NC State
Doeren after Notre Dame: Every time we made it a game, they responded
Dave Doeren after NC State's 45-24 loss to Notre Dame
Um, well, first of all, you gotta give Notre Dame credit, you know, every time we got in that game and made it a game, um, within one possession, they responded and that's what good teams do. And, and we had our opportunities uh throughout that football game. Um There were times where we did some really good things and, and too many times where we self inflicted things, um uncharacteristic, uncharacteristically gave up big plays on defense at inopportune critical moments of the game that uh swung momentum their way weird day, obviously, with the break after the first quarter and then a second quarter and then a half time and, and all those things. So, you know, a six hour, five hour game there, um coming out of that first quarter with the long break, you know, obviously they bust a long run and, um, we got back in the game, you know, and we're about to, we scored and we stop him. We're gonna come out of the half with the football and, uh they do a good job offensively. He scrambles around and makes a play and we got some guys playing, uh really bad technique at times, pull our eyes at times we got a lot to fix. Um I think it's gonna be a great film. I really do to learn from games like this or are not lost by any one person or player or coach, they're lost by teams, you know, and they're won by teams and, you know, so this will be a team loss that we have to look at what we can do better in key moments and make layups, give me plays. I said that was a critical part of this game plan and, you know, had some opportunities to extend drives on just basic things, throw and catch and, uh we're not getting that done to the ability level that we have. And yeah, it's a long season, there's a ton of football in front of these guys and there was good moments in the game, you know, it was good to see Bradley Rosner make some plays today. Um That was growth for him. It was good to see Dakari Collins make a play at the end of the game. It's good to see juice fare make some plays. Um Those are three things that didn't happen a week ago, you know, and so that's growth right there. Uh So getting into this film and really breaking it down and studying it and seeing where we can improve. I know our team will do a great job of that. And we've always been a group that responds. And, uh so I look forward to that challenge and opportunity with these guys and any questions, Roy Smith, go ahead with your question and ask you just your thoughts overall, obviously rough conditions early on. But what were your thoughts on Brendan Armstrong's play today? You know, three interceptions in this game, but, you know, several of them obviously, uh could have been bigger plays as well. Yeah, you know, it's hard when you look at a stat line to really understand how a guy played and, and obviously how guys play with your quarterback matters too. Um, and I know the players that had the balls hit him in the hands that ricochet up and end up being interceptions would tell you that that's on them. Um, and then there's another play where he was a little late on and breaking route and R DB stepped in front and made a nice play, you know, but when you're down two possessions or two scores or three scores, you're pressing a little bit, you know, and trust me, our game plan wasn't to be in that situation, you know, at that time, I think when you get down and if you study takeaways on defense, most of them happen in, in two minute situations, third and Longs. And so I look forward to studying the tapes. Clearly, there's a lot of things that Brennan will tell you and, and his coaches will tell you he can do better and he will, but this is a group thing, you know, and second, uh, game in the offense, a lot of things we've got to clean up and I know coach and I will look hard at what we're doing well and what we're not and grow from there. Go ahead, Chris. Thank you, uh, coach when you have like an hour and a half plus break like that, how do you try to keep your team mentally and physically, uh, ready for a game? And, and how does that kind of alter? What you guys are gonna do on the field when you get back on the field? It is hard because it's not like they said, hey, we'll see you in 90 minutes, you know, uh, it was every 30 minutes we got a new update and so, you know, we brought them inside, told him to take off their wet gear, put on dry stuff, you know, strength coaches, nutritionists, trainers, everyone's walking around our coaches, we met and then we got with our guys and, and we were just waiting on information, you know, and then relaying it. So it was a pretty fluid situation, uh, for the team, it really wasn't like a, a half time or, you know, someone would have said you got 60 minutes, you could plan that out pretty accordingly. So I thought we managed it as good as we could have. Obviously, it doesn't look that way coming out with the way they busted out the door there on that run. But that was a, um, disappointing start, obviously. And, uh, uncharacteristic for us, you know, to give up a run like that. Go ahead, Ron, when you have a guy like juice come in and have the performance that he does and kind of, maybe it's some of the minutes he wouldn't normally have. Do you kind of as you go through the next week or so, do you game plan to kind of maybe get more looks for him down the line? Yeah, that's the one thing, you know, with coaches offense, it's, you're gonna earn your reps. And so those guys perform, uh, and earn that, they're gonna gain repetitions in the game. And so it, it's really about building trust, you know, with the play, caller as a, a player that's out there. If you're a guy that's not making plays and someone else is, then they're gonna earn that opportunity. And so that's the competitive piece of this game and, and that's the one area that Robert does a nice job of is getting the guys in the game that are making the plays and finding ways to get him the ball. Go ahead. Ethan coach, you talked this week about how often the most improvement happens between week one and week two. What areas do you think this team made the biggest jumps in? And just, you know, I know it's soon after the game. But is there anything in particular you're gonna be really hoping to see if the team improve on from week two to week three? Well, we didn't, you know, I mean, and again, as you break this game down, it was, it was an awkward game with the, the delays and everything that happened, but we had too many penalties that were self inflicted for one, too many drops. Um, and we turned the football over, we lost the turnover margin. Those are areas we did not do well. We gave up too many explosive plays, those are areas we did not do well. You know, I hit on some of the things we did do well, you know, and uh you know, our kids don't quit, but there was a lot of fight in them. There was guys that made plays, it was good to see Noah Potter, you know, get a takeaway. Red Hitler forced another fumble early in the game. Um We were breaking on the football, we were knocking guys back. There was, there was good things in there and we were playing toe to toe with the number 10 team in the country for a long period of time and it just got away from us, you know, towards the end. Thank you, coach, yeah, Brian coach, you mentioned the fact that every time you got close, Notre Dame was able to, to score again. And is there anything you can attribute that to, or, or, or what sort of happened every time you got within a possession or a few points, I think you gotta give them credit first. You know, I mean, they came out and executed those drives after we did, they responded, we did the same thing a week ago, you know, any time the previous team we played made something happen, the other side came in and just quickly shut it down and gave the momentum back and they were able to do that on us. And obviously, there's things that we had to do with that, you know, whether it was, um, you know, we get a takeaway on defense inside the red zone, you know, we got the ball right there and we get a penalty, uh, a false start on offense which leads to 1st and 15 like self inflicted, things like that, that's, that's on us, you know, but you have to give Notre Dame credit for their response as a team when they got in those positions. They did a nice job. Go ahead, Jane. So we've already seen F CS teams upset F BS teams this season, you know, with this performance. How do you keep the guys mentally engaged and not get down on themselves going into? Yeah. Um, we will be very, very focused on improvement as a football team and, and I don't think it really matters who we play and I know what you're talking about who our next opponent is, but there's gonna be so much on this film that we're not gonna like, and it's not gonna be hard to get out there and focus on the improvement that needs to take place. And there's a lot of football in front of this team and they all understand that we gotta get a lot better fast to make it the kind of season we want anything else for coach.