Doeren's Postgame Comments Following Louisville Loss
NC State football coach praised his team's effort and vowed to continue battling despite the mounting losses and an injury epidemic that continues to claim victims, especially on defense.
But it was clear from the tone of his voice and the long pause in his opening statement that the frustration of what is rapidly become a lost season is starting to wear on him.
Here's what Doeren had to say at his postgame press conference following the Wolfpack's 34-20 loss to Louisville at Carter-Finley Stadium on Saturday -- starting with an update on the condition of senior defensive end James Smith-Williams, who appeared to have gotten knocked unconscious on a play late in the game:
"(Smith-Williams is) alert and downstairs and okay. I don't know if he'll be back for next week or not, so just everybody's aware, he's okay."
"Obviously (I'm) disappointed. I think our guys played really hard. We don't make enough plays. We had four balls go through our hands tonight that should have been interceptions. We don't play the ball on deep balls and get pass interferences. We stopped the run. I though we were physical. Offensively we did some good things, but we can't turn the ball over the way that we are and have any hope of winning."
"I love the competitive spirit of my football team. I think they are battling. I do. They have spirit. They have fight. We've got to make more plays that are there to be made. We had two third-and-12s where defensively, the scored toucdowns on us. That should be off the field. Should be off the field. One of them is on us. We ran a blitz and they had a mismatch in coverage. The other one is on Tanner (Ingle); busted when we wer ein three deep and he squeees too hard on the seam route when he should be outside on one. Little things like that are really frustrating."
"That's where we're at. We have a four-day turnaround to go play Georgia Tech and it's going to be a short week. We leave town in like three days. We've got to get ready for that one. There's no time to lick our wounds. We've just got to get back to work."
"I don’t know if they were picking (the blitzes( up (in the second half). There were some that we ran that got here. There were some that we ran that didn’t. The third-and-12 touchdown was a blitz that they picked up and Brock ended up having to cover number one, and that’s not good for us. Good job by them and bad job by us. That’s on us as coaches. There was some good pressure on them early. I thought we battled our butts off in the first half. The third quarter was really bad and the fourth quarter was okay. The third quarter killed us."
Doeren was asked if all the turnovers on offense were the product of inexperience. And he was definitive in his answer...
"They were all (by) freshmen. Doesn't that answer your question?
Finally, Doeren made an appeal to his team's fans, many of whom stayed home in the cold, windy conditions on Saturday ...
"I would like to thank our fans that came tonight. I know that it was cold, wet, and raining, and all that. Hang in there with us. These guys are going to battle for you. Our next home game, as you know, is a big one. We’ll be down in Atlanta this week playing our hearts out and coming home for Thanksgiving to play you-know-who."
"Hang in there with us. These kids are going to fight their butts off and we need you to do the same. That’s what the Wolfpack is: a bunch of people that fight, and we need you to fight with us as we head down this tough stretch. We’re excited for the opportunity to do that."
