Sep 27 (Sat)
12:00 AM
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NC State head coach Dave Doeren
Opening Statement
"Well I’m obviously excited to be 1-0. It was good to get out there and play the game. There are a lot of things that we did well. Offensively, I liked the tempo, seeing the guys execute that way, the way we ran the football. We were able to get guys the football and play well on the perimeter. I thought the receivers really blocked in space. We were efficient on the passing game, 23 of 30 is pretty good. When you run the way we did tonight I thought Matthew Dayes looked really good. It was good to see a bunch of those guys touch the ball."
On the defense
"Defensively, other than the first two drives of each half, I thought they played really well. We played against a veteran offensive line, and that one receiver, DeVonte Dedmon, I knew was a special player coming in and we did not handle him well on two drives during the game. Outside of that I thought we did well."
On the opening game
"It was fun to be out there with the players and just hear them talk to each other throughout the game. I’m disappointed in the penalties, really disappointed. That’s stuff that will get fixed this week, but it was a good start. It’s a really good start to play a team like that."
On QB Ryan Finley
“He’s just got command, he’s not nervous at all. He just played. I thought he looked really comfortable; he got guys where they needed to be. He had good checks, he was doing exactly what (offensive coordinator) Eli (Drinkwitz) wanted him to, with the exception of a couple plays, I thought he played pretty smart. Sitting in our meetings and hearing him being coached, the things that Eli stressed you could see it coming out in his play, and that’s what I wanted to see. The lights didn’t phase him at all which was great.”
On RB Matthew Dayes
“He averaged six yards a carry, he had two touchdowns, he caught the ball well. He looked quick and explosive. I think the biggest right now is just conditioning. I’d have loved to seen him play a little more, but its good to be able to get the other guys in the game.”
William & Mary head coach Jimmye Laycock
Opening Statement
“NC State is a very good team and very physical. It was a very physical game and it took its toll on us. I like to think think that we could have played better but don’t know if we could have with as tough as they are. I accept that some of it was their physical abilities but I would like to have to have thought we would have played better, and obviously having some turnovers and things like that didn’t help us very much. Our guys battled though, and we’ll learn from tonight and move on.”
On inexperience in certain areas
“I think that in today’s world it’s difficult to get players practice in a physical environment. You just don’t hit much anymore in practice, so when you haven’t had guys that have been in the game, which is where they’re getting their physical contact, plays a factor into the inexperience.”
On number of penalties in game
“There were too many things that occurred out there in our play that affected the outcome. It didn’t matter if we were playing NC State or someone else that these things can’t occur. It’s the first game and hopefully we can learn from it and smooth some things out. I saw some really good things out there. DeVonte (Dedmon) and Steve (Cluley) made some nice plays, as well as our defensive line.”