CJ Bailey: "I'd Say It's My Biggest Win"

NC State quarterback CJ Bailey 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.

C.J., you started 3-8 passing and ended up, I think, throwing 60% at the end. What kind of flipped after halftime? 
Yeah, I knew I had to play for my guys at the half. At the half, we had a big talk. My mindset was to go in the second half, play way better. Most importantly, taking care of the ball, driving the ball. So when that fourth quarter came, we were down. We had to be more aggressive and make plays in that second half. It was great play calling from Coach Anae and great coaching from Coach Roper helped me drive the ball and make plays. 

How does it feel to get your first win in this rivalry? 
Yeah, it feels great. I really didn't know how it felt to play in one of these games right here. All week they were telling me what will happen back then and how much this meant to them and it meant a lot to me as well. So when that win happened, I saw a lot of blue guys walking out of here, in my corner there were a bunch of reds. I'm like, oh yeah, it feels great winning at UNC. 

When you put that ball up to Noah, what led to that? It looked like it was kind of a risky pass, but he pulled it down. Describe the confidence you had in him to pull that down.
Yeah, I already told Noah, we had a couple of drops before the half and everything. We were telling him, get out of his head, play his game. I always trust him. I told him, I trust him. You trust me, we're going to make plays. And that play came, it was a post safety, a little one-on-one matchup. I took the shot, the post shot to get over there, but it was too late and Noah made a great catch for me. 

Carolina got the one point lead. How excited were y'all to take the field to go down and try to win the game? 
Yeah, we already knew, we told the defensive guys that we got them. Don't come to the sideline with your head down, because we got y'all back like how y'all had us in the first half. That's how it is with NC State football, we got each other's back. We made plays for those guys, they made plays for us.

And the bowl eligibility, what does that mean for you? 
Yeah, it means a lot. We get my first bowl game, hopefully get my first win. We have another chance to get a win, another chance to go out there with my guys, and it feels great. 

There's been a couple of close games this season where you guys came up just short. How did it feel to get past the finish line and come up short? 
It felt great to get over the hump. Georgia Tech was one of those ones where we came up short, but this time we made sure we got over the hump. I told my guys, make sure we finish the drive. That was the most important thing, because we had a lot of field goal kicking, like a field goal kicking contest earlier in the game. When we got to that red zone, we got to finish the drive, because that was really important for us to get those touchdowns and get the lead.

Was there anything different about this one that helped you finish?
It's the mentality. Everybody had that, let's go win it mentality. That was really the biggest thing.

Y’all scored on every drive in the second half. What was missing earlier in the season for y'all to be able to do that? 
I think it's something with these rivalry games. Everybody's way more upbeat and motivated to go get the towels done at hand. That second half, it kicked in, so it was like, we really got a chance to pull away and win this game, and that's what we tried to do. We didn't pull away at the end, but shoot, we got the job done. The plan was to just pull away, keep the lead and everything, but it didn't work out that way. But our guys did a good job, we finished. 

Could you sense in the second half that the offensive line started to take things over a little bit? 
They had full control the whole game. We just had to give them more chances to show that they had full control. Those guys, man, they dominated, and I'm so proud of them. Pass blocking, in-run blocking, and they always never went down or looked down. They always kept their heads up and said they got me. They treated me like I was a little better, and that was good to have the whole line like that.

Do you count this as your biggest win in your early collegiate career? 
Yeah, I'd say it's my biggest win.