Dave Doeren is confident in passing game improvement

NC State football coach Dave Doeren’s subtle hints reveal his acknowledgement of understanding how Saturday’s game against Connecticut is being perceived. One Saturday after a significant home win over Texas Tech and one Saturday before a huge ACC opener at Clemson, the Huskies sit on NC State’s football schedule.

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Connecticut’s biggest claim to fame is that new head coach Jim Mora was a hire that suggested a commitment to rebuilding the program that has fallen on hard times. Mora is a former 2-time NFL head coach who also had success at the collegiate level at UCLA.

Perhaps when NC State opens the season at Connecticut next year Mora will have the Huskies in better position to compete. However, after a 1-3 start and dealing with the loss of a starting quarterback to injury, this UConn squad is an over 5-touchdown underdog against NC State for Saturday’s 7:30 kick at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Doeren was even asked Monday during his press conference about this being “clearly a trap game.”

“I know where you are coming from,” Doeren said. “I think everyone in sports can see those things. The good thing for us, there’s been enough of these examples out there in college football this year to point to where you don’t have to just talk about it. It seems like every week somebody’s losing a game like that, and we’re going to try to get better.

“I think that’s what really good programs do. Doesn’t matter who you play, it’s how you play.”

For NC State, Doeren said that the focus this week is on individual improvement.

Perhaps no aspect of the team needs to show improvement more than the passing attack, which had just 158 yards in the air against Texas Tech and played a large role in the offense ending with just 2 touchdowns . That is 2 weeks after the offense accounted for just a single TD at East Carolina.

Doeren though stressed that, “There’s a bigger outside concern than there is an inside concern.”

Doeren’s point was that NC State would have scored 41 points in the win vs. Texas Tech if sophomore running back Demie Sumo-Karngbaye had not fumbled going into the end zone and redshirt sophomore left tackle Anthony Belton not been flagged for being an ineligible receiver on a trick play touchdown pass from super senior receiver Thayer Thomas to fifth-year redshirt junior quarterback Devin Leary.

“If we’re 41-17, are you guys asking about the offense?,” Doeren wondered. “Just those 2 plays alone change the outcome of that game from the outside looking in.

“But within the game, there’s a lot of plays we left on the field. There are little things that are, ‘Hey, we didn’t do this.’ We could show you 8 clips in practice where we did it a certain way, and then on game day, it didn’t happen that way. That’s youth.”

Doeren noted that as the season unfolds, the chemistry between Leary and his receivers should improve. Super senior Maryland transfer Darryl Jones is a newcomer to the offense, and third-year sophomore Anthony Smith, fourth-year junior Keyon Lesane and redshirt freshman Julian Gray are all seeing extended opportunities for their first time in their respective careers.

“I told Devin after the game there’s games last year where veteran players made veteran plays to help you, and right now we’re trying to make the same plays with guys that are not veterans at times,” Doeren pointed out. “There’s a plan for that, in my opinion, and over time that gets really good.”

You can see Dave Doeren’s entire press conference below.

Other Tidbits From Dave Doeren

• Dave Doeren did not have an update on the status of super senior nickel Tyler Baker-Williams and fourth-year junior running back Jordan Houston. Baker-Williams did not return after halftime with an ankle injury, while Houston left in the second half after taking a knee to the side of his helmet at the end of a run.

Fourth-year redshirt sophomore corner Shyheim Battle missed the Texas Tech contest, sitting out for the second straight game with an injury sustained in the opener against East Carolina. Battle is expected to practice this week.

“He went through warm ups [vs. Texas Tech]and just said he didn’t feel 100 percent,” Doeren noted . “At that point, we didn’t play him. I think he’s very close.”

• NC State fifth-year redshirt junior linebacker Payton Wilson completed the entire game Saturday with 10 tackles.

“Wasn’t it awesome to see him out there?” Doeren asked. Wilson missed the Charleston Southern contest and most of the ECU opener after a scare on his surgically repaired shoulder that forced him to miss almost all of the season.

Doeren recalled one play where Wilson ran down a Texas Tech ballcarrier on the sideline.

“He can cover ground,” Doeren added. “That guy’s a tremendous athlete. It’s just putting another elite competitor that’s very gifted back on the field.”

• The NC State at Clemson game time Oct. 1 has been placed on a 6-day hold by the ACC’s television partners. The kickoff and TV designation will be decided after the results of Saturday’s contests.

The Tigers are playing at Wake Forest this weekend.