Full transcript: Dave Doeren's weekly press conference

NC State Wolfpack football head coach Dave Doeren held his weekly press conference Monday, recapping Saturday's 36-29 win over Syracuse plus previewing Saturday's season finale against Georgia Tech, a 4 p.m. kickoff on ACC Network.

Here is the full transcript:

"Starting with our game at Syracuse, I was very proud of the way our guys hung in there and battled back and the adjustments that were made by the staff. As I've said, many times this year, we found different ways to win games.

"That was the fifth game that we've come from behind and won. I think that says a lot about the grit and the resolve and connection that these guys have with each other and the way the staff can work together and just overcome difficult moments in games. It's a special group.

"In the game, we had to overcome a lot that we did to ourselves. In the first half, we spotted them, the way I look at it, 16 points. We fumbled going in to score, which should have been seven for us. We had a safety in the end zone, which makes it nine and gave up a kickoff return, which makes it 16.

"We haven't had a return cross our 35-yard line this year, so to give one up for a touchdown was inexcusable and very disappointing.

"We had to come back from a lot and did. At halftime, guys regrouped and came out motivated. Second half, we were a much different football team, 22-7, and had a fourth quarter shutout.

"Very proud of how Bailey responded. Obviously, some plays went the wrong way for him in the first half and he overcame that mentally. He just came out and played really well in the second half. Threw the ball well, made good decisions, took care of the football in the second half.

"I thought our O-line struggled in pass protection in the first half and then responded and gave him time to throw. They did a nice job of adjusting to the different games and twists that they were doing, blitzes.

"I thought our receivers were elite in that game and made plays. They made key plays, they made contact-catch plays, and Bailey obviously gave them a chance to do that. So really proud of that part of it.

"Our defense hung in there and did a lot of really good things. Tanner Ingle being on the field made an impact for us. It was great to have him for his first full game of the year.

"Our third-down performance on defense has been outstanding. We held a team to 0.1 yards per carry on 40 attempts and only gave up three plays over 15 yards the entire game. One for a touchdown, which we would love to have back, but against a team like that, that's pretty good. I do love how hard our guys are playing.

"Special teams, take the kickoff return out of it, it was a really good day, but you can't. So that taints that performance. I thought Trent punted the ball well. Chris Dunn was 100 percent, protection was good.

"Our penalty performance was much better only having five in the game. We won the time of possession, had 12 explosive plays on offense, which was our season-high.

"I thought our running backs were really physical, and a lot of yards after contact.

"We got to eliminate the turnovers and obviously giving up six sacks, something that's not normal for our O-line, something that I know they'll take to heart and obviously did in the second half.

"I thought that Daniel Joseph, Payton Wilson and Tanner all played really at a high level for us, and the guys found a way to finish the game and played smart, didn't let them behind them. Had to attach themselves, we call plaster, with quarterback scrambles all over the place.

"Now we move on to our final home game, our senior day, at the Carter against Georgia Tech.

"12 seniors, kind of unique, in that you don't know, in some cases, whether they may come back or not. Seniors now have an additional year. In some cases we do know they're not, and some we don't. We'll have to wait and see on some of the guys.

"Eight of these 12 young men have already graduated and the rest are on schedule. Guys like Louis Acceus, who can't play anymore, who's been coaching all year for us, is going to be a really good coach.

"Cary Angeline has made a huge impact on our team. I'm really proud of his development and the way he's catching the ball, blocking. He's become a really complete player.

"Dylan Autenrieth, a two-time captain, and a guy that's kind of a glue guy on our football team. He's a very caring individual, very hard-working.

"Emeka Emezie has created quite a name here at NC State for himself, what he's overcome and how he's playing.

"Chris Ingram, who we've lost to injury, a young man that could come back.

"Daniel Joseph, who's made an impact here as a transfer, has really done a nice job learning how to fit in. Sometimes that's hard as a transfer and just really excited about what he's brought to our front.

"Val Martin, who has played a lot of positions on the D-Line for us and plays hard.

"Tyrone Riley, who we're hoping we have back for the bowl game, he's done a lot, been through a lot.

"Thomas Ruocchio came in as a walk-on tight end, earned a scholarship and has started on our special teams and played some of our sub-packages on offense.

