NC State coaches, players refreshed after having bye week
NC State coach Dave Doeren said the bye week couldn’t have come at a better time.
The Wolfpack have been working since fall camp started in August, and went 4-3 over the first seven games. Doeren said players needed to get healthy and refresh their minds. It also allows for the coaches to self-scout the season, teach the fundamentals in practice, be more active on the road in recruiting and see what trends are happening in football outside the Wolfpack bubble.
One specific area the Wolfpack worked on during a couple of practices during the bye week was avoiding pre-snap penalties. Doeren said what was crazy about the loss to Duke, which was marred by some drops (plus penalties), was the players had their best week of practice in catching the ball, which the staff tracks.
Doeren really stressed to the players that sometimes in football you have to “really cut it loose.” He hopes that occurs against Clemson at 2 p.m. Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium.
“Internally, we are looking at our calls, our systems and rules,” Doeren said. “Then we go into our personnel in areas we feel good about and areas you want to improve upon. We are studying our plays, our blitzes.
“Then we turn to our health and using the time wisely for recovery, and have a reset mentally.”
Both NC State and Clemson arrive with 4-3 records, with the Wolfpack 1-2 in the ACC and the Tigers are at 2-3. Clemson has lost to Duke and close games to Florida State and Miami.
NC State players and coaches logically could check out the Clemson at Miami (Fla.) game at 8 p.m. this past Saturday, which the Hurricanes pulled out in overtime. With that being a night game, it also allowed the staff to see some other squads to learn some new wrinkles.
Doeren said he shows the team video clips Friday mornings of crucial plays to learn from in college football or the NFL where something went right or wrong to help decide a game.
“You can see some creative ideas that are happening,” Doeren said. “Or you can learn from some mistakes that other teams have. There is a lot of talk about end of the game things that have happened in college football. There are great teachable moments for our team.”
It’s a five-game season, with NC State needing to get two wins to become bowl eligible, starting with the Tigers. Doeren was impressed with Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik and how he performed against Miami.
“Clemson always has a talented football team and are very well coached,” Doeren said. “They have tremendous players and are up-tempo on offense.”
The biggest change on the depth chart featured the inclusion of redshirt freshman Jacarrius Peak as the first-string right tackle, which shifted redshirt junior Timothy McKay to right guard. Redshirt sophomore Anthony Carter has played both guard spots this season, but is now first string at left guard, with redshirt sophomore Lyndon Cooper on the second string. Doeren did say he expects Cooper to play in a rotation.
McKay has played some guard this season, particularly in the Louisville loss.
“Jacarrius Peak has really strained and fought,” Doeren said. “He gives us an opportunity to get Tim inside some, which when you look at what we are blocking [from Clemson] on the line of scrimmage, we want to get an opportunity with him to matchup with these good defensive tackles. We will rotate in different spots.”
As the season winds its way into November, some players who are redshirting will be available to help the cause if needed. NCAA rules permit players to play in four games and still be redshirted, and Doeren has used his Friday’s to give the younger players extra attention.
“We used [freshman defensive end] Isaiah Shirley in his first game last week [at Duke], rushing punts, so we could have a bigger body in the A gap,” Doeren said. “He used one of his games. You do have those conversations.”
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