Three notes from Dave Doeren's post game press conference

In a physical, defensive battle decided by crucial yards on the ground and tough penalties, NC State fell to Syracuse 24-9. The Jack Chambers-led offense had promising moments, and the defense forced a pair of important turnovers, but the Wolfpack was not able to take advantage of any positive momentum and came up short. 

Head coach Dave Doeren spoke with the media after the game, discussing the program’s second loss of the season. 

Doeren shares reaction to Devin Leary injury news

NC State star quarterback Devin Leary’s MRI Sunday determined that the quarterback suffered a partial pectoral muscle tear, Doeren told the media after the game. At that point, it looked like the injury was rehabable, which meant his season was not over, leading to the initial day-to-day injury timeline.

Doeren found out the news about Leary’s upcoming season-ending surgery around 1:30 Monday afternoon, following more evaluations of the extent of the signal-caller’s injury.

“After my press conference, they told me,” Dave Doeren said. “At that point, I decided that not telling people was best for our quarterbacks to get ready for Syracuse’s defense and them not having that advantage to know who’s playing the game. And so that’s why I did what I did with that.”

The head coach also shared an update on Leary’s surgery.

“Monday, Devin will get surgery,” he said. “It’s not his shoulder. That’s the good news. It’s a pectoral muscle, which, from a throwing standpoint, is a lot better situation than having a torn labrum or a rotator injury.”

After finding out the news, Leary continued to be a great captain for the Wolfpack and helped out with this weekend’s game in any way he could. This is the second time an injury cut a season of his NC State career short.

“He has been through it before, but I don’t know if that makes it better, just because he knows how to go through the mental anguish of not playing,” Doeren said.

“I was proud of him. He immediately turned to Coach [Tim] Beck and the quarterbacks and just said ‘How can I help you guys, what can I do for these guys?’ He was a great teammate in a tough moment for him.”

Penalties and crowd noise set the Wolfpack back 

NC State’s 7 penalties for 50 yards is not a staggering number in itself, but the errors came at critical moments, often putting the Wolfpack into obvious passing situations that made it difficult to move the ball.

Doeren gave credit to Syracuse for putting together a better performance than NC State, and he also mentioned that the packed and very loud JMA Wireless Dome played a factor in the win.

“We really had some penalties and some negative plays on offense that set us into second and extra longs,” Doeren said. “It’s hard in a scenario like that with their crowd noise. Their crowd was fantastic.

“The dome plus the attendance made it difficult. In the game plan, there were some things we wanted to be able to check to versus certain looks, and we weren’t able to get that done.”

Jack Chambers made plays, but the offense fell short

On all three of NC State’s scoring possessions, the Wolfpack had the ball in the red zone but could not score a touchdown. That trio of possessions proved to be critical moments in the 15-point loss. Jack Chambers led the Wolfpack in rushing and made some great plays through the air and on the ground.

The graduate student signal-caller finished the game 18-30 with 160 passing yards. Doeren was complimentary of his performance but also acknowledged the Pack needed more out of the entire offense Saturday.

“I was proud of Jack,” Doeren said. “I thought he played hard. I thought he did some good things in the game. It was just we didn’t do enough to get enough points out of the drives that we did have to make it a game.”