seemed like the team, especially the defense, took Doeren’s challenge by the horns. NC State’s defense allowed 45 first-half points a week ago at Clemson — the most under defensive coordinator Tony Gibson since he joined the Pack in 2019 — while the Tigers logged 523 yards of total offense.
And as the Wolfpack looks to channel that same effort and physicality on the field against the Huskies this weekend, Doeren was adamant this is not about what team they are playing against.
It’s about whether or not the team wants to uphold the program’s standard with a winning effort and toughness.
“I’ll be honest, this is about their pride,” Doeren said. “It’s about how we play football. Yeah, we’re going to play a physical team, but it’s about how we play football. We gotta get back to the DNA of who we are.”
