NC State coach Dave Doeren: ‘Any time you lose a game, it’s an opportunity for growth’

Since NC State’s loss to No. 10 Notre Dame on Saturday, Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren stressed that his team would grow from the contest with the Irish. 

Almost a week after that defeat, Doeren said he’s seen the Wolfpack make progress through a week of practice ahead of this weekend’s game against the Virginia Military Institute. 

“It was really focused,” Doeren said of this week of practice Thursday afternoon. “I think the guys, as I’ve said many times this week, were excited to get back out there, and lock in on some of the things that we all thought we could’ve done better. Any time you lose a game, it’s an opportunity for growth, so we definitely took advantage of that opportunity in practice this week.”

For the 11th-year coach, the main point of emphasis won’t be able to be seen until the Wolfpack take the field at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday afternoon: playing complementary football. 

Since the offense and defense are practicing on separate fields, it’s tough to judge how one unit will react to the other’s success until the lights come on for NC State’s third game of the season. 

“The biggest thing for us is playing complementary football right now,” Doeren said. “And until we play a game, I’m not going to be able to tell you if that’s happening. … If you looked at the game, separately both sides of the ball did some things, the problem was they didn’t do it at the right times.”

There were times where NC State’s offense was playing well against Notre Dame, but its defense couldn’t get the stop it needed. And the same could be said for the opposite, the defense made a key stop, but the offense couldn’t take advantage of the field position against the Irish. 

Wolfpack quarterback Brennan Armstrong threw three interceptions against Notre Dame last weekend, but Doeren said the Virginia transfer and the rest of the offense have grown this week ahead of the third game in offensive coordinator Robert Anae’s system. 

“He’s working really hard,” Doeren said of Armstrong. “Offensively, it’s not just Brennan. It’s just everybody coming into game three with a new system. … It’s been great to see the way he’s worked with these guys, the camaraderie and how they work at practice together.”

But within NC State’s offense are three freshmen in key roles: tight end Juice Vereen, running back Kendrick Raphael and wide receiver Kevin Concepcion. 

Against Notre Dame, Concepcion had a drop that led to a key interception, which allowed the Irish to take full momentum of the contest to score 21 points in the final quarter. 

So as the season progresses, Doeren anticipates the freshmen learning from their mistakes, even if there’s growing pains along the way. He equated it to parenting — a parent will tell their child to do something various times, but they won’t learn until the consequences arrive. 

“That had to happen with some of these guys in this game, and freshmen are a part of some of these guys,” Doeren said. “They’re going to be 1,000-times better from the lessons they’re learning right now. It’s just about accelerating that curve with them right now

But Doeren’s confidence in the freshman trio hasn’t wavered. He said they earned their playing time against Notre Dame in practice, and added that they’ll bounce back well moving forward. 

As the freshman continue to learn, the Wolfpack offense evolves as well. For Doeren, the biggest part of that is playing complementary football between the offense and defense. 

“We just didn’t play well together in spurts,” Doeren said of the Notre Dame loss. “That’s the biggest thing that game day’s going to have to really tell. I think that’s the biggest area of growth our team needs right now.”

Doeren and his staff will see if this week’s growth in practice paid off when both units can play off each other against VMI in the team’s lone FCS game of the 2023 season.