Wanna start off, um just by recognizing 9 11 and um came in this morning and, and the scoreboard had this waving flag on the Jumbotron and Rrotc um was marching every step in Carter Family Stadium and over the loudspeaker, they were saying the names of many of uh the people that were lost on that tragic day and, and, uh really just, you know, take a minute to remember that and the horrific act that it was. Um, and also, you know, uh uh my father's birthday and lost him um this past year. So his first birthday he's having and hopefully he's happy birthday, dad. He's enjoying himself in heaven and maybe he's hanging out with Jimmy Buffett today. I don't know. But, uh, you know, there's a series of firsts you go through in, in life and this is my first year without him on his birthday. So I wanna take a minute to make sure that I, I do give him a shout out um in regard to the game, you know, let's start with our fans. They were awesome coming back after a 90 minute weather delay. Um I know I didn't say that in my press conference, there was a million things going through my head after a 5.5 hour game. But before I even talk about the game, just thank you. Um Wolf Pack are tough people and that's what I love about this place. We say hard, tough together and you guys were so thank you to our fans, our students um showing your commitment to our players and our staff with your actions and your support, not a lot of fan bases would do that after 90 minutes. And so it's noticed and we love you for it. Um with regard to the game itself, Notre Dame is a very good football team, you know, in all three phases, they were what they looked to be on tape. They were a big fast sound, physical, well coached football team. And, uh you know, with that, you know, it was a one score game in the fourth quarter and a one score game in which we didn't play very well. You know, I think we did not play complimentary football, um told our team, you know, at the end of the game, the scoreboard is a, it's a collection of points that is a scorecard for plays made and plays not made and they made more plays than we did. Um throughout the game, I, I think the score was not indicative of the game, but I do think the score was very uh indicative of the plays we didn't make at the times we needed to make them. And so it's a great learning opportunity on complementary football. Um We talk about that to a nauseum here, but I think all of us know that our older people, sometimes something has to, to actually happen. Um versus being said for a lesson to be learned, you know, as parents, we all know that this team learned a lot in that game. Uh That was a top 10 team that we played. It was, you know, rewinding the game. We're down seven points. It's uh 24 17. We scored to make it 24 17 on Brennan's run after uh a nice drive down the field. The next possession, a great pass rush strained by Brent, um by Brandon Cleveland forces a fumble on a sack. Noah Potter scoops it up. We're at the plus 17 and we got momentum and, and, uh, everybody is thinking here we go, you know, and it's a great play balls on the 17. We throw a, you know, a inside fade route to KC in the corner. Beautiful ball by Brennan KC. Elevates gets two hands on the ball and, and their DB knocks it out instead of us coming down with it. And those are the kind of plays that I know KC is gonna make in his career. But when you're playing a top 10 team, you've got to make competitive contact plays that are difficult to make and routine plays and then a couple just like, wow, like Kean's play was a wild play. You know, it's a great football play by him and as we've seen over, you know, players careers as a freshman that has made some plays, nine catches already for us. But that was a big play we needed and didn't make. And the next play Dylan, a very veteran center, uh, you know, flinch is, and, and we get a penalty. 2nd 15 now, 3rd and 17, all of a sudden we go out to kick a, you know, a field goal that we normally would make that. Uh Braden has been very consistent inside of 40 his career and just, you know, pulled it. So came out of that. I think that was the turning point of the game. I really do. Obviously, the next three drives result in touchdowns for them and turnovers for us. So just didn't get it done, you know, every time we got momentum back, Notre Dame answered and you have to give them credit and, and we have to learn from that, taking advantage of momentum. Um, but like I said, sometimes you need to lose, uh, to enforce something that's important. Our players do play hard. You see that in the end they made more plays than we did and you have to give them credit for that. The scoreboard showed it and that's a reflection of plays made and not made like I said, you know, I think on a positive on offense, it's great to see Bradley Rosner. Uh he sparked this with a, a really nice catch on third down over the middle elevated and then the touchdown on the scramble play by running key on the same, you know, uh had a great third down conversion, had two tough runs and then made a great play down the sideline on a diving fade ball. And then Javan Verin elevated himself, you know, he went from just playing in the uconn game to making plays in the Notre Dame game. So that was growth, uh playmaking ability that we can build on. We were 2 to 2 on