Dave Doeren readies squad for rivalry week

NC State football coach Dave Doeren held his weekly Monday press conference to discuss the upcoming game — Friday’s regular season finale at No. 18/17 North Carolina in Chapel Hill’s Kenan Stadium. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on ABC.

Here is a quick recap of Doeren’s press conference:

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Dave Doeren Opening Statement

• Dave Doeren said that he knew special teams would be important at Louisville. The combination of injuries (to both teams’ quarterbacks), two aggressive defenses and a problematic weather forecast of cold and windy conditions led Doeren to believe the game “would come down to the third phase.”

That proved to be the case, Doeren believed. He noted the score was 3-3 when Louisville returned a kickoff for a touchdown in the second quarter.

“Unfortunately, our guys got out of their lanes chasing the ball instead of playing with lane integrity, and they made a play,” Doeren recalled. “With that being said, we’re down 13-10 to start the fourth quarter. It could have been 10-6 in our favor without the KOR.

“Obviously, you can’t take those points off the board, but that was a critical play.”

• Without five starters on offense due to injuries, Doeren noted that the margin for error was really narrow for the Wolfpack. The defense did not allow a touchdown until the ninth drive but failed to get a turnover, he added.

• Looking at the positives on offense for NC State, Doeren felt that third-year redshirt freshman quarterback Ben Finley “did some good things,” especially considering Finley was until recently on the scout team.

Doeren speculated that going against the NC State defense for 10 weeks helped Finley. Doeren also noted senior quarterback Jack Chambers will still have a role for the Pack, but the weather Saturday at Louisville dictated that they use Finley’s arm more often.

• Doeren also complimented fourth-year redshirt sophomore Dylan McMahon, noting that McMahon “did some good things” in his first start at center, and Doeren praised the performance of super senior receiver Darryl Jones on both offense and special teams.

• The Pack protected the football well, especially considering the circumstances of playing with a fourth-string quarterback and in the challenging weather, Doeren added.

• Doeren was upset that NC State was stopped in two short-yardage situations, specifically the fourth-and-1 at the Wolfpack 45-yard line in the fourth quarter. NC State chose to toss outside to the tailback rather than run up the middle speculating that Louisville would pack the interior of the defense.

“I think it was what I thought it would be,” Doeren stated Monday. “They had a whole bunch of guys inside. If we get one block that we should have gotten that’s a big hit in the game. I don’t know if we win the game because of it, but we definitely get in scoring position on that play.

“And I’d do it again. Guys have to execute in that situation. It was disappointing that we didn’t.”

• The defense was put into tough spots in the second half, Doeren noted, but they hung in there, although Doeren noted there were some runs that hurt when defenders got out of their gaps.

• Doeren’s biggest disappointments for the defense were three third-down conversions where Louisville receivers gained leverage on the NC State corners when the Pack had blitzes that were close to getting home.

• The specialist trio of super senior kicker Christopher Dunn, fourth-year junior long snapper Joe Shimko and redshirt freshman punter Caden Noonkester all performed well, Doeren added, dealing with the wind.

Also on special teams, Doeren noted that Jones and fourth-year junior receiver Keyon Lesane are “probably the best tandem of gunners that “I’ve had in my tenure as head coach.”

• Looking ahead to North Carolina, Doeren called Friday “a big opportunity to play there.” He noted that the Heels lead the ACC in a lot of offensive statistical categories.

• UNC quarterback Drake Maye “is really playing good football,” Doeren added. The coach praised the skill talent around Maye, too.

• Doeren noted that North Carolina’s defense has shown dramatic improvement from the start of the season.

“They struggled early, for sure, and as the year’s gone on they’ve gotten better and better,” Doeren said. “They’re not giving up as many points or as many explosive plays.”

• Doeren noted the cliché that records do not matter in rivalries games, and the two teams don’t like each other.

