NC State needed their bye-week for a couple of reasons.
First, the ability to rest and get healthy is always welcomed. But mostly, the team needed to reset and refocus as they’re headed into the final five-game stretch of the season.
“After seven weeks, (there’s) a lot of things to look at in all three phases,” Head coach Dave Doeren told the media Monday in his weekly virtual press conference.
The Pack sit at 4-3 this season, but feel as if they should be 6-1.
“We haven’t played complimentary football yet this year for four quarters,” Doeren said.
That’s a sentiment that was echoed by Wolfpack linebacker Caden Fordham after the team’s 36-7 loss to Notre Dame the last time the Pack played a game back on October 11th. However, the Virginia Tech and Duke losses are the ones that sting the most.
“These games that we’re losing (like) the one possession games that happened earlier with Duke and Virginia Tech, (if) two or three plays of the game (go our way), those are different games,” Doeren said.
Doeren and his team believe that they haven’t put together a complete game where all three phases of the ball are mistake free this season. That’s their goal this Saturday as they face 5-2 Pitt on the road. Doeren is a perfect 3-0 versus the Panthers at NC State and wants to make it 4-0 to get the team to their ultimate goals this season.
“We’ve got a lot to play for,” Doeren said. “Like I told them today, I expect to win every game we play. We have five games left to play. If you go 5-0 in those five games, you’re at nine wins.”
The Pack have 10 turnovers in their first seven games of the season and are hoping to be completely mistake free Saturday.
“It’s a fun group to coach,” Doeren said. “There’s no pouting, there’s no pointing fingers, there’s no blame, it’s just owning what they do and wanting to get better.”
Running back Hollywood Smothers and the run game is a key to victory for the Wolfpack. Smothers leads the ACC in rushing yards with 739 yards. That’s also sixth best in FBS Football. Controlling time of possession and cutting down on turnovers will be a huge piece to the Pack’s success for the rest of the season.
“They all know that we’ve given away two games,” Doeren said. “Winning always starts with not beating yourself.”
NC State and Pitt kick off at 3:30 Saturday at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.