"Joe Sculthorpe, who's played a ton of football on the O line, is a really good leader for us. One of our great weight room guys as well.

"Matt Wagner, who's a walk-on who the kids on the team absolutely love, will be missed.

"And Justin Witt, who's also played a lot of football. A special group, and it's a day that as a coach, I take very personal for them.

"I remember senior day as a player. It's one that will be the last time playing in the stadium. Obviously, they get to play again in a bowl game, but in their home stadium, it's their last time out together. Last time through the tunnel, a series of lasts, and so we want to honor them and do our best for them as they leave our program.

"Georgia Tech is a very athletic football team. I think they've recruited well, and they're young. The kids that played for them last year that are back are better, they're developing well. They're believing in what they do.

"Their record doesn't really show the progress, I don't think, of their team.

"If you turned them on Saturday night against Duke, they rushed for 325 yards and created five takeaways on defense. There's really good skill, they're creative on both sides of the football as a staff, and it's going to be a good football game. It's going to be a physical football game.

"They're committed to running, they got a stable of backs that are really good players. I think they had a couple of injuries at tailback. I don't know what that's going to do, but the guys they brought in continue to produce, and their quarterback's a very athletic guy. Simms is impressive for a freshman.

"Three starters back on the O-line. We played against all these wideouts last year and didn't play well.

"Defensively, they do a lot. There's a ton of different stuff going on. I think their defensive end, Dominic, is very impressive. He comes off the edge, seven and a half TFLs, four sacks, has forced three fumbles, and he's a really good football player. Their linebackers are active players.

"They have big safeties. They got a 6-4, 225-pound safety that they use in the box a lot, very rangy.

"Coach Collins has done a nice job.

"For us, it's our last game until we figure out where we're going.

"Our guys are excited, they're a little bit tired, got to get them back. It's been a lot of emotional games here for us, a lot of tight games, a lot of one-possession games, we haven't had any relaxing moments really.

"Calling on them to get their sleep now that we're done with school, kind of letting them sleep in a little bit more and cutting back a little bit in practice so that they can rest and get them fresh and playing really fast in their last opportunity here in regular season."

Emeka and Thayer are both guys who had success in an NC State uniform in the past and have been part of receiver rooms that had a lot of success. I'm sure the way things went for them both last year probably didn't sit well for them. Can you speak to the improvements that they've made this year and the work they put in to make that happen?

"They take a lot of pride in carrying the torch that Steph Lewis, Kelvin Harmon, Jakobi Meyers, and all those guys created an atmosphere.

"Quite frankly, I think they'll tell you, they dropped the torch last year. I think they took a lot of pride in bringing that back and playing a certain way.

"Devin Carter, to me, is one of those guys too that brings the energy to that room.

"Emeka spoke yesterday, we were talking about different things that are going on about the importance of educating the young players on the things they need to understand about how to carry this forward and continue it. I think he's learned through this, it's not just you, it's about what comes after you and making sure those guys pick it up."

I don't want to look too far ahead, but in the unique circumstances, what's that conversation going to be like for the seniors? Some who want to come back and some who want to move on to the next phase of their life.

"You just got to be honest with them. In any of these situations where a guy has that decision to make, I always kind of start with, 'Do you think you can get better by coming back or do you think that you're as good as you're going to be in college?'

"There are examples of that. Ryan Finley and Bradley Chubb both came back because there were things they felt like they could get better at and improve themselves from the NFL standpoint. And they did.

"Nyheim's a guy who said, 'Coach, I can run a 4.3 today, and I'll run a 4.3 next year. I'm not going to get taller, I'm not going to get heavier, I just had 1,000 yards.' So in his case, it made sense.

"I think that's how I got to look at these seniors. Where are they at in the education part? Can they graduate? Can they earn a second degree? Are they a developmental type player that maybe needs another year in the weight room to improve their stock and give themselves the best opportunity to make it in the NFL?

"It's not about me, it's not about trying to make next year's team better. It's about making sure they're very at peace with their decision because the last thing I want to do is talk a guy into something that he's not all in on.

"If they're coming back, they're coming back because it's what they want in their heart."

How does this unique year, how does it affect scholarship number for next year?

"The way it's been explained to me is, if there's someone that was exhausting their eligibility that's graduated, and they choose to come back. It doesn't count. It's just a plus one."

