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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2017

Dave Doeren

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE DOEREN: I'm looking forward to playing a home game this week against a talented Marshall team. Had a good win last week against Miami of Ohio. Coming out of a tough loss that went down to the last series of the game. A game that we're definitely going to improve from. I know our team fought hard, played hard and had a few opportunities that we didn't capitalize on in all three phases.

So it's always frustrating to lose a game in which you felt like you played extremely well at times. But as we all know, it's a game of one play here, one play there, and I think for our football team, it's a game that's going to springboard us forward. Guys have practiced well this week and looking forward to seeing them play well on Saturday.

Q. What sort of things do you want to see in terms of improvement from various stages of the ball from week one to week two here?
DAVE DOEREN: That's one of the things we talk about. Whatever you put on tape, good or bad, you have to study yourself thoroughly. Things you did well, you want to ask yourself why, and things you didn't, what do you need to do to improve on them. Just in general, the opening kickoff, we didn't contain the ball. Let a play get out, which we could have tackled on the 25-yard line with three players and we lost contain and missed two tackles prior to that.

So our coverage unit there needs to be better. We missed a field goal that we should have made that he's made 100% of the time in practice, so that needs to carry over into the game. I know he'll respond the right way.

Defensively we had an opportunity to get a sack on a contained blitz that went right into a boot leg. We missed the tackle, and it ended up being a touchdown for them. I told our players we've got to make the lay-ups. That is the biggest thing. The plays are there, and the guys do a great job putting themselves in place to make. We've got to finish, and if we do that, the rest of it takes care of itself. So it's just finishing plays more consistently, and in that game, it was key moments.

Q. I'm sure you are as frustrated by the number of close losses you've had over the last couple of years as anyone. How do you prevent that from sort of overwhelming the attitude of the team in the locker room? I know on one hand you want to say, hey, this is how close we are and these are the mistakes that kept us from doing it. On the other hand, you don't want to get into a routine of constantly saying look how close we are. So how do you balance that out and prevent sort of a downslide culturally in the locker room after a number of those games?
DAVE DOEREN: We don't talk about how close we are. There are no moral victories. So we talk about here are the plays that we can make. That we didn't. Here's what we need to do to make them. Focus on every day getting better. I just believe winning comes from a product of execution and improvement. We haven't earned that yet, so we're going to continue to work that way.

But I don't look at any game on our schedule ever as the end or the beginning. It's just a part of the process. These older kids in our program are going to understand it. Things are going to turn as you continue to do things the right way and make key plays at key moments.

Q. Are there things that whether it's in the locker room right after the game or you get back out on the practice field the next time that you kind of look for from the team after a game like that to say, all right, these guys have their heads on right?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, we have a 24-hour rule here win or lose. So our leadership council was great on Sunday. B.J. Hill sent a text out to all the guys saying 24-hour rule in effect. Once we learn what we need to improve, we're on to the next team.

So the players are saying the same thing the coaches are. They understand how we look at things. One of our team goals is to have a 1-0 philosophy, which means we're not going to let a single win or single loss affect the next week. We can't be beaten by failure just like we can't be beaten by success.

People tell you you're doing great, and some people have a tendency to relax. I think being able to deal with each week for what it is, a new opportunity has been a focus of our program this off-season. So I feel good about where we're at and we're not going to let one game beat us twice.

Q. Coach, you've got an old Marshall star on your coaching staff, George Barlow?
DAVE DOEREN: Sure do.

Q. Talk about his abilities? What made you bring him on?
DAVE DOEREN: I had heard a lot of great things about George. We have some similar friends in the business that have always talked highly of him. Obviously they've done a great job at Vanderbilt. Nick Matthews who he was with for a long time prior to that has always spoken highly of him. One of my closest friends in the business is the head strength coach at Kansas State, Chris Dawson. He and Chris had worked together at Oklahoma, and Chris always talked about him and had introduced us. So it just kind of fit.

I interviewed several people for the job, and just felt like George was the right fit. Not just as a coach, but as a man and his recruiting ties up in the Virginia areas and then Georgia were a great fit for our staff. He's done a tremendous job not just coaching but mentoring some young people here.

Q. Is he a little more eager for this or is he keeping the even keel?
DAVE DOEREN: You know, I haven't asked him how he feels about it. George is pretty steady. Nothing gets him too up or too down. So I don't think he's trying to make this game about himself. It's about his players and our staff.

Q. Coach, everybody looks at the experience that you all have back, especially with the front six. But the safety position with injuries and a little bit of youth. How do you see the safety position really progressing over the last few weeks?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, I was mostly worried about our corners in game one, and I thought both of them, Nick McCloud and Austin, with Mike Stevens being hurt and us graduating Jack Tocho, I thought those guys played a good football game. The safeties with the ability to move Sean Boone back, which we did during the game. I thought Tim Glass came in and did a nice job when Dexter came out.

We feel good about Morehead and Isaiah Stallings. So we are younger there, as you mentioned. We did recruit these guys to play. They've all worked hard. Isaiah red-shirted last year and had good length and speed. Morehead played on every special teams, so did Dexter.

So we don't have what we have up front, but it's kind of hard to have four-year starters all over the place on your team. It just doesn't work like that. You're going to have some youth. Probably the area that was most concerning was our nickel spot going into the year, and I think Shawn Boone has played really well there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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