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Dave Doeren hopes his football team learns lessons from West Virginia loss

NC State football head coach Dave Doeren learned a lot about his team Saturday during a 44-27 loss at West Virginia. He is hoping that his squad will also treat the occasion as a valuable lesson.

“Obviously disappointed, not discouraged, and a bunch of very upset and mad guys, coaches alike, at what we did and did not do,” Doeren said. “I think that is the biggest thing when you look [at the game] — any time you have a loss, it is taking the opportunity to grow and learn from it.

“That is it for us with this football team. It’s a huge, huge learning opportunity.”

Doeren called Saturday’s game for what it was. He bemoaned factors like unforced errors with costly penalties, an offense that got out of rhythm in the second half and a defense that, in Doeren’s eyes, played slowed and tackled poorly.

Then there was the blocked punt in the third quarter, a turning point in the game, that the coach admitted, “should never happen with our protection scheme we have.”

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“With all that being said, there were 11 minutes remaining in the game, down by four,” Doeren continued. “We got a stop on defense and had an unfortunate penalty that [allowed] that drive to extend. I felt like that was a critical point in the game.

“As bad as we were playing, we had a chance to win and do the right things.”

Doeren probably expected the first few questions from the media to be about his quarterback situation after redshirt sophomore Matthew McKay completed just 23 of 48 passes for 207 yards with a touchdown.

The coach offered a defense of McKay while also acknowledging that the young signal-caller has to do better.

“There are some situational things like on third-and-one, we had RPOs [run-pass options] called and that is on us,” Doeren explained. “We shouldn’t have him even thinking about throwing the ball there. That isn’t on Matt, that’s on us.

“There are a couple of third downs where he threw a good ball, and the ball was dropped. Obviously, you are going to say the receiver should catch it. There is a lot that goes into him playing better, and he needs to play better.

“He was mad at himself at some of the things that he could do better. What is he doing well? He is not turning the football over. He is getting guys lined up. Outside of the first play of the game where he had a delay, he is managing the clock well. He is doing some good things.

“It’s his third college game and his first road game in a loud environment. Did he play great? No, he didn’t. Can he play better? Yes, he can.”

Doeren was also asked if this week’s matchup versus Ball State could be a game where backup and redshirt sophomore Bailey Hockman receives some snaps.

“You’d love to say that,” Doeren answered. “We’ll just have to see how it goes this week.”

However, Doeren also wants to put McKay in a position to better succeed.

“Where are we succeeding in the run game and what can we do off of the run game?” Doeren asked. “What can we do with the run game to help with the pass game? I think that is part of being young on offense.

“You think you know what you want to do, but when you play, you find out what you can do. That is our job to change some things based on the information we now have.”

All part of the valuable learning lessons at Morgantown.

Another one: cutting down on penalties.

“I think the things that were most disappointing to me, like Jarius [Morehead]’s hit out of bounds,” Doeren said. “He can’t do that. There’s no way he can do that as a senior who has played as much football [as he has]. Calvin Hart jumping on a guy on the ground, he can’t do that. Those were choices that were made in a game that … they can limit that.

“We spend a lot of time talking about heat of the moment, moment of truth, right and wrong, and focus. I think those are things that for the most part we’ve done well. We did not do well in this game. Nine penalties is way too many.”

Related link: Audio and video from Monday’s press conference

Related link: Full transcript from Doeren’s PC

Other Tidbits From NC State Football's Monday Press Conference

• NC State played at West Virginia without starting defensive ends James Smith-Williams, a fifth-year senior, and Joseph Boletepeli, a redshirt freshman. Both are still listed on the depth chart, and Doeren said it is NC State’s “hope” that they will be able to play this week.

• Senior cornerback Kishawn Miller is in line to receive a start this week after sophomore Teshaun Smith got the nod at West Virginia in place of injured senior Nick McCloud.

“I would tell you he’s one of the hardest workers in our program, not just at corner," Doeren said of Miller. "Kishawn works really hard, he’s consistent. He competes, he’s knowledgeable of our schemes — understands what to do and how to do it. I think that’s the biggest thing. You get a consistent, hard-working performance every snap. He’s got great confidence in himself. He communicates well with his teammate.

“That’s kind of why you see where he’s at. He’s been through a lot. I’m proud of what he’s done as far as his work ethic and things he’s got to improve on obviously, but he went into the game and competed, I thought.”

• NC State’s depth at receiver is being challenged in the absence of redshirt junior C.J. Riley, who tore his ACL in the season opener against East Carolina.

Doeren noted that senior Emeka Emezie (81 snaps) and redshirt freshman Devin Carter (79 snaps) played too much against West Virginia. That is another topic that is likely to be addressed this week.

“We’ve usually had a little bit more of a rotation in the game,” Doeren said of his receivers.

• Saturday will be a blackout where the team will wear black uniforms.

It's also been dubbed a “#SetTheExpectation Game.” Brenda Tracy, a sexual assault survivor and the founder of the national campaign for activism against interpersonal violence called #SetTheExpectation, will be on campus from Thursday afternoon through Monday to educate NC State student-athletes about combating sexual and physical violence.

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