Belichick Praises Dave Doeren, NC State Program

From his opening statement

• "Looking forward to this rivalry, North Carolina and NC State. I know this is a super competitive environment and game and look forward to it. Again, similar to last week, but on their turf... Night game, last regular season game, there will be a lot of energy there."

• "I've known coach Doeren for quite a while. One of his best friends was a coach who worked with me, Bret Bielema. I've always had a ton of respect for what Dave has done there. He always has a tough, highly-competitive team. His guys play with really good fundamentals and good energy. I've always liked to watch his teams play and I know that they're very well coached, they're disciplined and they are absolutely tough."

On NC State's defense

• "Defensively, they've got a very strong front. Those two defensive linemen, (Travali) Price and (Brandon) Cleveland, big, strong guys, very physical inside, hard to move. (Sabastian) Harsh is one of the better defensive ends that we'll see... (Cian) Slone, those guys are really disruptive. Of course, (Caden) Fordham is leading the ACC in tackles and he makes a ton of plays. (Kenny) Soares is a productive player."

• "They have a very good front. I know they've been a little banged up in the secondary, but they've got a pretty good group there, too. (Devon) Marshall did a really good job last week against Florida State. (Jackson) Vick is their nickelback and he's another very productive player, so they're tough on defense and very well coached."

On NC State's offense

• "Offensively, a lot of explosive players certainly. Starts with their quarterback, (CJ) Bailey. He's a problem. They have two really good running backs with (Hollywood) Smothers and (Duke) Scott. Scott is also the kick returner. He's an explosive guy back there. Smothers is... I think he leads the league in yards after contact, it looks like it. He's hard to bring down. He's very good with the ball in his hands. Both of them are. They've had some explosive runs."

• "Obviosuly, (Terrell) Anderson is an outstanding explosive receiver. He's their punt returner. He's taken over those punt return duties around midseason, had a long one called back. Had a long... Screen for the touchdown... Those guys are good. Then, (Justin) Joly is one of the top tight ends in the conference. Along with Anderson, Smothers, Bailey, it's a lot of firepower..."

• "They've hung up some points on a lot of people. Impressed with (Cody) Hardy. Not sure what his situation is for the game. He's certainly one of the better blocking tight ends that we've seen. Their offensive line, again, a couple of those guys have been banged up, but they've got a big, strong, physical group there to protect the quarterback and get the running game going."

On getting his team to avoid being overly emotional in the rivalry matchup

• "We need to do a much better job of that. Too many personal foul penalties and that really cost us in the (Duke) game. We've talked about it all year and we've addressed it. We expect those to be called because that's the way they've called them all season in the ACC. Officials have been pretty consistent on that. We just have to do a better job of keeping our boys playing football and not doing things after the play."

On NC State coach Dave Doeren and their relationship with one another

• "A hard-working group of guys. I think if you've been through the program with him, you know how to work. You're tough, physically and mentally tough. Again, he runs a good program and you earn what you get there. Those guys play hard. You see it on film. Every play is not perfect, but they're playing hard throughout the down regardless of the position."

• "... It's every play. You can't afford any plays off against this group or they're going to get you on it because they keep coming at you. Dave has had a lot of good players down there and certainly a lot of good linemen..."