Some team meetings are less pleasant than others. That appears to have been the case Monday for NC State football.

Due to a 3 a.m. arrival time back in Raleigh after Saturday night’s loss at Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., Doeren allowed the players to have Sunday off before beginning the regrouping process Monday.

There was the tough news to share about the losses of first-team All-ACC and redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson and senior starting safety Cyrus Fagan for the season with undisclosed injuries that will require surgeries.

There was also the business of unpacking the unpleasant realities of the performance in a 24-10 loss to the Bulldogs, especially on offense and special teams.

“We didn’t deserve to win that game, flat out, and it started with the opening kick,” Doeren bluntly stated, referring to the Bulldogs returning the first kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

While Doeren saw things that can be improved on defense, noting the lack of takeaways and sacks despite 50 pass opportunities in the game in particular, many of the issues were on the other side of the ball.

“There’s really not a lot from a positive standpoint offensively,” Doeren said. “We were all over the place.”

What particularly frustrated the coach was the inconsistency.

“I thought we were really physical in the first game,” Doeren noted, reflecting back to NC State’s 45-0 win over South Florida. “I loved how we mixed things up in the run game, and we caught the ball well. I thought our perimeter players blocked hard and were physical.

"I felt it was almost the opposite in the second game. We were very inconsistent. Made some great catches, had some drops that we can make. Picked up blitzes and then didn't pick up blitzes. We were just inconsistent, and it's a tough way to live that way.

"Offensive football, if one guy makes a mistake, the play is not going to work. On defense if one guy makes a mistake, a linebacker can fix it and a safety can fix it. Offensive football has got to be consistently executed.”

Adding to the problems were issues that Doeren saw needed fixing on special teams, but despite difficult meetings Monday — where the coach noted he spoke from the heart — he is happy with how everyone, from himself to his staff and players, is taking ownership of the situation.

"I think we're a family here, and we need to be able to have tough family discussions, and we definitely had one of those [Monday],” Doeren said. “It's not [where] I'm screaming at them and using bad language. That's not what it is.

“It's here are the things that we can't be if we want to be great, and point them out. Ask them to have thick skin, ask them to be owners of what they had a part of, and then ask them to fix their part, and then ask our staff to fix theirs and then you move forward.

"It's one of those things that it's not fun. We don't come into the sport to lose games. You come into it to compete and win. I think through a loss, you can get a lot of really, really valuable lessons — and maybe we needed that. Maybe we needed to get punched in the mouth. We read our press clippings too much, maybe, after the opener. I don't know.

"But we did not play the way that we're supposed to play on the road in all three phases."

One positive lesson Doeren reminded his team was from the 2020 season. After an exciting season-opening victory over Wake Forest, the team was beaten soundly at Virginia Tech, 45-24. A week after that, the Pack responded with one of its best wins of the year, a 30-29 triumph at Pittsburgh.

By the end of the season, NC State had a school-record seven ACC wins and was in the Gator Bowl.

This weekend against Furman — set for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff in Carter-Finley Stadium, televised on regional sports networks — is NC State’s chance to put Mississippi State behind them and chart a successful path forward.

"It doesn't matter who you play,” Doeren said. “It's how you play. I don't care what team we're playing the rest of the season, it's going to be about us, and that's where our focus has to be. Our focus has to be on not beating NC State, being the best NC State we can be."

• Redshirt freshman defensive end Terrell Dawkins, who had 4.5 sacks last season, made his season debut by playing a snap at Mississippi State.

“Last week was his first week of practice; he actually was on the scout team all week just so we could get him a lot of reps and get him healthy,” Doeren noted. “We got into the game and felt like he might be able to give us a little bit of pass rush because of the speed, but he's back now and we hope to get him into the flow of things.

"He missed spring ball and fall camp so he needs to catch up, fundamentally, and so it'll probably take some time to get him back to where he was rep wise a year ago. But his impact can be felt when he's ready."

• Doeren is happy to be back at Carter-Finley Stadium this weekend, but truthfully for one simple reason.

“Since we're playing at night, I'd much rather be in the home environment than have to travel home in the middle of the night,” the coach said.

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