Doeren looks back at Syracuse, ahead to Boston College
Here are some highlights from Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren's weekly press conference on Monday, starting with a look back on the positives and negatives from Thursday's 16-10 win against Syracuse:
"First I want to say thank you to our crowd and our students, especially the students from fall break that stayed and supported us. It was without a doubt the best atmosphere we've had this season and the best third and fourth quarter crowd we've had ... and it really mattered. You could see it in the third and fourth quarter with the offsides penalties they were having, false start penalties offensively. Our players and coaches thank you so much for that. It was something, obviously, we'd love to have at every game."
"I though defensively we started fast with three straight three-and-outs against an explosive offense. I thought we played really smart. We challenged our guys to play with more presnap and postsnap discipline and we did that."
Offensively, we went up against the top takeaway defense in the ACC and we turned the ball over only one time. ... We had 11 explosive plays, which we needed to build that into the 10-plus category on a weekly basis. I was happy to see that happen. It started on the first play of the game and I though it was a good aggressive call. Obviously the trick play to close the half was a great call and well executed by the guys."
"We're continuing to score in the red zone, but we need to get more touchdowns than field goals. That's an area we need to get better at moving forward."
After discussing last week's game, Doeren turned his attention to Saturday's road game at Boston College. (He made his comments before it was announced that Eagles quarterback Anthony Brown would be lost for the remainder of the season):
"They're one of the top teams in the country offensively in creating explosive plays. Obviously we know how good the running back (A.J.) Dillon is. They're 13th nationally with 19 plays over 30 yards. They've got the explosive run game with the play action game that comes off it."
"They do a really good job up front. They've only given up three sacks all year and they've lost some good offensive linemen. It says a lot about their ability to recruit and produce at that position group."
"It's the top rushing offense against the top rushing defense in the league, so that will be a great competition for both teams. And it's always been a game that's been decided by a touchdown or less so we know it's going to be a four quarter game."
"They had a bye to get ready for us so we know that some of the things we're preparing for will have wrinkes off of. We've got to do really good job with our eyes in this game on defense."
Their defense (is) big up front and physical, linebackers are aggressive. For us, we need to take what we've done at home and bottle it up and get it on the road with us and play better on the road for four quarters."
Doeren called the matchup with BC an "old school game in the trenches" because of the matchup between the best rushing offense in the ACC against the league's best rushing defense:
"We respect them up front. We know it’s a battle. This is one of those old-school games in the trenches. But there’s no doubt when you look. They’re good at running the football. We’re good at stopping the run. They’re good at protecting their quarterback. We’re good at getting to the quarterback. They’re really good at taking the football away, we’ve been really good at protecting it. There’s a lot of teams in play in this football game where you have strength on strength, so it will be a really good opportunity for us to challenge our guys."
Later in the press conference, Doeren was asked about the difference between this BC defense and others he has faced in his time at State:
"They're big, strong guys like they've been. They've had some elite defensive players in the last couple years, guys that were drafted in the first and second round. Now they're kind of like where we were two years ago when we replaced all those guys. They've got a younger group in there. Not to take anything away from their talent, they're just not as experienced as they were before."
