Doeren looks back at West Virginia, ahead to Ball State
Here are some highlights from Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren's weekly press conference on Monday, starting with a look back at what went wrong on offense in the second half of the loss to West Virginia in Morgantown ...
"Going back to last week, obviously disappointed, not discouraged. Bunch of very, I would say, upset and mad guys and coaches alike at what we did and what we did not do. I think that's the biggest thing anytime you have a loss, it's taking the opportunity to grown and learn from it and that's what this is for us. With our football team, it's a huge, huge learning opportunity."
"Offensively speaking I thought it was really two different halves. In the first half I thought we moved the ball well. We got 21 points, had a 93-yard touchdown drive, compared to the second half where we had six points and really couldn't get in a rhythm."
"We ran the ball pretty efficiently, but gave up too many negative plays. They had 10 plays in our backfield, seven TFLs, which gets you off your schedule offensively. A lot of details, whether it's a route depth or a location, a split, being off an inch in certainly places, not quick enough with the tuck, not being accurate with the ball .. there's so many little things that could have changed how we played on offense. ... Just a lot of stuff we've got to fix."
Doeren wasn't pleased with his defense's performance against the Mountaineers, either ...
"Defensively, I thought we played slow. I didn't think we tackled as well as we have. Whether we were losing a gap, misfitting a run or not setting the edge appropriately, (we) didn't contest enough balls, which is something we'd been doing well playing tighter coverage. I thought we gave up some stuff we haven't been, weren't disruptive, didn't play with good enough technique. A lot of basic things."
"I though they played fast. Their tempo was good and we didn't adjust to that very well throughout the game."
"On special teams, the blocked punt obviously was a critical mental error and really something that should never happen with our protection scheme. With all that being said, there's 11 minutes (left) in the game and we're down four and get a stop on defense and an unfortunate penalty that created that drive to extend. I felt that was a critical point in the game."
Looking ahead to this Saturday, Doeren knows from his time in the Mid-American Conference, not to overlook a veteran Ball State team ...
"Ball State is a football team that is really good on offense. They're impressive. Obviously I know a lot about the MAC conference and the skill level. There's good receivers, there's good running backs, there are athletic players in that league and their quarterback is playing at a high level."
"They're a balanced offense like us. They're almost 50-50 in run-pass, there's a lot of play action down the field and their taliback is a tough kid who runs downhill. They have four returning starters up front and they play fast. They're getting over 80 plays a game offensively, so tempo is going to be something we've got to be ready to play well against."
"Defensively they're sound. They've got a lot of players back and their athletic. They're a team that plays hard ... a good test for our football team."
The Wolfpack was flagged for nine penalties against the Mountaineers Saturday, the same number it had in its first two games combined. It's an issue Doeren said he and his staff are committed to addressing ...
"Some of the penalties you can manage. Obviously clock management, that's coaching, that's players doing their job. Focus is your pre-snap stuff on offense and defense, and those are things we've been pretty good. Some of the things between whistles, that's technique. Offensive holding happens every play. Sometimes it gets called, sometimes it doesn't. Pass interference, sometimes it looks like PI and doesn't get called, sometimes it does. For us, we've got to coach the technique to the best we can to try to prevent it from being called.
"The things that were most disappointing to me, like Jarius (Morehead's) penalty out of bounds, he can't do that. Calvin Hart jumping on a guy that's on the ground, we can't do that. Those are choices that are made in the game. I can limit that. They can limit that. We spent a lot of time talking about heat of the moment, moment of truth right and wrong. And focus. Those are things we did not do well in this game."
Doeren was asked about the difficulty of keeping an even keel amid the mood swings of a fan base after a disheartening loss like the one in Morgantown ...
"Seven days ago everyone was loving everybody, now today they're (makes groaning noise). That's this game. As the leader of this program I can't act like that. We just have to get better. We got hit in the mouth, so we need to get better and hit someone else in the mouth. That's football. That's what happens when you don't play well."
Finally, Doeren rejected the notion that his team's poor performance Saturday was directly related to the step up in competition from its first two games ...
"They were the fastest thing we've seen in a long time since the bowl game. You can't simulate those things every day. But that's not why we lost the football game. We just didn't execute. That's what we've got to focus on."
