What Dave Doeren Said After NC State’s Loss to Notre Dame

RALEIGH — NC State lost to the No. 16 Notre Dame Fighting Irish 36-7, falling to 4-3 on the season after a 3-0 start. While the Pack hung around in the first half, the home team took over in the third quarter and coasted the rest of the way.

Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren found himself searching for answers late in the game and after the final whistle blew, as his team was still struggling to play a complete four-quarter game. The dejected coach answered questions from the media immediately after Saturday's game in South Bend, Indiana.

Doeren Transcript

On what went wrong offensively

"I thought we had four or five down the field throws that we've been making, and at least having a chance to make plays on and that just didn't happen today. Unfortunately, when you get man free as much as we did today, you're gonna have to be able to win some one-on-ones down the field."

"Teddy (Hoffmann) made a couple plays for us, but we had Noah (Rogers) deep. We had (Justin) Joly deep. Not one of those today we connected on."

On sophomore quarterback CJ Bailey's struggles during the game

"CJ was off a little today. I mean, there's no other way to say it and I told him that in the locker room. He's a great player and he's played really good for us this year. I'm not blaming him at any any point, but you know, he has huge expectations for himself and so do we. I felt like we could run by their DBs and we did. Every other game, guys have paid for that and we just didn't make them pay today."

On the issues with playing complimentary football

"I wish I had the answer. It's not because we don't talk about it every week. That's what I told the guys in there. We've had games where we played lights out on defense, had games where we played lights out on offense. Had games where special teams was really poor."

"We need to put all three phases together, and it's a five-game season now. That's going to be the focus of things, finishing with three-phase football, complimentary football, and getting better."

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman celebrates after the defense scored a safety in the second half of a NCAA football game against NC State at Notre Dame Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in South Bend. | MICHAEL CLUBB/SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On if there were any surprises schematically from Notre Dame

"They did what we thought they were going to do for the most part. I don't know the percentage, but it's probably 75% man free in the game. When it's working, keep calling it. It was working."

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