NC State coach Dave Doeren knows what is needed for the Wolfpack to turn things around, but it won't be easy.
NC State travels to play at California at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. Both teams are 0-3 to start the ACC slate.
Here is a transcription of Doeren's opening statement.
Opening statement:
“I’d like to start out just by wishing UNC and the Kraft family, they had a terrible loss over the weekend for Tylee. I know he's been battling cancer. Our thoughts and prayers go out to their family, their team.
“It's way bigger than football when you talk about losing a student-athlete to a battle like that. That was the first thing I saw when I came off the field, walking into the locker room [Saturday], was that up on the monitor in our coach's locker room, which is perspective. So thoughts and prayers go out to [UNC} Coach [Mack] Brown, his staff, and their team.
“With regard to our game, before I talk about it, I would like to thank our fans. I thought the atmosphere was awesome. It was great to have a night game again and appreciate you. You were into the game. Crowd noise, fanfare, students, our admin, our staff, our players, our student-athletes, our recruiting efforts, all of it, all tied into one. I thought it was an awesome night from a fan standpoint. I appreciate that, so thank you.
“Regarding the game, you know, losing by a score after turning the ball over three times in the red zone and missing what I would consider a very makeable field goal early in the game, it's tough to swallow losing games like that. I'm proud of how we fought back.
“It was a valiant comeback effort in the fourth quarter. I can not argue the competitive spirit of our football team. But you can't win games turning the ball over in the red zone, which I talked about after the game. We're turning the ball over too much. I mean, we lead the ACC in turnovers. And so it's the first thing that has to get fixed. If we want to win games, we've got to stop beating ourselves in that manner.
“I thought [freshman quarterback] C.J. [Bailey] threw the ball around and made some really good plays. Had some plays that he can do better. He was more accurate, threw the deep ball better. Had a chance for a connection on the second play of the game with Dacari that we should have caught.
“Thought we moved the ball well. We only punted one time in the football game. We were explosive for the number of plays we had. Syracuse did a good job keeping the ball away. A lot of extended drives, which is another conversation for our defense. It was good to see offensively us move the ball the way we did. Some explosive plays with Noah [Rogers], Hollywood [Smothers], K.C. [Kevin Concepcion], [Justin] Joly, Dacari. Dante Daniels had a really nice play. So some positives, but it doesn't overcome three turnovers in the red zone in our third down success. We're not good enough on third and long.
“On defense, not having Caden Fordham does hurt. I did think we played really hard, kept us in the game. Defended the run well on first and second down, the exception of two plays where we were in a light box against the passing formation. They caught us twice. We had 12 plays in their backfield. We had two fourth-down stops.
“On the negative side, we did not do well on third down. Our standard is 70 percent effective, and we weren't. We were 50. A lot of third and mediums that we just didn't make plays on the ball, and their guys did. Their quarterback was very accurate and their receivers caught the ball well, tight ends.
“We did not take the ball away. There was 40 plus passes by their quarterback. We had no interceptions, and that's an area we've been really good.
“To win games, we got to be good where we're good, and we weren't in that area. Special teams-wise, our operation, I didn't think the snap was great. You know, [holden] Caden [Noonkester] could have got the laces spun and didn't, and we missed that first field goal, which would have been, they scored a field goal on their first possession. We would have matched that. It’s disappointing when you drive down the ball and don't get a score on a drive that we should. I think Kanoah [Vinesett] is kicking the ball well for us, and we've got to do a better job with that operation with our snapper, hold and kick. That's twice now we've missed this year on that.
“On to our next opponent. Long road trip to California to play Cal-Berkeley. Very competitive team. They've lost three one-possession games in a row, down to the wire. They had Miami up 35-7. That was a hard one for them to swallow.
“I’m really impressed with their defense. [California coach] Justin Wilcox is a very good football coach. We didn't work together at Wisconsin [Wilcox was defensive coordinator in 2016] but worked with a lot of the same people there. I know a lot of people think very highly of them.
“I really like watching their two linebackers, No. 10 [senior Teddye Buchanan] and No. 0 [Cade Uluave], play. They're good football players, man. They're active, they can run, they hit, make a lot of plays in their defense. They're playing hard, and they do a nice job on defense.
“They lead the league in turnover margin, and they don't turn the football over offensively, and they've created a bunch of takeaways on defense. On offense, they've had a lot of injuries, and we'll see who's back.
“Obviously, their tailback [junior Jaydn Ott] was an all-conference player for them in the Pac-12 last year. He's one of the best career rushing players they've had in school history, and he was out last week, so I don't know what his status is. He’s a really good player, if he's back for them. They're tight end [sophomore Jack Endries], good player, has a bunch of receptions.
“Two-year starter at quarterback [redshirt sophomore Fernando Mendoza], more of a pocket passer. Tight ends done a good job for them in their pass game.
“It's more about us. We got to do a better job of finishing games. We got to do a better job taking care of the football, getting turnover margin the way it needs to be, and continue to play really hard, which we've done at times and not consistently enough to win. [Need to] build off the fourth quarter we just had and keep swinging.
“We've had our share of adversity with injuries, obviously losing Caden [Fordham] for the year, losing our quarterback [senior Grayson McCall], and, you know, some tough calls on the field, so you have to overcome a lot of things, and it's just the next man up. Keep battling, knowing that if you do that, if you stay the course, if you work hard, you don't give in, and you keep fighting, which is part of what we do at NC State, good things happen. I do like what our guys are saying, how they're responding.
“We are on fall break, so it's nice for the guys to have a couple days without classes to get some extra sleep and recover. I said this earlier in the year, this is the longest I've ever gone without a bye week. We're in our eighth straight game, and the soreness, the rigor of football, it does add up, and so it's good timing to have a couple days here where they can sleep a little bit and not have to get in the building so early
“For us, playing well and learning how to win, it starts with learning how not to lose. Beating yourself is the fastest way to lose a football game, and I think we've learned the hard way just how precious winning is and how hard it is to win football games, man.
“When you're used to it and you start taking that stuff for granted, sometimes the football gods come back and remind you how hard it really is to win a game, and so our guys have learned that. Our staff, our players, we've learned that the hard way, and so we can't take winning for granted. We can't take how to win for granted.
“The precious details, the value of field position and turnover margin, and there's 4-to-5 plays in the course of over 150 in a game that really dictate the outcome. You never know when those four or five plays are going to happen.
“It’s been a tough season so far. I look forward to the finish, and this is a big one. Get on the road, try to get a win here before our bye week and a needed bye week. Then two games, bye week, two games, so an important venture out to California.
“I'm glad we're playing an early game — that part I am excited about. We'll have a chance to get home probably at two or three in the morning on Sunday.”
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