Hollywood Smothers: "We Just Came Out There And Finished"

NC State running back Hollywood Smothers met with the media after the Wolfpack's 35-30 road win over rival North Carolina.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Hollywood, when you got in the locker room, describe that feeling. 
Just coming out ready to play, getting the guys ready. It wasn't much, but you say it for games like this. We wait for a rivalry like this, and the end of season off the right way, to get bowl eligible, and just enough to say everybody knows the task. And so we just came out there and finished. 

A lot of happiness there after the game? 
100%.

From your point of view, what changed on offense between the first half where nothing really was consistently going, and the second half you got a score on every drive? 
I wouldn't say nothing changed, really. It's just trusting our offensive coordinator, trusting our quarterback. Guys, know what it takes to, what we gotta do to get a win and stuff like that. I don't think anything has changed. We stuck to our play call and all that. It just opened up at the end.

Hollywood, y'all have been a little bit inconsistent in the run game. This is now back to that game where y'all have had over 200 yards on the ground. Just what's it like to finally see all that kind of come together? 
Just, it's been tough on the ground. Just really trying to extend plays and try to just get downhill, take what we can get, and eventually it'll pop. So just trusting our linemen to just get a feel for certain runs and just as back have to be backs and break tackles and make plays. 

This is your first time getting to play in this rivalry, but how excited were you to play in this team and how did it kind of measure up to your expectations? 
No, I was really excited, knowing the history behind this, and plus, they didn’t offer me coming out of  high school, so that was another thing.

So I wanted to go hard on them, but it's just the history of it and what it takes to play games like this. It's gonna be rowdy and all that, and penalties, you just gotta be smart. And be the most disciplined team, just feel like that. 

What does it mean to you to get that game-winning touchdown on the final drive? To be the one to take over the game? 
It means everything. I feel like anybody who would have scored that game, I would've been on edge but just a blessing, the coach trusts me in there, and goes punch it in. 

What's it like having CJ, being a young player, being able to stay composed and kind of answer every time Carolina scored? 
Like I told y'all before, man, CJ has it all. He's back there calm, he's a leader in the huddle every time. He got all the intangibles back there, and we trust him with the ball in his hands. He made a lot of big plays right there, especially for guys at his age, as a freshman quarterback, his preparation and everything.

He's ahead of his time, he's gonna be a great player, for sure.