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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2017

Dave Doeren

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVE DOEREN: First of all, he's a great leader on our football team and a tremendous human being. A guy that's going to be extremely successful in life and well deserving of any award he gets because of his work ethic and how he carries himself.

In regard to our team, I was really proud of the way our guys finished the game. Found a way to finish something we've been working on for a while down at Florida State. Great environment to play a game against a bunch of great players and coaches. I was proud of the way the guys fought and won the turnover margin, made key plays at key moments.

Looking forward to coming home and playing this week at Carter-Finley on Military Appreciation Day. For us, against a very explosive offense from Syracuse, Eric Dungy I have great respect for at quarterback. They're two receivers are tremendous players and 2-3 in school history for receptions. Ismael is leading the league in yards per catch.

So defense has got a great challenge in front of them, and on the other side of the ball, their defense has forced eight takeaways. So we have to continue to do what we've done the last few weeks and take care of the football.

Q. What's made your front so effective this year so far, and how do you plan to exploit Syracuse's offense, as you mentioned?
DAVE DOEREN: Our front has been good for a couple years. It's just a bunch of guys that worked hard to get better at their craft and improved their strength, and speed, and size. They've all played a lot of football. There is no sacrifice or way to replace the amount of experience that these kids have they're playing at a high level, and playing for each other.

As far as exploiting Syracuse, the challenge with them is the ball gets out so fast, a lot of times you can win and not get there. So you've got to continue to work, and the coverage has to help the rush, and the rush has to help the coverage. They do a great job. You can't get frustrated.

When you're not getting there, it's accumulation of hits. When you get to the quarterback, we've got to do a great job getting our hands up and forcing some tipped balls.

Q. I know I'm dating myself here. Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships. Has that flipped around now in 2017 that you've got to have a great offense to win a championship?
DAVE DOEREN: I don't think you could win it without a defense. I do think you have to score more points than you used to to win, there is no doubt. You still have to have key stops defensively, and you're going to give up points in today's football, you just can't shut people out hardly anymore. But to say that you don't need a defense to win a championship, I think that you'd have to show me a team that's done that.

Q. Watching your quarterback Finley this year as opposed to last year, he looks so much more confident with what you all are trying to get him to do on offense. Are you seeing the same thing?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, he's a second-year starter, so you expect to see improvement. I think a lot of the confidence is because he knows the players he's playing with in a different way. His chemistry with our offense and our coaching staff, and the defensive teammates is just different. He's been here for two solid years going on now. He's had a chance to get to know them and for them to get to know him and be a leader.

It's hard when you're thrown into an offense and don't know the players around you and you're expected to have chemistry around you. That's the situation he had a year ago, and I thought he did a good job. But he's learned a lot. He's also played against these defenses that we're playing against now for a second time. So he has an understanding of what to expect when he winds up against some of these teams.

Q. How has this team improved or how is this team a better team than the one that lost in game one of the season?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, we turned the ball over twice in that game and gave up a touchdown on special teams. We haven't done that since then. So I would say there are three things right there. I think anytime you play, if you're a good football team that wants to be great, each week of the season you have to eliminate errors from the previous week's film, and I think our guys have done that. I do think the health of our team hurt us in the beginning of the year, and the suspension that we had. Now that we have our starters back, we expect to be better with more experienced guys on the field than we have been on the offensive line since Will came back and Terrone Prescod became healthy. And defensively, Mike Stevens coming back this week will be a good time for us to have another DB that can play.

Q. What is the attitude, the vibe by the team coming off that big win over Florida State?
DAVE DOEREN: Be disciplined and block the noise. Whether it's good noise or bad noise, block it out, and focus on what we need to do better from week four to week five. Just keep our eyes where they need to be, and that's one day at a time. That's how we approach our program is improving yourself from the day before. Really reflecting on the day's work and having an action plan to get better. If you do those things, you usually end up where you want to be at the end of a game.

Q. Ryan Finley transferred from Boise State in 2016, what made you want him to play at NC State?
DAVE DOEREN: We had a depth issue at the time, and we needed an experienced quarterback to compete with Jalan. At the time we didn't know he would beat Jalan out. We're completely confident in Jalan and still are. There were several grad quarterbacks lurking around that we knew about, and we had conversations with multiple players, and Ryan was the one that after he visited and he visited other schools as well, that we just felt like he was a great fit. He knew our offense. He knew Coach Drinkwitz, and we needed to have two guys. Because even if Jalan would have won the job, it's hard to stay healthy and not have someone behind him. We didn't want to go to bed at night not knowing what we had as a back-up quarterback. That's kind of why we brought in an older guy, and it worked out the way it did, and he won the job.

Q. How much has he progressed as a player since you first saw him play?
DAVE DOEREN: I think the stats tell you. He's thrown over 70%. Last year he was in the 60s. He takes care of the football. He's gained 15 pounds, so he's a more durable player, can take hits and run better. The chemistry he has with his offensive personnel is different. He knows those guys and they know him, and he's had a whole year to work with them in the off-season program and summer program.

Q. Jaylen Samuels and Nyheim Hines going into the season you knew you had two big weapons, just what you can say about what they've done in the first two games, and most recently against Florida State on the road?
DAVE DOEREN: Well, they're doing exactly what we hoped they would do. They play hard, practice hard, prepare the right way, and let their skillsets come out on game day. Both of them are ultra-competitive guys that want the football. When they don't have it, they play selfless football for their teammates. I'm proud of both of them and just excited that they're where they are right now developmentally. Understanding their role in the offense and how they can help us win.

Q. You spoke on how fast Syracuse runs their offense. Obviously you have an attack on the other side led by guys like Bradley Chubb who decided to come back to N.C. State this season instead of going to the NFL. Just what you can say about your defensive front that you've addressed a little bit here, and what you've done to prepare them for the speed of the game they're about to face this weekend?
DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, it's a challenge. Syracuse outscores people in the first quarter by 20-something points, maybe 25 points. Just getting the guys ready for how fast it comes at them is challenging. We've got two offensive scout teams from a skill standpoint that rotate every snap. They're waiting on the ball for the defense to get lined up. That's the best you can do.

You know, if the guys understand the plan and we have to communicate quickly and be ready to go. Once you get into the flow of the game, I think it gets easier. You've just got to do your best to not let them get a couple scores before you get there. Last year that happened to us. We had to play from front when we played up there. So we'd love not to have to play that way in this football game if possible. I think offensively they do a great job. Their quarterback is a tremendous player. He will have a great defensive line rushing him, but we have to be disciplined because he's their leading rusher as well. He gets out of trouble and extends drives and makes plays on his feet all the time.

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