short yardage. That was an area that we were uh wanting to be better in a and we were, we increased our explosive plays from 4 to 9 in that game. And so again, area we wanted to be better at, you know, negatives, we didn't capitalize on field position in the first half. The defense really did a good job setting up the offense in the first half with some shorter fields that we didn't score. We had four pre snap fall starts, um which cannot happen. Uh two of them killed drives, you know, had three interceptions. Obviously, as the game got out of hand, I think Brennan pressed on one of them, one of them was a great throw which, you know, was a drop that turned into an interception and the other was a shot call where we threw a fade down the sidelines just got to do a better job getting it outside. And, but, you know, that happens sometimes when you throw deep balls, but, uh, we can't turn the football over at that rate. You know, we have to do a better job of finishing catches. I think, uh, the drops sometimes don't kill you in this game. We had three drops that were really nice throws on third down. That would have been conversions any time you convert on third down, you increase your odds of scoring. And so those are areas that we have to get better, you know, defensively. Uh, like I mentioned, we started fast, you know, two back to back, three and outs really came out aggressive. Uh It was great to see the first play of the game on defense, Savion Jackson just blows it up and makes the tackle his first play back from his injury looked awesome out there. I thought our D line played much better. I thought we were more, uh, square and vertical last week against uconn. I thought we were turned too much and, and lateral. So that was improvement. I thought our third down defense, uh, particularly third, uh, long, we were very good and, and, uh, got some pressure, four sacks on the quarterback, had five tackles for loss. So nine plays in their backfield, Peyton Wilson and Jalen Scott were both super active. Peyton had two incredible uh effort plays in the game, I think, and a both covered well. Uh They were tested in their tackling and they made those guys tackle with their tight edge formations, you know, negatively, we gave up too many explosive plays, you know, uh not indicative of who we are. The 80 yard touchdown run coming out of the 90 minute break. Uh It was frustrating, you know, on the field, I felt like, wow, they just came out and, and really knocked us off the ball. They didn't, um, if you watched the play, our linebackers and D lineman fit that play perfectly and we had unblocked player that just took a bad angle, didn't see the guard pull should have been right there, actually got his fingertips on the guy, but should have been there to make that play for a three yard game. And then we need to run that down in the back end. Uh, the two minute before the half drive was, was really disappointing. We, we drive down and get a score and, uh, cut that game to one possession and, you know, we're gonna get the ball to start the third quarter and then, you know, receiver gets rerouted by eight and out of bounds and comes back in and our safety loses him. That's his third. He's playing a deep third. He needs to stay in his third. That's Sean Brown just, you know, young player that needs to understand the situation two minute and stay with depth on his side of the field. I thought our eye discipline defensively, uh, as the game got on, went on got worse and worse and they exposed us with some play actions and naked because of that. And, and generally when you see that guys, we're trying to do someone else's job and, and so for us, there's just a big emphasis right now and just, you know, do your part, do it as well as you can and then play with tremendous effort, something that will definitely grow from. And I think special teams was a, a definite positive. We won that area of the game other than the missed field goal, our punt return um was much better. Jalen Coy went from being nervous in game one to being a difference maker in game two, plus 10 and his punt returns and helped us in field position did a great job catching the ball. The guys battled for him and our punt team handled a lot of pressure and Notre Dame was a very aggressive rush team. I thought those guys did a nice job. Uh Cecil Powell did a great job covering our ponts. They had zero return yards in the game and they were on a mission to block a pont and didn't get there. So guys did a great job protecting, you know, now on to, to VM I uh coach Rocco is a experienced head coach. He's built several successful programs. We played against him. I think it was my first year or second year. I don't remember, uh, when he was at Richmond here, but a really good football coach, hard nosed guy and, uh, knows how to coach a football team and build a program. He's in his first year, I think for us this week is, is really critical to focus on us. It's a great week to get into our fundamentals. And I'm excited, you know, to get back on the grass and see the guys work and we acknowledge uh there was an opportunity there to do something against Notre Dame, but also realize the improvement we need to make as a team and, and, and we will make to be the team that we want to be. This team will respond. There's really good