“Even though this season has taken a different path for us with our injuries, I can’t say enough about the spirit of this team and the staff,” Doeren said. “It’s a great group of people, and I think in a week of Thanksgiving, I’m truly thankful to have had the opportunity to work with these guys and the staff and players.

“We’re going to fight. We’re looking forward to getting on that field, embrace the opportunity to compete against a nine-win team. We got a great group of guys. We will be physical in this game. We’re going to compete until the clock runs out of time.”

Q&A Portion

• Dave Doeren watched the North Carolina-Georgia Tech game on the airplane flight back home from Louisville and then again multiple times since returning to Raleigh. Doeren was impressed with the Yellow Jackets, but he noted that North Carolina also missed opportunities after blowing a 17-0 first-half lead and losing 21-17.

“They dropped some passes and uncharacteristically dropped one in the end zone. Some of that was self-inflicted as well,” Doeren said. “[Georgia Tech] was the beneficiary of that, statistically, I guess you would say.”

Doered added that Georgia Tech effectively shortened the game with a ball-control attack on offense.

• Maye, Doeren noted, was also a good basketball player in high school who hails from an athletic family.

“He’s faster and quicker than people give him credit,” Doeren added. “I think he’s pretty elusive. You can see his competitive spirit when he plays. He’s accurate, gets rid of the ball on time, throws a nice catchable football.

“He’s a really good quarterback, and it’s not a surprise.”

Doeren added that while UNC was good with Sam Howell at quarterback, Maye has taken the offense “to another place” because Maye gets rid of the football faster than Howell did.

• Doeren is a fan of rivalry games at the end of the season.

• Given the injuries for NC State, Friday will be about execution, Doeren explained.

“You can get all the hate and trash talk you want in stuff like this, it comes down to executing,” Doeren noted. “We got to make more plays than them and fewer mistakes than them and play harder than them.

“It sounds simple, but it’s pretty true. I think that’s how you win this football game.”

• The last week for Doeren of trying to bounce back from a loss to Boston College due to a controversial flag, the Virginia football team shooting incident, a former player arrested for stalking and threatening Doeren and a rash of injuries led to a challenging week for the 12th-year head coach, the last 10 of which he’s spent at NC State.

“I think outside of the COVID year where it was tough for everybody to be a head coach, this last week was the hardest in my career,” Doeren said.

• Doeren noted that the NC State staff will look at all of UNC’s games this year to find what worked and didn’t against them, but he cautioned that in a short week they cannot change too much.

“We’re going to have to execute and make plays. I think that’s the bottom line,” Doeren stated. “Georgia Tech made more plays than UNC did in the second half. That’s football. You go to the other games, UNC made more plays.

“It comes down to making plays and finishing plays, regardless of what we do as coaches. It’s going to come down to the dudes on the field getting it done.”

• Doeren confirmed “there’s a feeling we have as a team about winning this game,” but he does not try to make the contest a “Super Bowl.”

“Every game matters that we play,” Doeren added.

• Regarding the status of injured freshman quarterback MJ Morris, and if he could not play if that meant Finley would start in his place, Doeren responded:

“I don’t have any answers on medical things for you and I won’t talk about that this week. As far as Ben, Ben will play if that’s where we’re at, as will Jack. Maybe both of them will play. We’ll have to see how this week’s practice goes.

“We got four days. It’s really nobody’s business what the health of the roster is right now.”

• Doeren acknowledged that all campuses have a higher alert for threats when there is violence like the shooting at Virginia.

“There’s a lot of things that happen that people aren’t aware of from a threat standpoint all over the country. I think sometimes we brush them off like, ‘That’s nothing.’

“Well, it’s not nothing.”

He added that everyone in the Murphy Center “is under my watch,” Doeren added.

• Fourth-year junior linebacker Drake Thomas is having a “special year,” according to Doeren.

Louisville coach Scott Satterfield told Doeren before the game Saturday that Thomas was the best player in the ACC.

Doeren attributed Thomas reshaping his body to giving him more agility, which has specifically improved his pass rush.