NC State coach Dave Doeren broke down his quarterback position, but also how the team responded to adversity in his opening statement Monday.
Doeren and the Wolfpack had the adversity of learning from a 51-10 loss vs. Tennessee in Charlotte a little over a week ago, and then again trailing Louisiana Tech 17-6 with senior starting quarterback Grayson McCall getting a game-ending injury.
Freshman quarterback Cedrick Bailey entered the game in the second quarter, and the Wolfpack responded with a big second half to rally for a 30-20 win over Louisiana Tech.
Bailey will start the game game at Clemson at 12 p.m. Saturday on ABC.
Opening statement:
“Well, I'd like to start thanking our fans, parents, the students, recruits that were at the game and a great home game atmosphere. I really appreciate the folks that were there the whole game and your commitment. It was a great comeback win and guys rallied as a football team and as what we needed in that moment. Comebacks are all about responding and showcasing grit and resiliency, which has been a calling card of our program, one that we didn't show the week prior.
“Something that was talked about a lot coming out of the last loss. I was proud of the way the guys came together as a staff, as a team, and there was some key leadership, which we'll talk about at some point, I'm sure. The way that we came back and played as a unit, offense, defense, special teams, sideline energy, down two scores, missing some key players, said a lot about the fight in our football team. And La. Tech did a great job in the first half and obviously we hurt ourselves in some areas.
“I thought we started fast, three straight completions, one's an explosive and then we have a penalty, which brings back a 20-yard gain. It goes from first and 10 to first and 25, which is a drive killer and things that we have to fix. Playing good in the first quarter on offense was not a strength of ours going into that game. We started fast and then we really self-implode when you have a penalty, particularly one that didn't need to happen.
“An area we need to improve. I thought we played complementary football in the second half and our will to win in that locker room and on that football field was palpable. Very proud of our team in the locker room as captains first, [redshirt junior outside linebacker] Sean Brown did a great job talking to the group right away when they got in there. [Senior defensive end] Davin Vann, you know, offensively guys speaking up and you could just feel their willingness to be different than they were the week prior.
“We played complementary football and that's something we have to do for four quarters or longer, however long it takes. And your captains have to be captains in those moments. You see like the first drive of the second half, we go three and out. Davin Vann comes free on a pass rush, hits the quarterback, second straight week he's had an interception created through his quarterback pressure, that second week in a row, it was a pick six as well. Great play by Donovan Kaufman.
“Then the next drive, the defense is right back out there three and out offense goes on a 13-play drive converts on third and short consecutive two straight times in that drive, which is an area we wanted to be better in and were, and scores a touchdown. It takes the two-score game and flips it the other way. We scored on every possession in the second half offensively, we possess the ball, played way more physical with every position group on that side of the football.
"I’m really proud of a lot of things over there in the perimeter, especially defensively, held them to three points in the second half and had a really good goal-line stand. I thought that was a key something we needed to do on defense and [redshirt junior middle linebacker] Caden Fordham made a play down there and got them off the goal line.
“[Freshman quarterback] C.J. Bailey came in, played fast, obviously had the one interception. But besides that, I thought he made really good decisions. He threw the ball well, he gave his guys opportunities, he used his legs when he needed to, to get us some first downs. To have a comeback victory with a freshman quarterback and both backup corners in the game, I thought was impressive as a football team. It wasn't just the three guys that came in, obviously, they had a lot to do with it, the next man up always does.
“Sometimes when injuries take place, the guys around them will start trying to do too much. I felt like it was the opposite. They trusted them, they did their jobs, they played really hard. Their will to win was there.
“I was really upset coming out of our last loss, obviously, when you lose like that, there's a lot of things to be mad about. But to me, it was more about how we played, the lack of physicality that we played with. It was the opposite. It was demanded and the guys understood it. They did a great job being resilient and playing to the standard of competitive football, which is physical football at NC State.
“When you watch our film, that's the first thing you should see if you're an opponent is that we're going to play hard, we're going to play really hard. And that's something we've always done. I felt like we did that in that football game.
“You can see it in the statistics, we talk about winning the line of scrimmage. They rushed the ball for less than two yards of carry, rushed it for over four yards of carry. Those kind of things show up. I stood on that line of scrimmage a lot in that football game to see which way it was going. The knockback and the strain, the continuing to move my man a direction he doesn't want to go. At the end of the day, that's what football is, it's two people across from each other trying to impose their will. It's a physical sport and it's got to be played that way.
“I thought on offense, our perimeter blocking was exceptional. It's not something that gets talked about a lot. It was, I thought [wide receivers] Dakari Collins, Keenan Jackson, put on a display of perimeter blocking in that game. [Wide receivers] Noah Rogers, KC Concepcion, Wesley Grimes, Terrell Anderson, they all did a great job going in there and doing some things that you're not recruited to do as a receiver. That's part of running the football. We improved and we got to improve more. We did get better.
“We caught the football well. We made some good contact catches in the game. We got some good yards after the catch. [Redshirt junior tight end] Justin Joly had a really nice catch on a second long to get us into a third and short. Then he had a nice catch that turned into some yards after the play with some good running.
“I thought all three backs came in and ran hard, protected the football. They blocked well in pass protection. I loved the final drive of the game. We get the ball back with over four minutes and don't give them the ball. So good complimentary football.
