NC State defeated South Florida 45-0 Thursday night in Carter-Finley Stadium to open the 2021 season.

Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren answered questions from media members following the game.

Here is the full transcript of what he said:

"Before I get into it, I just want to thank the crowd. It was great having them back in our student section. It was awesome. Just seeing them again, hearing them. It’s Thursday night, and it’s what we were hoping for. I think the kids fed of you. It means a lot to them to have the crowd that we did.

"As far as the team goes, when you can play a game like we just did and you can shut a team out, those are hard to get. Coach [Defensive coordinator Tony] Gibson and the defensive staff, proud of those guys. We played a lot of guys on that side of the football.

"Good to see the way Devin [Leary] bounced back after missing some throws. I thought he really played well after that. Good to see Emeka [Emezie] make a catch like that to build him back up confidence-wise. All these guys played a part.

"The running backs ran really hard and the O-line manhandled them upfront for most of the night. 293 yards rushing, we only had three penalties. I think we came out of it pretty healthy, so pretty good night here for what we wanted to accomplish. That's about it."

With so many emotions on so many things going on in the opener, what were you most proud of from your guys tonight?

“I just asked them to be mature, and they showed that to me. Last year, we weren't as mature as we are now. Being able to get up on a team and stay up on them, keep them in a corner I guess you'd say. Let them out, and they'll try.

"They did a couple things to get down in the red zone and we're able to get two turnovers defensively down in the red zone. I just love the maturity of them. They really took things to heart that we pointed out in the offseason that we needed to improve on.”

Do you think Devin Leary had some rust to start the game?

“There might have been a little bit of rust. Defensively, you're trying to feel a team out that you're not really sure what they're gonna do. We had no idea who their starters were. They got 29 transfers in last two years, so there was a little bit of a feeling out period there.

"But the thing you like about Devin is nothing bothers him. He throws a touchdown, he's the same guy. He throws a pick, and he's the same guy. He needs to learn not to run the ball there at the end of the game, but outside of that I thought he was pretty good.”

Ricky Person had a great game. How much has he grown and how excited are you about his potential?

“First of all, to answer your question, I thought he ran really hard, did some good things inside the tackles and outside of the tackles. He has a nose for the goal line, for sure.

"Him and Zonovan [Knight] are each other's biggest fans and also competitive. They want to out-rush each other and our-gain each other and all these different things. There's been a lot of talk in the offseason about Bam, and I know Ricky wants to prove how good he is as well.

"I thought he played really well, and it's great to see Jordan Houston get in the game at the end.”

What stood out to you most defensively?

“I thought Drake Thomas played a great game. I thought he was all over the field, and Isaiah [Moore] was all over the field.

"The thing that I really liked, to be honest, was the way we played the football in the air tonight. I thought defensively, this is the first time in a while that our DBs have just broke on balls and snatched them out of the air and made some really confident catches on footballs. That's what you need to be able to do when you're playing with five defensive backs.

"Between Tanner Ingle's interception and Cyrus Fagan's interception, the way these guys broke on the football, we played all of our guys back there, everybody got game time, but that really stood out to me.”

Could you assess the play from the offensive line tonight at the line of scrimmage?

"I think they played really well. Coach [Tim] Beck did a nice job of mixing it up. Him and [John] Garrison communicated well during the game and found some different formations as the game went on that presented some problematic stuff for them.

"The O-line did a nice job mixing it up enough with the stretch game, the counter game and the inside zone game where they kind of had them guessing. There was a lot of movement upfront, and that's kind of what I look for. Where's the line of scrimmage going?

"I love that brand of football. It's fun to see our offensive line and our tight end group play like that. The backs, they're so hard to tackle, and if you can get those guys started like that, a lot of good things are gonna happen."

How much does it help in the run game to have Knight and Person healthy to be able to rotate them in and out?

"They take a lot of hits. There's a lot of things you don't see in the pass game when they're protecting, picking up linebackers. It's kind of a perfect world when you can get something like that.

"They do keep each other fresh. I think you look across college football and NFL football, that's how it is. You need to have two guys, if not three, to make it through the kind of contact that these guys face every week."

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