RALEIGH, N.C. — Hollywood Smothers and Jordan Waters each rushed for two touchdowns and quarterback CJ Bailey added three more while being nearly perfect through the air as North Carolina State crushed Stanford 59-28 to hand the Cardinal their sixth consecutive loss.
The Wolfpack (2-3 ACC, 5-4) snapped a two-game home losing streak with an overpowering quick-strike start to the second half. North Carolina State scored three touchdowns on four plays, capped by Waters’ 94-yard run that was the second-longest rushing TD in school history.
“Today things clicked and that’s what efficiency looks like,” N.C. State coach Dave Doeren said. “That’s what it looks like to stack plays and not beat yourself when you have good players. If you can stay on the field and stay ahead of the change, good things happen. I always say explosive plays lead to big scores, and we were able to have some huge explosive plays.”
Bailey, who took over the starting job in midseason after Grayson McCall retired because of head injuries, completed 18 of 20 passes for 234 yards. The freshman from Miami showed a special touch with the long ball, connecting on three passes of more than 25 yards while compiling a 237.8 QB rating before exiting early in the fourth quarter.
“I think I really improved on staying relaxed,” Bailey said. “I got a little antsy with a couple games before. It’s getting to that point where it’s just like everything is smooth, everything is perfect. Let’s just continue to build off of that because it’s felt like everything is in control.”
During a game in which Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Payton Wilson, last year’s ACC defensive player of the year, was inducted into the NC State Ring of Honor, the Wolfpack started slowly on defense and gave up 398 yards of total offense.
Scoring on three of its first six possessions, Stanford (1-5, 2-7) kept pace behind quarterback Ashton Daniels, who ran for touchdowns of 67 and 48 yards and tied a single-game school record for rushing by a quarterback with 129 yards on 11 carries.
But Daniels was injured early in the third quarter on a hit by Kamal Bonner that drew a roughing the passer penalty. Though Daniels returned to the sideline after a trip to the locker room, he was replaced for the remainder of the game by Justin Lamson, who rushed for one touchdown and threw for another.
It was the first meeting between the schools as Stanford lost its fifth consecutive ACC game since winning its conference debut on Sept. 20.
Stanford: The Cardinal defense struggled mightily, forcing only one punt late in the fourth quarter while yielding 527 total yards.
“We just weren’t able to really slow them down,” coach Troy Taylor said. “There were a number of issues, but they were good in all areas. If you’re them, you come away thinking you played as good as you can offensively. We’ve got to do something to pressure the quarterback and stop the run. Just the fundamental things that you’ve got to do to be a good team.”
North Carolina State: The Wolfpack shined on offense and special teams (with kickoff returns of 45 and 91 yards by DK Kaufman) to reach their largest point total since a 63-13 victory over South Alabama in 2015.
Early risers
For Stanford, the loss marked the fourth time in seven weeks that the team played in the Eastern time zone – the most times during a single season for the program in its history. The Cardinal will get some California love with its final three games being played in the Bay Area – so no more 9 a.m. PST kickoffs.
“The message is just continue to compete,” Taylor said. “There’s no magic play or anything that’s going to save us. We’ve got to just fight, and I thought the fight was good today. I don’t think we stopped.”
Up next
Stanford: After a bye week, the Cardinal will play their last home game this season on Nov. 16 against Louisville.
North Carolina State: In their final home game of the 2024 season, the Wolfpack will face Duke on Saturday.