“Negatives on offense, the four penalties, one of them was on our staff. We didn't substitute at the right time and got a penalty there. We had the one personal foul and then the two holding penalties and those kind of penalties kill drives. So you've got to overcome a lot. Those are things we've got to be better at. We only had four penalties in the game. From that standpoint, it was a pretty clean football game, but the ones we had were drive killers. With [senior quarterback] Grayson [McCall], he got dinged up and I'm not going to get into the injury. It's good news on him. It's a day-to-day thing. We're going to take our time. When he's ready, he'll be ready.
“C.J. is ready to play and he's our quarterback until that happens. We're behind him. The thing I would ask, it's not about the quarterback. It's about cheering for the guy that's in the game. When the guy's out of the game or if a guy's injured on our football team, praying for that guy to get healthy. I think as fans, sometimes fans don't understand, that's that's a player that, and that kid loves our football team. He loves playing the sport. When you're a sixth-year player, man it's hard when you can't be out there. The way he came back and cheered on C.J. shows a lot about his character. He's a great teammate. He's one of us. As a football program, anytime somebody goes down, especially a guy that's in his last year, it's not a season ending thing, but it's a day to day thing. We're going to take our time with it.
“C.J. is going to run the show until Grayson's healthy. I'm excited to see what C.J. can do. Whoever that quarterback is wearing the red and white, the fans need to have his back and they need to be supportive. They need to pray for those kind of things when they happen. That's what family does. I was really proud of the way that the team rallied around C.J. At halftime when he knew it was his time to play, he had a big smile on his face. He was ready for the moment. Now he gets to go do it on the road against a really good football team in a tough environment.
“Defensively, two takeaways, a fourth-down stop, really good fourth-down stop on a play-action pass out of exotic formation, showed really good discipline. The goal-line stand I talked about. We stopped the run. I thought we tackled better for the most part. There was one play that was, I would call disgusting on our part where we missed four tackles.
“I thought the pick six by DK [Kaufman] was a great football play. Davin straining, balls up and then, does a good job himself finding a lane and then taking care of the football. The guys played with a lot of strain on defense. They made plays on some one-on-one balls. We lost one down the sideline where Corey fell down. For the most part, we were in the right place. We played with poise. We didn't have pass interference calls.
“I thought our gap integrity was better and our eye discipline was way better. Negatives, the one explosive pass I talked about, should have been tackled. Third-down defense got better but can continue to get better. That's an area that I've talked about a lot, but it did improve.
“[Senior] Aydan [White at cornerback] will be back this week. [Sophomore cornerback Brandon] Cissé looks like he'll be fine. We should be back to full strength on that side of the football.
“Special teams, I'm proud of Kanoah. Again, he's just very steady and, two 30-plus yarders and a 52-yarder, points matter. [Senior] Collin Smith's done a great job, again, with our kickoffs, not just with his depth and touchbacks, but location. He's done a nice job. I thought our coverage units were better. We played with much more speed and urgency getting down the field. The return game's really been a non-factor. Unfortunately, just a lot of touchback kicks against us. [Redshirt junior] Jalen Coit did a really nice job as a punt returner, making some smart decisions when he was in there.
“Now we get ready for Clemson at their place, a great place to play football, have great respect for their coaching staff and their players. It's a trophy game. It's the only trophy game we have, and it means a lot to the Universities playing in it all the way back to the Textile Bowl. It's going to be a great matchup and a very talented team that we're playing. For us, we just got to focus on getting better and playing four quarters or overtime, if it takes overtime, and just being as clean as we can, playing as hard as we can, straining as hard as we can, and just being a little better version of ourselves each week.
“This is a team that will get better. NC State football teams, over the years, we pride ourselves on improving as the year goes on. That takes an internal focus. It takes guys that are willing to admit the things that they got to do better, coaches fixing things schematically and evolving over the course of a season. We got to play a full game. We've had spurts in games where we looked really good and spurts where we looked really bad.
“That's the evolution of this football team is learning the new parts, the new parts, learning how to play together better and how we play NC State football — hard, tough, together. It's going to be a loud environment. They're coming off a game where they looked unstoppable and they scored 50-plus points in the first half against a good Appalachian State football team. They were explosive in that game offensively. They played some young receivers that really took the top off of coverages. I thought [quarterback Cade] Klubnik threw the ball extremely well in that football game. He's very accurate, showed touch, he showed range. We all know he can run and can run and throw.
“They're tight end, No. 9, [Jake] Briningstool, is a weapon. He's a good player. He made plays on us a year ago. The tailback, [Phil] Mafah, he's a load. He's tough. Big kid. You got to wrap him up. There's a lot of blocking schemes. I think Matt Luke's a really good offensive line coach, new addition to their staff.
They've got a good system. I think obviously, like every team, you're seeing them grow and unique to being our fourth game. And to say that we're playing our second straight opponent with the bye week is kind of weird. To have teams with byes this early in the season back-to-back. So there'll be some adjusting, I'm sure, for us with them having an extra week to play us. This game is going to be about matching up, making plays, being physical, and not letting the noise of the environment dictate things. You can go down there and get a bunch of penalties. You've got to really stay locked in and focused on what you're doing.
“I’m excited about the opportunity to go get better with this team. This team really cares about improving. We put a lot on them last week. There's a lot to improve and no different. We've shown what we can do and we showed what we can't. I think that's the thing as players, you have to have ownership and where your improvement is needed. We have a lot to work on. That's what I like about this team. This team likes to work. They really do. They're a fun group to coach.
“Now we get a chance to go do that again and put it to the test in arguably one of the harder places to play in the ACC, against a really good football coach in Dabo [Swinney]. I have a lot of respect for him and his staff, and what they stand for. Looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge.”
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