NC State coach Dave Doeren: ‘S---, be happy we won’
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — After NC State held on to beat Virginia 24-21 via a walk-off field goal as time expired Friday night, Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren was candid in his postgame press conference as he talked about what his team has dealt with over the past couple days.
Before the game even kicked off, NC State was short handed at running back. On Thursday, the program announced that senior tailback Jordan Houston was going to redshirt the rest of the season — which signaled his time in Raleigh was over.
That left NC State with its top two backs as underclassmen — sophomore Michael Allen and freshman Kendrick Raphael, who finished with 36 and 19 yards against UVA, respectively. And its depth was tested rather quickly against the Cavaliers after Raphael went down with an injury two carries into the contest.
But that was just one of a multitude of injuries the Wolfpack sustained against the ‘Hoos, which included two of its safeties going down with injuries in the early part of the game.
“What we did tonight, a bunch of guys had to play because of injuries,” Doeren said. “The second play of the game, [Devan] Boykin goes down. All week in practice, Cecil Powell was our backup strong safety, Cecil went in and got hurt. So both strong safeties were hurt in the first quarter. Bishop Fitzgerald moves from free safety to strong safety, didn’t take a rep in practice all week at that position.”
“That’s what we were dealing with,” Doeren continued. “Those are the things that are going on that you guys don’t understand. We played really well under the circumstances of what we had.”
Even though NC State was without those two key safeties — plus starting free safety Jakeen Harris suffered a season-ending injury at UConn to start the season — in a defense that requires three quality defensive backs at that position, the Wolfpack weathered the storm. The red and white used a dime package with freshman cornerback Brandon Cisse as an extra defensive back to take pressure off NC State’s safeties.
Fitzgerald, who moved to a spot he hadn’t practiced at all week, made a key play in tipping an Anthony Colandrea pass, which was intercepted by fellow safety Sean Brown.
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But safety wasn’t the only position on defense the Wolfpack had issues at. At linebacker, junior Devan Betty missed the entire week of practice after he and his fiance had a baby.
“Beautiful baby girl. But that’s going on,” Doeren said. “There’s real-life stuff happening on this team.”
Betty played against the Cavaliers, but did so in a limited role after he didn’t practice. Though that was the case, reserve linebacker Caden Fordham logged a career-best 12 tackles in Betty’s starting spot to be second on the team in stops. Wolfpack standout linebacker Payton Wilson paced the team with 13 tackles.
With the multiple absences on defense, paired with the running back depth taking a hit, Doeren was happy with how his team handled the adversity on a short week. It resulted in a win, even if it wasn’t pretty on the field.
And Doeren was pretty blunt about it.
“Those things are real, and people want to b—- at play calling, and this, that and the other,” Doeren said. “There’s other stuff going on, man. We found a way to win on the road against an inspired football team. S—, be happy we won. It’s a good win. I’m excited to go home 3-1 and get ready to play Louisville.”
