Stanford will aim to snap a five-game losing streak on Saturday when it travels to Raleigh, N.C., for its first-ever meeting with North Carolina State, which is coming off a bye.
The last time NC State (4-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) was in action was Oct. 19, when it went to the West Coast and beat Cal 24-23. That game was the fourth start for true freshman quarterback CJ Bailey, who threw for 306 yards and two touchdowns in the first conference win for the Wolfpack this season.
Bailey entered the year backing up graduate transfer Grayson McCall, but the former three-time Sun Belt Player of the Year announced last week that his football career is over. McCall, who played parts of five seasons at Coastal Carolina before joining NC State, was carted off the field on Oct. 5 after a play in which his helmet popped off while being hit by three Wake Forest defenders. It was the second concussion McCall suffered this season.
“I have battled injuries my whole career, but this is one that I cannot come back from,” McCall wrote in a post on his Instagram, adding that “brain specialists” suggested he “hang the cleats up.”
Even though he is no longer playing, McCall aims to be a coach someday and still is spending time with NC State’s football team every day, filling a role as a valuable mentor to Bailey.
“I’ve been better because of him. I feel like I’ve grown out of my title as a freshman because of him,” Bailey said of McCall. “He’s been a great leader. I try to mimic everything. I’ve been watching him and observing. He’s been in my ear and helping me out.”
Bailey passed for at least 300 yards passing in each of his past two games, making him the first NC State freshman to do that since Philip Rivers.
It’s likely that Bailey could have another impressive day under center, as he and the Wolfpack face a Stanford team that ranks 112th out of 133 FBS teams in scoring defense — allowing 31.5 points per game. The Cardinal (2-6, 1-4) also have the 12th worst passing defense in the country, as they are allowing 270.9 yards per game through the air.
Stanford is coming off a 27-24 home loss to Wake Forest in which the Demon Deacons connected on the go-ahead field goal with less than two minutes to play. A potential game-winning drive by the Cardinal was ended by an interception with 22 seconds left.
Quarterback Ashton Daniels led Stanford in rushing and passing that game with 268 yards of total offense.
Stanford’s struggles are not for a lack of aggression and experimentation. The Cardinal has gone for it on fourth down 25 times, tied for the fifth most in the FBS.
“When you’re trying to build a program, all the losses hurt, but you have to respond and be resilient,” second-year Stanford coach Troy Taylor said.
