At halftime, a dejected NC State football team was chased into the locker room by a roar of boos from Carter-Finley Stadium. Down 17-6, the 20-point favorites’ dreams of redeeming its recent 51-10 loss and reclaiming its 2024 season had turned nightmarish.
With starting quarterback graduate Grayson McCall ruled out for the remainder of the game in the second quarter due to injury and the Pack (2-1) down 11 points, things looked bleak. Disastrous scenarios of a losing season darted through heads in Raleigh and beyond.
Considering NC State’s preseason ACC Championship and College Football Playoff aspirations, the Wolfpack’s season was on the line.
Enter freshman quarterback CJ Bailey.
The true freshman’s first real action in college came in a trial-by-fire, and Bailey wasn’t fireproof. The rookie rifled an interception on just his third throw of the game late in the second quarter. However, something clicked, in both Bailey and the rest of his team, after head coach Dave Doeren asked his team to step up at the break.
“I told them, CJ is going to play his a– off, and everybody was behind him,” Doeren said. “You could hear them rallying behind him. [I told them] that defense is going to go up first, they’re going to make a stop. Offense, you’re going to score, and it’s going to be a one-possession game before you look up. I said, ‘Quit thinking about the scoreboard, think about playing really physically and playing together. And if you do that, we’re going to win.’”
NC State answered the call. The Wolfpack bounced back with a 24-point second half on the back of Bailey that resulted in an eventual 30-20 win over the Bulldogs. Doeren said he was proud of Bailey’s poise and how much heart his team showed in the gritty win.
“It’s a hell of a win,” Doeren said. “Anytime you’re down two scores and you come back [it’s great], and particularly when you’re doing it with a quarterback that’s really throwing his first pass in college football. “
Bailey overcame his pick and first-game nerves, churning out 183 total yards, a touchdown on the ground and most impressively, a come-from-behind win for his team.
“I’m gonna be honest, I had that nerve, those jitters in my body,” Bailey said. “But after that bad mistake I made, I had to say, ‘Let’s play ball. Just go play ball. Do what you were taught for all of this time you’ve been playing football, just go play ball in the second half.’ And that’s what I did.”
Bailey wasn’t the only one that rose to the occasion in the second half, however. Just after Louisiana Tech’s momentum-swinging 17-point second quarter, senior safety DK Kaufman capitalized on a quarterback pressure from graduate defensive end Davin Vann.
As Vann crashed in on Bulldog quarterback Jake Turner, an errant pass was floated in Kaufman’s direction. With no hesitation, the Auburn transfer took the ball and made a house call on just the third play of the second half for a pick-6.
“It was honestly the right place, right time,” Kaufman said. “Davin Vann made a great play hitting the QB … and I was just doing what I had to do, just filling in. But it was definitely a great spark coming out of the half because we always talk about being a second-half team and a four-quarter team.”
Kaufman’s game-changing play quickly jumpstarted his team, which continued to live up to the expectations Doeren set at halftime.
After another stop from his defense, Bailey quickly got to work. The freshman engineered a game-changing 13-play eight-minute drive that spanned 76 yards, all capped off by a three-yard touchdown from sophomore running back Kendrick Raphael. NC State was up 20-17, now greeted with cheers from an invigorated Carter-Finley Stadium.
While sophomore wide receiver Kevin Concepcion and redshirt junior wideout Dacari Collins were featured on Bailey’s first touchdown drive, redshirt freshman wide receiver Noah Rogers and junior tight end Justin Joly were the stars of his second.
A pinpoint 19-yard pass to Rogers and 34-yard gain to a wide-open Joly got NC State into the red zone. Up 23-20, it was none other than Bailey who delivered the kill shot — the freshman powered into the endzone for a one-yard score that all but sealed the Wolfpack’s comeback victory.
With a lot of newfound power came lots of newfound responsibility. Spreading the ball out and using his physical 6-foot-6 frame to get yards on the ground when he needed to, Bailey answered the bell after McCall’s injury.
“He was just poised,” Doeren said. “He just went out there and played the game, whether he was throwing the football or scrambling, throwing it away, rushing for some tough yards at times to extend the chains. He did a really good job just managing it and playing fast, and he looked really poised.”
While Bailey and NC State were poised at the end of the bout, the Wolfpack was anything but to start it. McCall and the offense struggled early on, extending the red-and-white’s previous streak of four quarters without an offensive touchdown to six.
McCall was ruled out for the remainder of the game with an undisclosed injury in the middle of the Bulldogs’ scoring spree, prompting Bailey to make his entrance. After the sudden call to action, Bailey said his focus was on remaining calm and being there for his team when he was needed the most.
“But that was the main thing — just step in and be that guy for the team,” Bailey said. “You’re in a position now, you got to act like you were here before.”
Doeren said there was no update on McCall’s undisclosed injury as of yet, citing Monday as the earliest day for an accurate report on the graduate transfer’s status. Until otherwise said, it still seems as though McCall will remain as the Wolfpack’s starter if healthy.
However, whoever lines up behind center will have to take on one of the tallest tasks in college football — playing in Death Valley against Clemson in just one week.
Whether it’s McCall or Bailey, NC State is set for a Textile Bowl clash with the Tigers in Clemson, South Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 21 in a daunting ACC-opening tilt.
Kickoff for the highly anticipated duel Death Valley is set for noon and will be televised on ABC.
