NC State Wolfpack College Football Pregame Quote, 10/14/2019

Going back to last week’s game with Syracuse, I just want to say thank you to our crowd and our students, especially the students on break who supported us. It was without a doubt the best atmosphere we’ve had this season. It was the best third and fourth quarter crowd we’ve had, and it really mattered. You could see it in the third and fourth quarters with the offsides and false start penalties. Our players and coaches alike thank you so much for that. It’s something we love to have at every game. It was a lot of fun. I thought the pageantry our game operations did with Military Appreciation Day was really, really awesome, so thank you to everyone involved with that, especially the fans for their support and helping our student-athletes on game day. That was a great home field advantage for us.

As far as the football team goes, I thought defensively we started fast. We had three straight three and outs against an explosive offense with fourth down stops, quarterback pressures and sacks. I thought we played really smart. We challenged our guys to play with more pre-snap and post-snap discipline, and we did that. None of our penalties were of those varieties.

Offensively, we went up against the top takeaway defense in the ACC and turned the ball over only one time. I thought our special teams units were very physical. We won the field position battle and the hidden yardage. From an individual standpoint, I thought Larrell Murchison and Louis Acceus really played fantastic games for us. Guys played fast.

Offensively, we had 11 explosive plays, which we needed to build that into the 10+ category on a weekly basis, so I was happy to see that happen. It started with the first play of the game, and I thought it was a good aggressive call. There were several of them in the game. Obviously, the trick play to close the half was a great play call and well-executed by the guys.

We’re continuing to score in the red zone. We need to get more touchdowns than field goals. That’s the area we’ve got to get better at moving forward.

We’re playing a really good football team in Boston College coming off their bye week. They’ve had two losses here recently by a total of five points. They’re one of the top teams in the country offensively in creating explosive plays. Obviously, we know how good running back AJ Dillon is, but 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’re fly-sweep, jet-sweep series that they have gives a lot of people a lot of problems. They do a really good job up front. They’ve only given up three sacks all year. They’ve lost some good offensive linemen, so it says a lot about their ability to recruit and produce at that position group. Their kids play with good fundamentals.

It’s the top rushing offense against the top rushing defense in the league, so that will be a great competition there for both teams. It’s always been a game that’s been decided by a touchdown or less with them. You know it’s going to be a four-quarter game. We look forward to playing against Steve Addazio and his staff. They do a really good job with their players. They had a bye to get ready for us, so we know some of the things that we’re preparing for, they’ll have wrinkles off of. We have to do a really good job with our eyes this game on defense. I think the eye violations can kill you against them. They’re a hard-nosed group of kids. They play hard and they’ve got an exceptional tailback. I think the freshman receiver, Zay Flowers, is really, really playing well. He’s a difference maker on the perimeter.

Their defense ‚Äî they’re big up front and they’re physical. Their 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. That’s our calling card with this game. We know what we’re in for with them, and we’ve got to play fundamentally sound football. They take the ball away a lot like Syracuse. They’re second in takeaways. They’ve got eight interceptions with their defense. They’re explosive on offense and run the football in a physical matter. We’ve got to do a really good job being gap sound and not giving up explosive plays, which is something we’ve been good at and is paramount in this football game, especially on the road. You can’t let somebody run the ball all over you and have a chance to win.

When you look at their receivers and their tight ends, they’re averaging 17, 18, 19 yards per catch. That’s tough when you have a back like that and you’re getting that kind of movement down the field in the pass game.

It just comes down to us being very disciplined and understanding who we have, why we have them and doing it the right way with our coverage units.

On the defensive matchup:

Our guys know. We respect them up front. We know it’s a battle. This is one of those old school games in the trenches. There’s no doubt, they’re good at running the football and we’ve been good at stopping the run. They’re good at protecting their quarterback, we’ve been good getting to the quarterback. They’re really good at taking the football away, we’ve been good at protecting it. There’s a lot of things in this football game where you have strength on strength. It’ll be a really good opportunity for us to challenge our guys.

On Ikem Ekwonu:

He did some things really well. On his first play of the game he had a pancake, which was a drop-back pass. There’s some things all five of those guys have to do better, but for his first start playing against the level of player he had with Syracuse, that’s the best front all across the board with their rotation.

On Devin Leary:

I thought Devin did some good things. He came in and had a couple completions. He had a really nice throw, but we didn’t come up with the catch. He had a teachable moment where he tried to be almost superhuman on a play, and sometimes you just have to recognize the defense did enough and just run and get what you can get or throw it away.

It gives us a chance to continue to give him some reps, help him develop and be ready in case he’s needed there. I thought Bailey Hockman did some really good things. If you ask Bailey, he’ll tell you he didn’t play well. I thought he played better than he did the week before. That’s what you want out of both of them, is improvement, and I think we got that.

On left vs. right-handed quarterbacks:

I think there is a difference if you get into the movements and how a guy scrambles. Some guys are more prone to scramble to their arm strength. Some guys can’t throw well going opposite their arm. I’m not saying Bailey Hockman can’t do that, but when you look at sprint outs and bootlegs and different things like that, a lot of times you’re going to find a team right-handed or left-handed based on their quarterback.

From a play calling standpoint you have to be able to flip things in your mind based on who is in the game at times.

On the Boston College games always being close contests:

In the past, it’s been two teams that don’t beat themselves a whole lot. If you look at us and them, we’re turnover margins teams that really care about that. You look at the penalties, we’re usually in the top three with them for least penalized teams. We’re physical teams that can run the football and that put a lot of stock into stopping the run. I just think you’ve got a similar mindset between the two teams and maybe that’s why. I’m not sure. We respect them a lot, and I know in just talking to Steve Addazio that we’re similar in that we both really respect line of scrimmage play.

Reflecting on games this past weekend:

With what we’re dealing with, with the age of our team and the injuries to our team, I think every week if we can just not beat us and get better, we’ll have a chance to win every game. Like I told the team after the Florida State game ‚Äî the only team I’m worried about on our schedule is us. I think that’s true.

I think we can be in a one-possession game with every team we’re playing and win if we just get better with the things that we’ve got with who we’ve got, and eliminate the things that beat us. You watch college football right now and every week you’re like, ‚Äòhow is this team playing with that team,’ and there are teams getting upset. I can’t get into all of that.

All I know is that if we beat ourselves, we’ve got no chance. None. That’s where our focus has to be, and getting these guys that are now going into game seven to play like veteran players. They’ve seen more‚Äîlike Jordan Houston, he shouldn’t be making the same mistakes that he made in the first three games. There were some reads that he had in the run game that should have been explosive runs, so getting him to play faster. Those are the kinds of things I’m worried about.

On Chris Ingram:

Well, we’re still waiting on a verdict. They’re with the doctors today ‚Äî all our guys, for that matter. We meet with Justin at 3:30, so we’ll see where we’re at. We haven’t ruled him out yet.

On the lack of experience on Boston College’s defense:

They’re big, strong guys like they’ve been. They’ve had some elite defensive players in the last couple years. There are guys that were drafted in the first and second rounds on defense. Now, they’re kind of like we were two years ago, where they’re replacing all those guys. They’ve got a younger group in there. That’s not to take anything away from their talent ‚Äî they’re just not as experienced as they were before. It seemed like their defensive line was together for three years in a row. You’ve got a lot of new faces there in the front, but the body types are still big. They’ve got a lot of mass to them inside the box.

On Boston College giving up explosive plays:

Yes, they are giving up more than in the past. You can look at the statistics on defense and see the rushing defense stats, explosive plays and different things like that.