Coach Dave Doeren's UVa Scouting Report

With his team coming off a big win at Pittsburgh last Saturday, NC State football coach Dave Doeren looks ahead to provide his breakdown of this week's opponent Virginia

Coach Dave Doeren will take his NC State football team on the road for the third straight week on Saturday when they travel to Charlottesville for an ACC matchup against Virginia.

The Wolfpack is riding high after last week's win at No. 24 Pittsburgh and is looking to build on the momentum against a Cavaliers team coming off a 41-23 loss at Clemson, a game in which they held their own after falling behind early against the nation's top ranked team.

Here's what Doeren had to say about UVa. during his regular weekly media conference on Monday:

"We move on to playing Virginia who is, as you all know, is the Coastal champions from last year. They’re a very veteran football team. There’s a lot of seniors and juniors and grad transfers or graduates in their starting lineups. Even where they’ve lost starters, they are replacing them with third- and fourth-year players. That’s a tribute to what they’ve been able to do there in their developmental program, keeping guys from transferring out and staying healthy.

"They are very sound. They're big. They remind you of a Big Ten team when you look at how big they are. They’re strong. I’m impressed with how they don’t beat themselves. They are a low-penalized team. They are a team that doesn’t give up a lot of plays in their backfield; they’ve only had six plays in their own backfield in two games, and obviously Clemson was one of those teams. 

"They have turned the football over with a new starting quarterback, but they’ve made up for it with seven takeaways in two games on defense. It’s another very, very good opponent. It’s another road game, our third straight in three weeks. 

"Offensively, like with every offense things are going to be about the QB. When he’s playing well, they’re playing well. He has turned the football over. He’s a tough kid. He’s a good runner, a good scrambler. I think their receivers bring some different things. They’ve got some really small, quick guys, and then they’ve got some really big guys. They have guys out there that are 5-foot-9 and can really run, and you’ve got a 6-foot-7 receiver and 6-foot-7 tight end that are big targets.

"Their tailback (Wayne Taulapapa), runs really hard. I think he is a tough guy. He gets a lot of yards after his first contact and they’ve got five experienced players on the O-line. They’ve only given up two sacks a game.

"On the other side of the football, defensively, they are very sound (with) very long guys on the edge. They have a lot of experience. They are 3-4 and they get into some nickel packages. They do a lot. They do a good job of mixing it up; a lot of different coverages, a lot of good disguises and their kids play hard. They are strong up front. They play with good technique. That’s what they do.

"I think their linebackers are tough kids. (Nick( Jackson is a young man that we wanted here quite a bit in recruiting. I think he’s a really good player. (Zane) Zandier has been there awhile for them at Mike, and he plays really hard. I mentioned (Charles) Snowden, the edge, he’s a really good football player. (Noah Taylor) on the other side does the same. They’ll drop those guys. They’ll rush them. Their safety (Joey) Blount has been there for a long time.

"They are in the backfield a lot. They’ve got seven sacks and 16 TFLs in just two games, so very disruptive. When you look at them compared to the teams they’ve played, they are plus-14 at making plays in the backfield compared to their opponents. That tells you what they do. 

"They’ve only committed six total penalties being aggressive like that. It’s a well-coached football team. It’s going to be a great challenge, and for us it’s just about getting better. We’ve just got to continue to learn from the last game, keep a big chip on our shoulder and play harder each week, and play smarter each week. We need to take the mistakes off the film that we just had on it."

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