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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 3, 2018

Dave Doeren

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by NC State head coach Dave Doeren.

COACH DOEREN: Proud of our guys for an ACC-opening win here with Virginia, a really good game for our team. Guys played hard and a lot of guys participated in the game. I thought both sides of the football were very physical. And it's good to get a home-opening win in the conference like that against a team that I thought was playing really well.

And then come back here and play another great team at home this week with Boston College and a team that averages over 240 yards rushing a game, very physical. Test a lot of your rules with what they do. And personnel-wise have the number one tailback in college football in A.J. Dillon. They lead the ACC in explosive plays, over 20 yards, and scoring a lot of points with their tempo. Quarterback's playing well. He's got skilled receivers around him.

On defense, they lead the ACC in sacks and tackles for loss and interceptions. So very, very disruptive on defense.

So a typical Steve Addazio, Boston College tough outfit. Kids that play hard and play football the right way. Our team's excited about playing them. I think it's a great opportunity when you play them. And just to show the fundamentals of football, it's really one of those games where the team that wins the line of scrimmages usually wins. And we're excited about that.

And secondly, just because I know it was announced yesterday, we did schedule a 12th game with ECU. And a chance to give our football team, if we're not in the ACC championship, a 12th game and replace a home game with a team that lost a road game, an in-state game for two teams that suffered during the hurricane.

I think it's great for our fans and for their fans to finish the year that way if we end up where we're not playing in a conference championship game. But I'm glad that we're able to get a 12th game on the schedule just to give our football team another opportunity to improve and practice and our young players to get another chance to play before you have postseason play if you're bowl eligible.

Q. What was the biggest key to getting the run game going last week?
COACH DOEREN: There's a lot of things. It's just our chemistry on offense has been challenging, because we've had a lot of guys in and out of the lineup. And I think the five offensive linemen were in and out all throughout camp with different injuries. Our tailbacks were in and out with different injuries. Our tight ends didn't even play until the third game we were counting on playing.

Cole Cook graduated. Jaylen Samuels graduated. And the two guys that were here to replace them didn't play in the first two games. So all of those things combined is why it wasn't where it needed to be. There wasn't any one position group; it was just all those factors.

And there's so much timing and reps and continuity and chemistry involved in running the football that are important. So week three, we're able to get our starting guys on the field. In week four again, and Ricky Person gave us an explosive element to the run game that we've been needing.

So all of it kind of came together at the right time and hopefully we can continue to build on it. But it's still got a long way to go, in my opinion, and a lot of progress, a lot of positives.

We want to be over four yards a carry like we were and we want to have the explosive runs we had. So great game to build on, and then have to do it against a really good front this week.

Q. What are the next steps do you feel like building off that performance?
COACH DOEREN: The next thing is finishing the downfield blocks, the times we got to the second level we weren't sustaining some of our blocks. I felt like we fell off of guys. We had really good targets. We were hitting the right people, we were moving our feet and guys were just falling off at the end. And that's where the three yard run becomes the explosive run or 15 yard run becomes a touchdown.

So it's just sustaining blocks a little bit longer and straining a little bit longer and continuing to do what we did with the getting the guys on the right people and playing with the technique that we want.

Q. Let me ask you about your run defense. What have you liked about your run defense in the last game or two that you need to maintain this week?
COACH DOEREN: We played a lot in the backfield last week. I think we were disruptive with our front four. Our guys tackled better against Virginia than we had in some of the other games.

And defensive football and the run game is about leverage and setting edges and gap integrity, beating blocks and tackling. And it's all those things combined. I think our guys play well together on defense, and that's something that you need to be able to do this week for sure.

Q. In a situation where you do have somebody like Dillon who may or may not play, does that kind of change you and your defensive guys' preparation for the game, or is there any tweaks you make when you're not sure if a player is going to play or not?
COACH DOEREN: Well, we're assuming he's playing. And if the next guy's in, we have film on him too. He finished the game for Temple. And we know they played some guys early in the season that we could see. So we'll watch them on film as well.

But we anticipate Dillon will play against us and we know he's a tough guy that will try to hard to be out there. If he's not, he's not. But we can't expect him not to be out there. As competitors, that's, in my opinion, the wrong way to look at it.

Q. With the rise of Syracuse and BC and Duke being ranked this year, do you see maybe the parity might be even more intense this year than it's been in past years or about the same?
COACH DOEREN: I haven't seen those guys play a lot. It doesn't surprise me. As you sit around the table with the ACC coaches meetings there's a lot of talented guys in there.

You see how they recruit. You see just how serious they are about what they do. You see their programs improve from year to year. And I mean there isn't anybody in there that can't get the job done. And it's just a matter of timing and getting the right guys on the field at the right time. Dino has won everywhere he's been. So you knew he would where he's at. It doesn't surprise me one bit.

So Coach Cutcliffe's done a great job at Duke, and you saw it last year with Wake. I thought Coach Clawson had a hell of a season last year.

It's a great conference. Every week you've got to show up. Every Saturday anybody can win. And it's a lot of really, really good coaches and good players in this league.

Q. With the way Emezie has come on for you guys this season, was that something that you anticipated based on the way that he had developed maybe in the spring and the fall?
COACH DOEREN: Yeah, he came on at the end of last year. He had a bump in the road with Wake and it was really hard on him. But I'm really proud of him for enduring and the way he handled a really tough situation.

He played well through the end of the season through our bowl practices. And in training camp he and Steph Louis were rotating with the ones because of the competition there. He's a really talented guy, as you've seen. And I think he did a good job of learning who to follow.

I think Kelvin and Steph are really good leaders for our wideouts, and sometimes young guys are too proud kind of to follow the guys in front of them because they think that they're all that. And Emeka is very humble. So being around Kelvin and stuff this summer as much as he was, I think, really showed up here this fall.

Q. You guys have really worked hard at developing some depth at the receiver position over these last couple of years where now you do have many options. What went into that development and what we're seeing right now in terms of being able to be so varied out there?
COACH DOEREN: Coach McDonald, our receiver coach, has done a really good job with these guys setting the culture of his room. A lot of times you have receivers that just don't work like our guys do. And they are one of the hardest working groups if not the hardest working group on our football team.

And he's done that with them. We've recruited the right type of guy for our program. Whether it's the length and size of our outside guys, or the quick twitch of our inside guys. But we found the right kind of guys that fit the fabric of what we do. And then to their credit they've bought into what it takes to work here.

And it's just over time kind of the culture of our program as changed and that group's been one of the leaders of it. And Kelvin and Steph have definitely paved the way for that position room.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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