The old, popular saying goes that, “The buck stops here.”

NC State football head coach Dave Doeren expressed a similar sentiment and accepted responsibility for many of the problems, especially on defense, in the Wolfpack’s 45-24 loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday.

Against a Hokies team that had yet to play a game, not to mention personnel question marks due to COVID-19 issues and added unknowns surrounding the schemes after a change in defensive coordinators in the offseason, Doeren’s hope was that the Pack coaches would quickly make the necessary adjustments.

“We knew it would be a first quarter where we needed to hang in there and get used to what they were going to do and adjust accordingly, and I didn't feel like we did a good job there as a staff,” Doeren said.

The coach added that defensively NC State got away from its identity.

"As coaches, we've got to do a really good job of helping our guys, and we got a little bit less diverse in what we do in that game because we didn't know what the [Virginia Tech] quarterback scenario was going to be,” Doeren explained. “They were very different from what they were a year ago, with all the motions and things. We worked so hard on all these jet motions and all the things that they were going to be doing, and it wasn't that. It was a lot more quarterback-based run game, just straight ahead at you.

"We've just got to do a good job of settling in with the guys. Coach [Tony] Gibson's defense is about being versatile. It's about changing the looks, having disguise and blitzing. We got away from that. I think Tony will tell you he's disappointed in what he did in the game. I know he wants to pressure more. He wants to move the guys around more, and we got a little bit 'just be where you're at.' That wasn't good for our guys.

"We've got to help them more. That falls on me and the staff, and the players just have to do a good job executing what we call."

The good news is that NC State is expecting redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson, who had four tackles for loss against Wake Forest, back after he missed the Virginia Tech game. Doeren is also hopeful that junior safety and team captain Tanner Ingle might return after he also missed the Virginia Tech contest and only played a pair of snaps in the opener.

Doeren acknowledged that those are two of NC State’s best tacklers and were sorely missed in a run-heavy game at Virginia Tech.

Besides getting healthier, the challenge this week ahead of a showdown with No. 24 Pittsburgh on the road is to be mentally strong.

"I do think handling a win in week one and now handling a loss in week two, they're two different opportunities, two totally different scenarios and you're getting a lot of different feedback as a player, publicly and privately, about those things,” Doeren noted. “How do you handle that? For us, it is an opportunity to face adversity early in the season, and I look forward to seeing how they respond.

"Last year, I think guys were just trying to play. They were just trying to [figure out], 'What plays are we running?' and 'How do I do that again?' I mean it was a different lineup every game. There were so many guys that were just out of high school on the field and didn't have a lot of game experience to draw from.”

It remains unknown who will start at quarterback Saturday at Pittsburgh. The depth chart listed an “or” between redshirt junior Bailey Hockman, who opened the first two games but was benched at Virginia Tech in the second half, and redshirt sophomore Devin Leary, who was the presumed starter before he was sidetracked by a mandatory quarantine due to contact tracing in the middle of preseason practices.

"Devin has worked hard,” Doeren said. “He was obviously disappointed with the circumstances he had and understood it and battled back through it and prepared well last week, practiced well and got in the game. I thought he threw the football well.

"He was decisive, he operated the offense the way that [offensive coordinator] Coach [Tim] Beck would like him to do it and he was into the game.

"We got in a situation where Bailey had thrown a second interception, and you could tell that he just wasn't in it. Nothing against him, he battles, he's tough, all those things, but sometimes it's just not going your way. We needed to spark the offense and thought Devin gave us an opportunity there to see how he was and where he was at.

"Like I said last week, we need them both, they're both going to get reps this week and we'll see who's the most ready to lead our team this weekend."

• Doeren confirmed that junior starting cornerback Teshaun Smith will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury, while sophomore safety Rakeim Ashford, who had been filling in for Ingle, is day-to-day.

“If we were to play today, he would not go,” Doeren said about Ashford. “We're just going to have to see how he responds.

"He's had his shoulder [issues] since back in junior college and sometimes it bothers him, sometimes it doesn't. We're just going to have to see where he ends up. I know he's rehabbing and doing everything he can."

• Doeren also said that redshirt freshman safety Khalid Martin, who was injured in a scary collision that required him to be transported from the field to an area hospital via ambulance, was back with the team Monday.

“We don't know how long it's going to be but all the scans, all the X-rays, all the imaging have been positive,” Doeren stated. “Now it's just a matter of returning and how long that takes. Thankful to God and all the health, safety and medical teams that were a part of that situation, we say thanks to them and Virginia Tech's staff.”

• It was a dramatically different performance for NC State’s offensive line between week one and two. Against Wake Forest, it allowed just one sack. Versus Virginia Tech, it surrendered six.

"In this game we had seven different offensive linemen play, and each of them lost a pass rush that ended up being a quarterback pressure or sack,” Doeren said. “Some of it is just pass rush fundamentals. They did have a scheme on one of their blitzes where we did not have a linebacker picked up, and he scraped over the top and made a nice play. Schematically, they got us on a play.

"Then there's times where the quarterback's hot, and there's going to be an unblocked player and you have to get rid of the football.”

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