leadership in this football locker room. The best way to get over this feeling is to get out and play and go get after somebody else. And uh the guys know they, they understand what happened in that game. Uh There was AAA true sense of anger in the team room yesterday because they know that they let one go. Um And that they're better, you know, than they, they showed in that game. And so it's exciting to get out with a team like that and fight a, you know, face of adversity, fight harder and get after it. And, uh, you know, on a health note, just do wanna make note of this. It was on the depth chart, but Jake Harris will be out for the year. Um, he tore his peck in the UConn game on the third play and, uh, had surgery success. He will be back. He'll have another year with us and, and I know he'll do a great job. He did Saturday or, uh, Saturday. He was out there helping the guys. He'll, he'll be a coach from a player's perspective that we'll have this year and uh just kind of a freaky deal on a tackle. But, uh, you know, we should get uh Ashford back either this week or definitely next week. So we lose Jake, but, you know, eventually we'll have Rock back. Rock's doing really well. He looked good uh yesterday in the building when I saw him. So, but prayers for Jake, I know, uh a guy that works as hard as anybody in this locker room and was gonna play, you know, a huge part in our defense this year. So it always hurts losing a starter that has that much game experience. And next guy up, you know, it's a opportunity now for, for Sean Brown, an opportunity, um you know, for Devin Boykin to, to show his leadership for us back there and Bishop Fitzgerald, uh and then Rock when he comes back, questions. Yeah, reminder to uh use the raise hand emoji Air and Beard. Do you want to start us off? Corey Smith. How about you, Dave? Looking back at that one, you mentioned the, the drop passes, but on the defensive side of the football, the Miss tackles things along those lines. I mean, how fixable are those over these next couple weeks especially, you know, when you enter the meat of the AC C schedule a few weeks here, they're fixable. I mean, you know, some of that you gotta give Notre Dame credit. Their backs are pretty good, you know, I mean, it wasn't like there was just some bad players out there, you know, I mean, they, they have pretty good running backs. Um, but yes, to answer your question, they're, they're fixable. I mean, I think tackling is about a lot of things and there were some bad angles. Um, so that has to get corrected. There was one play where we had a guy aligned tighter than he should have been. He should have been deeper, which would have given him a better angle. But anything that you see in a game that you don't like, that's where you go, right, you're gonna go to practice and you're gonna focus on those things and these kids will work really hard to get better at the things that, that they weren't showing their best at. And so, yeah, that's an area we're gonna focus a lot on and we actually focused on it before the game too. You know, they just made some plays. Ethan coach, uh, Red Hibbler and Noah Potter made some plays against Notre Dame. I just told you assess the play of the, uh, backup defensive lineman Saturday. Yeah, excited. Like I told you in the pre, uh, preseason camp. I think our D line rotation is gonna be good. You know, I think we have fresh bodies that can go in and, and create, um, some issues for offensive linemen and Red has been a good pass rusher uh since he got here, he was in junior college. That's why we recruited him. We really feel like he can be a guy off the edge that creates problems. Noah is a strainer comes in and just plays really hard. Brandon Cleveland's got a, a huge, huge upside to him. He and CJ inside are both really active guys. There's a lot of similarities in their play and they can both really move. And so it's nice having that um rotation and be able to keep guys fresh throughout the game and then trivalley comes in and adds that as well. So, you know, we feel like we've got seven guys that we can rotate through in that three man front. Mhm Jayden. Yeah. So you talked a little bit about the leadership on the team. Um you know, specifically looking at Peyton Wilson and just, you know, can you speak about the growth that, that you, you've seen from him and just the significance of how he stepped up this last week. Yeah, it starts with him, uh, effort wise, you know, he ran a kid down in the game and hit 23.4 miles an hour on the GPS. That's the fastest we've ever had at NC State. Like that kid plays so hard, you know, and, and, and so that's where it starts because everybody in this entire program, like there's just so much respect to the, the level of fatigue the guy ends up with at the end of practice game, spins it all out there. Uh And then just the way he treats people, he treats everybody with such care and respect in the locker room, in the, in the building. And so because of how hard he plays and, and how respectful he is, he can then also be very demanding of people. And so when he does, you know, ask guys to step up, they're gonna listen to him and he's learned how to do that in a really good way. Uh He, he's commanding on that defensive side of the ball and, and it spreads, you know, he's done a really