State 16, Syracuse 10: Doeren's postgame comments

Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren breaks down his team's 16-10 win against Syracuse on Thursday

Opening statement ...

"I thought it was a great win for our guys. I’m really proud of them. I thought they showed a lot of grit, a lot of determination. Syracuse kept hanging in there. They are a good football team, and like I told them all week, ACC football is four-quarter football. You have to be ready to play every second of the clock and that’s what it took today."

"I thought we showed a lot of stamina at the end -- getting that sack and the defensive staff really put together a great game plan. The kids executed it well."

"We had some good things going in the run game. We were able to complete some passes and score enough points to win. At the end of the day, that’s what counts, that’s what matters."

On the performance of first-time starting quarterback Bailey Hockman ...

"He did some good things. He has to learn what to do when things aren’t there. He took some sacks, didn’t get rid of the ball, he’s trying to do too much, but he did some good things. He made some great passes, he directed things well, he took care of the football for the most part and he’ll learn a lot from this game. ... I thought he battled."

On the play of junior linebacker Louis Acceus, a native of Spring Valley, N.Y., who recorded a career-high three sacks against a New York team ...

"That’s awesome for a kid from New York to be able to play like that against Syracuse. Lou has been very steady this year. He’s a very athletic guy. I think almost every game he’s been first or second in tackles on defense with the linebacker corps."

On the success of State's 3-3-5 defensive alignment, which has produced 16 sacks in the past two games ...

"The discussion we had when we hired the safeties coach (co-DC Tony Gibson was that) we need to be able to slow people down that we can’t stop in our other defense, that’s Clemson and Syracuse. Those passing attacks with their receivers and quarterbacks. We’ve been able to stop the run against anybody, but those offensive systems make it hard in a four-down unless you just have two NFL corners who can lock up. That’s why we did that, to be able to handle the tempo of four-wide, spread offenses and be able to roll coverages and blitz more."

On the lack of takeaways despite all the pressure being put on opposing quarterbacks ...

"It’s just amazing we aren’t getting takeaways hitting the quarterback as much as we are. We have to figure that piece out but the pressure on the quarterback has been consistent."

And finally, Doeren addressed the recurring problem of settling for field goals rather than scoring touchdowns in the red zone ...

"There’s a lot of things. We’re just not able to run the football down there and it forces you to throw. We have to be better throwing the ball in the redzone. It’s harder when you get more and more guys in the box obviously in the run game. Last year with Ryan (FInley) and Kelvin (Harmon) and Jakobi (Meyers) could take advantage of people who wanted to stop the run. We have to get there. It’s an area to improve."