Have any of the seniors given you an indication of whether or not they'll be back or not?

"We're not there yet. We're just talking about it right now. We want to finish the season and let them get away from it a little bit and probably decompress before they make any decisions.

"There have been conversations, but I've told them to focus on the season right now and that we would get to it when the thing is over."

Is there any status update on Malik Dunlap, I noticed he wasn't on the depth chart for this week?

"Right now, Malik is not in the two-deep for us. He's trying to make some decisions about what he wants to do next, so we're allowing him the opportunity to do that. We're planning like he will not be here. "

You mentioned bowl season and waiting that out. Now that you know you are in a bowl, how unique is this one? Obviously, the ACC bowl games start December 26, and you might not know until a couple of days beforehand where you're going.

"It's very difficult to find out on the 20th that you're playing on the 26th. It could be a challenging situation, but everything this year has been challenging. You just got to do the best you can.

"It doesn't sound like the bowls are going to be five-day experiences anyway, so you're going to be doing a lot of your prep here.

"Whoever from our league plays in the game on the 26th is going to have a short turnaround, and so will their opponent. That's just how that's going to be.

"I think the games that are the following week, in Florida and Charlotte, give you a little bit normal opportunity to prepare how you would in a typical bowl game."

I see a lot of talk amongst Wolfpack fans and outside that circle too that this is maybe your finest coaching job at NC State thus far. Do you feel that way yourself? Is there anything different about this year other than the obvious circumstances?

"It's been a special year, you know. I think our players and our assistant coaches have all done a great job.

"It's interesting that people feel that way.

"I think at the end of the year, I'll sit back like I do every year and really evaluate what I did and how much I feel like it was because of the things I did versus maybe what a player did or versus what our staff did or didn't do. I'm not one to take credit for things like that.

"I'm just thankful and feel blessed that we're in the situation we are. It's been a fun year. It's a special group. Obviously, if we can get this next one and put us at eight, that would make it even better.

"Going into the year, had you told me that we were going to deal with not only the COVID, but the number of injuries that we had, and that we would win this many games, I'd probably laugh at you. It says a lot about this football team and about what the staff has done and the type of offseason and team chemistry that we have."

How important is it for this program to play maybe a marquee opponent in your bowl game coming up on down the road?

"From the player standpoint, I think they always want to play a marquee opponent. To me, it's about the opportunity to go get better.

"I have no control over who we play. All I want to do is try to get to a really good game, have a good time with my guys, help develop them, get these young kids kind of a spring ball head start, continue to work on the packages that we want to add or tweak, and again give us a chance to experiment a little bit with some players.

"It's a great opportunity to rep some guys have just been repping on the scout team basically all year and give them a head start. I don't know. We've got to win this next game and then we'll figure out what game we're going to and who we're playing...

"After we won our sixth, I congratulated the team on being bowl eligible again. They went nuts. It was obviously a goal that the team had.

"I told them now the goal is to win out and put yourself in the conversations for the best possible bowl you can get into, so that's a goal the guys have. We've been able to do that since that game and we have one more here to finish strong, and then put it in the committee's hands on where we deserve to go."

How meaningful would that achievement be if you do get a seventh conference win?

"People analyze things in so many ways. If we do something great, there's going to be those people out there that want to diminish it. That's just how people are, they want to be negative.

"Bottom line is we didn't choose how they set this thing up this year. We didn't pick who we play, we didn't get to pick any of it.

"We lost a lot of good players. We've been through a lot as a program and to go from one ACC win to wherever we end up, six times as many wins or seven times, whatever that is. Whether that's a record or not a record, that's pretty damn good.

"I think that's what we got to look at is how much we improved in a 12-month window where it was pretty nuts with all the things we had to deal with. Everybody involved gets credit for that.

"People that want to downplay what we did, just look across the country. There's a lot of teams that went the other direction. There are really good teams from a year ago that can't win right now.

"I think that there should be some credit given to everybody in this program and to Boo Corrigan, administratively, what he's done and our strength coach and their staff. There are so many people involved in this, but ultimately, the players bought in and have done a tremendous job getting us to this point where we're having these conversations."

How did Cary Angeline emerge on your radar when he got into the transfer portal if you can remember back? Secondly, when it comes to the portal, is there a system that you guys have to kind of monitor and evaluate guys who could potentially be targets for you?

