NC State walked out of Saturday with something it had been chasing all season: momentum.
The Wolfpack handled Louisville to earn its first back-to-back wins of the year, and the engine behind it was CJ Bailey. In rough conditions, the quarterback delivered the kind of performance that can settle a team down and change the tone around a program.
Dave Doeren put it plainly afterward: “CJ played a hell of a football game,” NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren said after the game. “Really accurate downfield throws, and he took care of the football.”
Bailey finished with a career-high 373 passing yards and 2 touchdowns, and he did it by keeping drives alive and repeatedly putting NC State in scoring position. The Wolfpack controlled the ball for 37:20, a big reason the game tilted their way.
“I’m used to [Bailey] being consistent like that as a passer growing up,” State running back Davion Gause said.
That connection has roots going back to Chaminade-Madonna (FL), where Bailey and Gause were high school teammates. Gause, who transferred to the program this season from UNC, ended up becoming a major piece of the offense once Duke Scott went down. Scott was seen wearing a walking boot on NC State’s sidelines during the second quarter of this game.
Doeren praised Gause for the way he handled the moment. “I thought Davion Gause deserves a lot of credit for the way he battled when Duke [Scott] went down,” Doren said.
“Played really hard for us. Did some really good things.”
Gause gave NC State a versatile option out of the backfield, finishing with a team-high 69 rushing yards on 21 carries and adding 3 catches for 45 yards. One of the more memorable moments came in the third quarter, when Bailey connected with Gause on a two-point conversion reception.
“It was great to see [Gause] play the game he played,” CJ Bailey said. “We see it in practice every day, but he doesn’t get as much opportunity.
When Duke went down, he took a step forward and not a step back. He was one of those guys who took the stress off of me, and I appreciate him for that.”
After the game, Bailey held the game ball and sounded like a quarterback enjoying both the win and the message it sent. He said he had never taken a game ball before. Then he framed the victory as a response to doubt.
“A lot of people don’t believe in us. And this ball is to show that we’re that team,” Bailey said.
“We are a group of guys who, if we put our minds to it, we can do it. And that’s what we did, and it’s going to continue to build off of this every week.”
In Other News...
NC States Wake Forest Rivalry Test Just Got A Tougher Feel
The latest chapter in one of the ACCs longest-running in-state rivalries now has a firm stage, with the league announcing Wake Forest and NC State will kick off at noon on Oct. 3 at Carter-Finley Stadium. The game will air on The CW, and it arrives as the 119th meeting between the schools, with the Wolfpack holding the edge in the all-time series.
For NC State, the timing adds a little more bite to a matchup that already carries plenty of familiarity. The Wolfpack are 3-2 and trying to steady themselves, while Wake Forest is coming off a convincing win over Stanford, so both sides should arrive with something to prove when the noon slot opens up in Raleigh. [Read more 🡒]