good job. I'm super proud of him and, you know, it's paying off, you know, it's paying off in a lot of ways on our team right now. JC think you guys had 33 plays on first down, but maybe 28 of them or four yards or less. Did you detect anything from the film review that maybe Notre Dame did, or, or just, was it just a kind of fluky situation? Well, I mean, we got to be more efficient than that, you know, they outperformed us in those downs. Um, they did a, they were a 30% blitz team coming in and they blitzed us 60% of the game, like they really turned up the heat uh in the game. And so there was a lot of adjusting going on there for a while because that obviously wasn't what we prepared for on those downs as much. They did a good job. You know, they brought a lot of pressure from a lot of places and their kids are aggressive, so we have to perform better at that. Um You would say they, they won those downs. I thought once we kind of settled down, unfortunately, it took till after the first quarter, we started moving the ball more routinely in those down and distances. But yeah, they had a good plan. They, they brought a lot of different pressures that we didn't practice in those situations enough and so an area we can grow and get better. And obviously we know that opponents copy other people. So that's something we got to prepare more for moving forward. James Dave, I believe, uh three of your four newcomers that a wide receiver or tight end. Uh Verre um Casey, um I'm getting one to we at spring practice with you, but you saw those three and Rosner make plays in this game. Is that something just kind of as they continue to work through the season early and get into games, maybe more reps? I mean, just, just discuss their roles kind of moving forward. Well, KC is already getting a lot of reps. So, I mean, I, I don't think he needs more reps, he just needs to make some more plays, you know, and he will, he will, as he plays more, the game will slow down for him. Um, so, you know, these mistakes that he's making now, they're freshman mistakes, he's gonna learn and grow a lot. We all saw that through mea's career, how much better he got, you know, playing from freshman, you're on, unfortunately, sometimes you're gonna deal with freshman mistakes when you play a freshman and we're just gonna have to accelerate his learning curve a little bit to the best of our ability, but he's playing a lot and I think Verri, as he continues to play better for him, it's gonna be more about playing without the ball, the better he can become a blocker. Uh, and he's gotten a lot better in that area. He can help us as a receiver and, and a ball catcher and he can do a lot of things. Um, you know, the car has been injured a lot since he's been here. And so for us with him. It's more about, there's still a lot to be seen as he can stay consistent in practice. He has a good skill set and as he puts together weeks on weeks and days on days, you're gonna see him move up. But he's still, you know, he missed a lot of time with hamstrings and groins and things like that. Even though he enrolled in December, he missed a lot of practice. And so now he's been back for two weeks consecutive and if we can keep that trend going the right direction that will help us with him, and Bradley just continues to impress us, you know, so his role will continue to grow because of that. And that's the one thing about coach and I like he's gonna reward performers like that's what he does and he's gonna continue to tweak this thing. We're still in the early stages offensively of figuring out what we are. I think, you know, it's, it's not there yet. Obviously, you, you come out of training camp but you think, you know, but games or games they're different and so the season offense is gonna evolve as this thing goes and just to follow up a lot of drop backs in this game against a really strong front, how would you evaluate your offensive line and the blocking, uh, and pass, bro, we gave up one sack. You know, there was nine pressures. Uh We got to do a better job there keeping Brennan clean, you know, there's a couple of times where he was hot and so we had a guy on block purposely and, and sometimes we got to throw where we wanted it. Um, sometimes he had to run, you know, we can be better. But, you know, that is a really good front. Those linebackers, as I said, going into that game are elite players. So they won some, we won some. right. But I don't think that was the, the difference in the game. Like it's just, you know, it's kind of one of those games where, you know, there's just a lot of it was different, you know, there's a lot of stuff going on in there, the, the weather and, and then the delay and, um, drop passes, you know, early in the game that could have made first downs, you know, we had a third and four drop and then a 3rd and 6th drop in the first half that both would have converted. And so those are moving the chains and, and you're not when you drop them, you know, and so just little things like that, you know, and then there's a third and one we're gonna convert and we have a hard count. They jump off sides and we don't snap the ball and then our receiver moves and now it's third and six. So we defeated ourselves there, you know. So just little things where we gotta be better like we were in the