It’s been a tale of two games for Todd Goebbel after taking over the interim head coaching job at NC State. Last week, the Wolfpack started his tenure off with a 31-10 win over California. On Saturday, Duke made it look easy against NC State, routing the Pack, 41-3, in an overall dominant performance.
Here is what Goebbel had to say following the game.
What did he see on the field-goal attempt that led to Andrew Pellicciotta’s touchdown return?
Yeah, they had a returner underneath. We were definitely kicking against the wind, so we knew at the end of the day they had a returner back there. It starts always; everything from this game needs to start with me. We need to do a better job of covering the football, but we had multiple opportunities the entire
time to get them down, and we didn't, so we got to go back to the drawing board and make sure that never happens again, and it starts with me.
Any worries about the season going downhill after a loss like this?
I've never ever lived my life in fear. I'm a God-fearing man, so my faith is in the good Lord, so I'll continue that way. We will keep taking it one day at a time. I've got great young men that are still willing to fight. They're hurting in that locker room. Coaches have done a great job of sticking with it, and we're all together, and we're going to continue down that road. Through adversity, you strengthen, and that's what we're going to continue to do, and we'll get back in here tomorrow and start getting ready to fix the things we need to fix, starting with me, and then we'll move on to Syracuse.
On trying to keep the team’s spirit up at halftime despite a 31-3 deficit
We have good leadership. It starts there, and I think our players still rallied around each other. They understood that those things are critical, that cannot happen. But at the end of the day, when you're all in, you're all in in the good, you're all in the adversity. I knew that these guys would rally around each other. Halftime was exactly what I wanted, and you saw it; they continued to come out and fight for the next two quarters.
On the biggest difference between last week and this week
Yeah, I mean, the biggest critical factor is being able to run the football and being able to stop the run. And when those things are kind of skewed on both sides of the ball, it ties your hands with both the DC and the OC. So those are some things we're going to look at. Again, told the guys in the locker room, we're going to come in, we're going to watch each play tactical, fundamental, and then personnel-wise, and we're going to get this fixed, and we're going to move in the right direction to get ready for Syracuse.
On what Duke did to stop the run
Yeah, I mean, Duke's a well-coached team. They got a really good front four with two quality linebackers, and I said it earlier in the week, it's going to be one heck of a challenge. They're a top defense in this ACC for a reason, and they know their system, and I thought they played extremely physically well, and hats off to them.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything NC State HC Todd Goebbel said after loss to Duke
