State's Doeren knows GT game is a valuable look for his defense

Doeren watched Clemson's offense struggle against Georgia Tech. (Photo: Brett Davis / USATODAY)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Sep 22 08:00:06 GMT-04:00 2021

NC State head coach Dave Doeren is looking forward to playing the “gold standard” in the ACC.

Clemson will meet its first true road test of the season Saturday when the Tigers face the North Carolina State Wolfpack in Raleigh. Kickoff for the ESPN broadcast at Carter-Finley Stadium is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. Clemson's defense has carried the Tigers early in the 2021 season. Clemson has not surrendered a touchdown defensively all year, marking the first time Clemson has gone three consecutive games without allowing an offensive touchdown since 1990. It marks the first time Clemson has accomplished the feat across the first three games of a season since 1950 when Clemson shut out Presbyterian, Missouri and NC State to open that campaign.

Clemson will attempt to earn its ninth consecutive victory against NC State to record the longest winning streak by either side in the all-time series.

“We get to play the best team in our league over my period here at NC State. We all know they've done a great job and Dabo [Swinney] and his staff have built a dominant program,” Doeren said earlier this week. “They're well-coached. They do it right on and off the field, and they bring out one of the top five defenses in college football to Carter-Finley. They've only given up seven points a game and their defensive front is very, very tough. They're impressive, good players, good rotational players, physical, they bring a lot of pressure. They mix up their front looks. They are running, probably, more line stunts than I've seen him run in rundowns. Kind of chop it up in the run game.

"Offensively, they've got good size and speed. Their receivers are big guys that can run. Tailbacks, they got a good rotation. Their quarterback is a big dude. He's got a live arm and you can see he's not afraid to run the football and use his body, and they use him in short yardage. They use them in the red zone.

"Games like this a lot can be made of the matchups. To me this is more about us in this game and we just need to do what we did last week and in the first week against much, much, much better competition, but we need to focus on doing our job.”

Doeren said the Pack has to play well to win.

"We need to focus on our fundamentals. We need to focus on our eyes, on our training, on our finish, respecting the game of football and playing it one play at a time and not letting the momentum swings in the game bother us,” Doeren said. “Just managing our opportunities and responding to adversity when it happens and creating more plays than they create.

"At the end of the day that's how you win these games. It's one play or one player that has to step up at key moments, and I'm excited for the opportunity. Anytime you get to play a team like this that's been the gold standard in our league, it's a great opportunity for your football team. I look forward to it and more than anything just being a part of what our team is doing. They're really focused in on playing one rep at a time right now.”

Doeren said his offense has to be able to block the Clemson defense.

"Well it's a big week for our O-line, our tight ends, our backs, all those guys that have to block this front. But yeah you line up with number 11 (Bryan Bresee) across from you and just watching that guy play. He's a stud,” Doeren said on Monday afternoon. “Thirteen, Tyler Davis, and Xavier Thomas and Myles Murphy, they got a good D-line, those guys are really good. It's going to be a battle in there. Our fundamentals are going to come into play. We got to play very fundamentally sound. We're not going to be perfect on every call. They're going to have some things. They're good at showing things one side bringing it the other, so they're going to get us at times because they're going to call good defenses. We're going to get them at times, and like I said we just got to manage the disruptions.”

Doeren then said that the Georgia Tech game film is valuable to his defense.

"Yeah, I mean there's a lot of similarities defensively. Georgia Tech played a 3-3-5 structure, which is what we play. They don't normally do that so I think they caught Clemson off guard a little bit,” Doeren said. “Their preparation was probably for four down, and they got into that game and played a lot of three-down, three-safety defense.

"That film is obviously good film for us because there's similar schemes that are played. I thought Georgia Tech did a nice job. They hung in the game. They got off the field. They pressured the quarterback, and didn't give up big plays. They were very competitive. Had a chance to tie the game at the end and, [James] Skalski made a hell of a play on fourth down on the goal line to keep them from getting in on that little shovel play. But yeah, we watch every game. I mean I went home from our game against Furman and turned on the Georgia Tech-Clemson TV copy to watch the game before I went to bed. That's what we do, we study film and learn everything we can about our opponents."