first game, like we got into a lot of those manageable third downs and we operated and we just didn't operate the way we needed to in that game at times. Thanks Dave Coy, if similarly in the run game, 84 total yards on 30 attempts in this game, not nearly what it was against uconn, obviously a different team that you're facing. Uh, but just your thoughts on, on the way the ground game performed and, and the blocking up front as well. Yeah, it can be better for sure. You know, when you get behind in the game too, it's hard to, to really lean in on it. Um, but that was a good front. They were blitzing a ton. It's a hard front to run the ball into because of that and I think areas we got to be better up front 100% and there's things we can do to make it easier for them. You know, I, I think, um, they ran some good blitzes into some plays and we didn't handle them well. Um, so it's a, a back and forth on that and I think as coach and I learn is kind of what we're best at. It will help, it will help. But, um, there are some areas like any game that you were pretty excited about area you weren't, you know, it was good to see Kendrick Rafael get in the game and I thought he made a really nice catch out of the backfield for a freshman to make a contact catch like that. You know, the hit showed some progress for him. I think Delbert MS ran really hard in short yardage. I think, you know, Jordan Houston didn't get a lot of touches. Um, but he really protected well, I mean, they were blitz and he was picking up guys and did a really nice job in that role for us, Michael. You know, just only got one car, he was in there for a lot of the, the pass game. Um So it just wasn't one of those games where we leaned on the run game, I think probably more because of what they were doing. But, um, you know how I am, I mean, that's an area I'd love to be better at and as a follow up, you spoke a couple of times last week about Brennan, you know, needing to let plays develop a little bit more as opposed to, to rolling out. Um, at times, how did you assess, uh, his ability to kind of, to stay back there in the pocket and let plays develop as opposed to running, uh, and carrying football as well. I thought he did a better job of that. You know, he took some shots in there and threw some good balls like he watched the throw, he made to Bradley Rosner over the middle and he's got number eight right in his chin and, and actually hit some rise that's thrown and that's a beautiful ball. He threw a pretty seam ball, the porter that, you know, we dropped, uh threw a really pretty seam ball in 3rd and 17. to uh KC that ended up being the interception, you know, that went through his hands. So I thought he got better. He threw a great uh fade ball outside to key on, you know, uh, so there was areas where I think he trusted it more in there. And then when he had to run, he ran, he scrambled around and made a great play to Bradley for the touchdown, right? So, you know, I think as the season goes again, these are new players with him. He's getting to know these guys still and it's, it's a work in progress. But the kid that works really hard, man, he is, uh, he's a guy when he gets into practice. You see, like there was one day, he wasn't very accurate with some guys. The next day he comes out and he's just all over it with them and he really takes all these things to heart, you know, you love how hard he plays. And so I think, you know, the biggest step next step is just the chemistry of these receivers and, and not just receivers, ball catchers because so many guys get balls thrown to them in our offense, you know, just being consistent for him and him being accurate for them and them having that, you know, really good chemistry together to make plays for each other. And it'll happen. I mean, I'm excited about the way the guys looked in the, in the team room. Yesterday. There was a very, very good look, a very upset but driven. Look about the team JC. You mentioned coach Rocco earlier and last night I looked up that Richmond box score some great names. Brian Sheriffs, Nicholas Sadie. Do you ever look back and I'm sure in coaching years it feels like 30 years ago. But do you ever kind of reflect back about what it was like in the beginning and where the program is now? Yeah. Was that 2013 gave us your first year? Yeah, I think so. That's 77 years ago. Dog Gears, right? It's a long time ago, man. Yeah, that was a nice kick by Nick Sadie to win the game. Um, I remember pieces of that game but, uh, that was a nice kick. Um, we've come a long way in a million ways, you know, uh, in a million ways, culturally, uh, the facilities, what's, what's happened here over, you know, a period of time, the stadium, the way the fans, I mean, every game is sold out, it's a huge thank you to our fan base and the way we're recruiting. Um, so there's just a lot of things to be grateful for a lot of hard work has gone into it and there's a lot of great days to come. Are there any other questions for coach? All right, coach. Thank you. Um, and just everybody on here since the next two games following this weekend are gonna be Friday games. Our press conference next Monday and the following Monday will be at 6 p.m. I'll email you and you remind you, but 6 p.m. the next two weeks, Right? Thanks everybody. Thanks coach. Yeah.