11/19/2018 football Edit

Dave Doeren, NC State prepare for rivalry week

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

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Two years ago, head coach Dave Doeren led his NC State squad into Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill under the assumption that he needed a win over archrival UNC to keep his job.

NC State defeated UNC 28-21 that Saturday afternoon, and the two programs have tracked in different directions since then. That was part of three losses in four games to close the 2016 campaign for Larry Fedora’s North Carolina program, and over the past two seasons the Tar Heels are 5-17 overall and 2-15 in the ACC.

The Wolfpack followed the win over the Heels with a win in the 2016 Independence Bowl over Vanderbilt, and a 9-4 campaign last year that concluded with a victory over Arizona State in the Sun Bowl and a top-25 finish in the polls. NC State enters this year’s game at 7-3 overall and seeking a winning ACC record for the second straight season, which would be the first for the program since 1991-92.

“It probably saved my job — winning that game,” Doeren admitted. “I wouldn’t be standing here today, probably, had we not won that game.

“Since then, obviously that was our recruiting class that had all these guys drafted the following year, and for those guys to stick together and go through what we did that month, cause that was a crazy season coming off the Clemson game. … Our momentum changed after that win in our program for sure.”

The contrast between the two programs over the past two years is dramatic, further amplified by the recruiting cycle currently ongoing. NC State’s class is ranked No. 21 nationally and features 17 in-state commitments, 15 of which are ranked in the top 50 of the state according to Rivals.com.

North Carolina’s class is rated No. 64 in the country, and only one of its three in-state pledges are ranked in the top 50 — athlete Coleman Reich from Ledford High in Thomasville at No. 49.

Doeren, though, stayed above the fray when given an opportunity to compare the current state of affairs between the two football rivals.

“I don’t just ever compare myself to anybody,” Doeren said. “My job is just to make us as good as we can be here, and if it ends up where we want to be — compared to them — then that’s great.

“I just don’t want to be in a situation at NC State where I’m not doing everything I can to get us to he best place we can be, and I don’t think comparisons can get you there.”

That’s not to say that Doeren lacks an understanding of the significance of Saturday’s game. He’s won two straight at Kenan Stadium and is 3-2 overall against Fedora’s Heels.

“I don’t sit down and quantify that,” Doeren said. “I think it’s a really important game to our fan base, I’ll tell you that.”

Doeren sounded like a coach who fully believed that UNC is better than its 2-8 record this season, and he noted that six of Chapel Hill’s losses have been by 10 points or less. UNC is also just 1-4 in games decided by a possession or less.

For the Wolfpack, this week will be another emphasized on fundamentals and techniques. Doeren challenged his team to do that last week, and he felt that the Pack responded.

“I want our players to play well and I want us to play our type of football, and if we do that we’ll be able to say we’ll win the game because we are the type of football team that if we do that ... we play pretty good football,” Doeren noted.

You can listen to Doeren's press conference below.

Other tidbits

• NC State fifth-year senior center Garrett Bradbury was named the ACC Offensive Lineman of the Week after what Doeren noted was a good performance. Doeren had even higher praise for sixth-year senior quarterback Ryan Finley’s game versus Louisville.

“Ryan probably played his best game,” Doeren added.

Finley threw a career-high four touchdown passes against the Cardinals.

• This was supposed to be the regular-season finale for NC State and UNC. It remains that way for the Heels, but NCSU added a game against East Carolina next Saturday to replace the lost game against West Virginia due to Hurricane Florence in September. UNC also lost a game against Central Florida, but it elected not to replace the contest.