Everything NC State coach Dave Doeren said after losing to Notre Dame football

Notre Dame pummeled the NC State Wolfpack, 36-7, in South Bend on Saturday. Here’s everything NC State coach Dave Doeren said in a short five-minute postgame press conference inside Notre Dame Stadium.

Opening statement

“To start off, give Notre Dame credit. They bottled us up defensively, played man free, packed the box. We weren’t able to take advantage of one on one coverage. 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 it just didn’t happen today. Unfortunately, when you get man free as much as we did today, you’re going to have to be able to win some one on ones down the field. [Terrell Anderson] made a couple plays for us, but we had Noah [Rogers] deep. We had [Justin] Joly deep. So just and not one of those today we connect.

“I thought defensively, we were put in some tough field position. I was proud of the defense in the red zone, forced two turnovers, a goal line stop. We did some good things. It’s just hard playing on a short field repetitively when it comes to the score, but played a really tough first half. The third quarter changed the whole football game.”

On how Notre Dame took over in the third quarter

“We couldn’t get a first down. I mean, when you’re out there on defense for most of that quarter, and we had a few guys get knocked out of the game. The depth isn’t great, as you guys know already, and they wore us down. Playing a lot of minutes there in the third quarter. We had some manageable third downs. We didn’t stop them, and they executed offensively. They did a good job. So like I said, you got to give them credit with what they did in the second half.”

On only scoring 7 points vs. Notre Dame

“CJ [Bailey] 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 point, but 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.

“It gets you off a rhythm. When you’re throwing shots down the field and you’re incompleting those shots, obviously it’s second and 10 now, right? We’re getting behind the chains. It’s just one of those — I hate to say — it’s just one of those days where he wasn’t as good as he’s been in some of our other games. Notre Dame did a good job in the box. It was hard to run the football.”

On if the bye week comes at a good time for NC State

“Yeah, seven straight games without a bye is tough. We had eight last year. It’s the second year in a row we’ve dealt with that. So we definitely need this opportunity to reset mentally and get the guys healthy.”

On if NC State’s missed downfield shots started to pile up

“Especially when you start getting down two and three possessions on the scoreboard. It’s hard, especially when you’re not running the ball. We tried to run the football, but successfully. Getting into situations where you’re pretty one dimensional at that point, right? Their pass rush at times was good, that’s a good defense. They did a good job today, and you got to give them credit.”

On if Notre Dame surprised NC State schematically

“No. They did what we thought they did, 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, right?. It was working.”

On what it will take for NC State to play a full game of complementary 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 this thing, finishing with three-phase football, complementary football, and getting better.”

On NC State’s defense vs. Notre Dame

“I thought they played really hard. They believed that they could stop them. They were physical. There’s a lot of really physical tackles in that game. I knew Notre Dame would make some plays. I was disappointed that they got behind us in coverage a couple times. I thought our matchup should be okay. Their tight end was better than I expected. I thought he played exceptional for them, big, tall kid, and got behind us, which I didn’t expect him to.”

On what the mentality is going into the bye week knowing the season is on the line coming out of it

“The guys know that. They know that. I’m not in there trying to tell them what to do. They know what to do right now. They’re frustrated, and they should be because they feel it. They feel like they’re better than they’re showing. And we feel it as coaches, too. Just rally, get around these guys, try to get them healthy and have a great finish.”