"We recruited Cary in high school. Coach Faulkner, we had offered him and he had talked to him. When his name came up in the portal...

"Anytime there's a player in it, our recruiting staff notifies the position coach that this guy's in there, and do you know anything about him. Eddie came to me right away and said, 'You remember Cary?' And I did. So we reached out to him immediately because we had a prior relationship with him, we knew he's from the east coast and was obviously a long ways from home.

"We felt like getting somebody like him in our offense would be a perfect fit for what we wanted to have. It just came down to recruiting him. He had Boston College, he had Syracuse. There was some East Coast competition for him.

"When it comes to evaluating kids in the portal, you kind of look at your roster, and where there are holes. If you've had guys get injured that can't play anymore, so maybe you have a couple seniors, and then you have a bunch of freshmen. In the middle road right there, we need to add some age to that position group. Now you're looking in the portal for guys that fit that in the position group.

"I don't like bringing in an older player to sit behind a freshman, I don't think that's a smart thing for that kid to come here to do. We're trying to find one that we think can be a starter or can definitely be in contention to be a starter. And one that's going to fit our culture.

"We do our homework. We call everybody we can call in the kid's background and make sure he's going to be a worker, he's going to be good in the locker room, he's going to be a good teammate, he's going to be good in school and all those different things."

Can you talk about Alim McNeill’s role for you up the middle this year?

"He demands attention in there, whether they're gonna double him the entire play, or zone combo up. If they're going to single block him, it's a tough task.

"For most of the season, he's been able to disrupt blocking schemes and create run-throughs for linebackers or make plays on his own, which he's done. He's gotten better and better as the season had gone on. He's learned a lot about himself in his time here.

"I'm really proud of the way that he's come on at the end of the year, I think he's playing his best football right now. Which is awesome. A tribute to him because he went through a tough game, and I thought he responded well.

"Seeing him grow as a leader on the team as well. Good teammate, fun guy to be around, it's been fun working with him...

"He's a massive guy. You knew body-wise, he was going to grow into a defensive lineman. He was 250 pounds and each year he'd gotten bigger.

"He didn't start that big, but he was thick in his legs and usually the upper body is going to follow that trend. Just really strong in the weight room. You kind of could project where he was going that way.

"At the time, we were a four-down team and just thought he was a lot like Justin Jones. That's how Justin was built in high school. He ended up being bigger than Justin but thought they were similar."

What's different for him as a player when you go from four-down to three-down in that position?

"The techniques change depending on what we're doing. There are times they're very similar.

"There were times in the old defense, we would play a head-up two technique and he would do that. That's no different than playing a head-up zero on the center.

"For him, it's just disrupting. We're knocking people back to playing frontside or backside on blocks, depending on what we're doing.

"Then there are times when we're just slanting and angling him with our pressures or movements so that he can beat the center with speed. If you're playing in a four-down, and you're a team that's always on the edge of linemen, then it's different. You're playing on the outside shoulder of a guy the whole game. Whereas when you're playing in our defense, your head up and you could be moving to an outside shoulder on a guy.

"For him, it's a position where he gets a lot of one on one blocks when we get into different fronts, where he's got opportunities to beat centers by himself. A lot of the kids really like that."

Watching Georgia Tech over the weekend, they really try and get you outside. Do you feel like you got to emphasize tackling this week again?

"They've got good skill. They have five different tailbacks.

"No. 21 is a super special player, and I think he got hurt. I don't know how bad. No. 27 played well against us last year for them. No. 22 we recruited and know him well. No. 28 came in the game against Duke and housed two runs.

"Their skill at slot, No. 2 and 88 are really fast. They've got the ability to make plays in zone and be explosive offensively.

"When you're talking about playing well on defense, it starts with your leverage, and then it goes to your tackling. Then you're talking about making plays on the ball. It's going to be a critical aspect for us.

"We just need to play fast. I think we've done that the last two games on defense. We've really flown around.

"Having Tanner back obviously helps. He tackled really well in the game Saturday, Payton, I think that was his best tackling game. He didn't miss a tackle. Two weeks ago, he had five missed tackles. It's good to see him improve that way."

Are they similar personnel-wise to Liberty?

"I think so. It's not the exact same system but formations are similar. Some of their run game is similar. I think that's a good comparison."

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