NC State football coach Dave Doeren knows his squad will face a true test this Saturday on the road, even if West Virginia is not off to an ideal start.
The Mountaineers defeated Football Championship Subdivision power James Madison 20-13 in its home opener Aug. 31, but struggled this past Saturday while losing 38-7 at Missouri. There is a transition undergoing in Morgantown. New head coach Neal Brown arrived after going 35-16 in four seasons at Troy, including winning at least 10 games in each of the past three years.
Doeren understands that there can be growing pains when taking over a new program. He went through them himself in 2013, his first year at NC State. That team went 3-9 overall and was winless in eight ACC games.
“They lost a lot of talent to the NFL and they lost their coaching staff,” Doeren said when asked about West Virginia. “They are a young roster, inexperienced roster. It’s a team used to winning, and we are similar to that. They are still trying to feel their way out.
“I know having been a first-year coach twice now [at Northern Illinois and NC State], it takes some time as a coaching staff and as a locker room to figure out what it is. It doesn’t mean they are a bad football team. You watch them and they have good players and are fast. Their DBs will hit you and are aggressive.”
This was to be the second of what was supposed to be a home-and-home with West Virginia. The looming threat of Hurricane Florence cancelled last year’s affair that was scheduled for Carter-Finley Stadium.
Doeren confirmed that this will be a one-off game now between the two teams. It is also the first time his young team led by a new quarterback will face a hostile environment on the road.
Doeren himself relishes such opportunities.
“There’s nothing more rewarding, in my opinion, of going into someone else’s stadium with all of that against you and playing really, really good football,” Doeren said. “I think that’s a tribute to your focus and your preparation if you can pull that off.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Matthew McKay will lead the offense that will be tested more than it ever has been this season.
“I think it’s easy as a quarterback [at home] when things don’t go well you can come to your sideline and the fans are behind you,” Doeren said. “It’s not going to be like that. … I told them the other day they’ll probably learn some new words that they haven’t heard before. Just smile when you start hearing that and people yelling at you.”
What Doeren is also hoping is that McKay will prove more accurate on his downfield passing than he has in the first two games.
Doeren noted that McKay threw a nice pass on a skinny post to redshirt freshman wide receiver Devin Carter, allowing Carter to use his size to make the reception. Yet the coach also said recalled McKay overthrew redshirt sophomore Thayer Thomas on a potential touchdown, and his fade pass to junior Emeka Emezie sailed out of bounds without giving Emezie a chance.
“We went through it with Jacoby [Brissett] in his first year,” Doeren noted. “He struggled throwing the ball down the field accurately. Ryan [Finley] will tell you his biggest improvements were down the field accurately during the course of his career. That is just part of it.”
Doeren, though, sees the potential in McKay to make those passes.
“The good thing is that it hasn’t been bad in practice,” Doeren said. “We just have to get it to carry over onto the game.”
Other tidbits
• Doeren confirmed that senior cornerback Nick McCloud is not ready to return to the field after getting injured in the opener against East Carolina.
The updated depth chart showed sophomore Teshaun Smith and senior Kishawn Miller as potential starters.
• Doeren has seen players play both ways before, particularly at Kansas. Charles Gordon, John Randle and Aqib Talib all played on both sides of the ball when Doeren was an assistant at Kansas.
On Saturday, NC State played freshman Cecil Powell at receiver, where he caught an 8-yard pass. Powell’s primary position will remain in the defensive secondary, however.
Powell’s audition at receiver is in response to losing redshirt junior wide receiver C.J. Riley for the season with a torn ACL in the opener.
“We saw him on the first punt run by their team and get down there five yards ahead of everybody else,” Doeren noted. “He can fly. He was a great high school returner, a great high school receiver, he was in four events in the state track meet in Florida. He can run.
“It gives us another guy that can stretch the field, and [after] losing C.J. we felt like he could help us there.”
Doeren said that Powell is also being worked at corner in light of McCloud’s injury.
• This weekend will mark the return of NC State first-year safeties coach and co-defensive coordinator Tony Gibson to West Virginia.
Gibson is a Van, W.Va., native who went to school in the state at Glenville State. He had two different coaching stints at WVU, from 2001-07 leading the defensive backs, and then from 2013-18 when he spent the last five seasons coaching the linebackers and coordinating the defense.
Doeren, though, wouldn’t touch what the game could mean for Gibson.
“All of us have worked at other places and get to go back there,” Doeren said. “It has different meanings, and I wouldn’t want to speak for him.”
——
• Talk about it inside The Wolves’ Den
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker
• Like us on Facebook
