Inside the Stellar Start for CJ Bailey

Strong Starts and Finishes

Under first-year offensive coordinator Kurt Roper, NC State has exploded out of the gate early in games. Placing more trust in Bailey helped the offense start fast in the first three games. He's thrown for 231 yards in the first quarter of three games. He's posted a passer rating of 169.28 and completed 85.2% of his passes in those opening quarters. In two of the Wolfpack's three games, his efforts helped NC State stay connected after falling behind early.

While starting strong is important, of course, how you finish means more in football than anything. Luckily for NC State, Bailey has shown no issues in the fourth quarter. The quarterback threw for 163 yards in the three fourth quarters played in the season and played clean football with no turnovers. Any fourth-quarter issues have stemmed from play calling rather than Bailey's performance.

"The Baby Giraffe Can Run..."

Sophomore running back Hollywood Smothers said it best when describing his quarterback's running ability. Bailey rushed for 81 yards and three touchdowns in the first three games. His internal clock looks massively improved in his sophomore season. Head coach Dave Doeren has taken note and knows just how difficult Bailey could be with his new rushing ability.

• "When you can throw the football the way that he can and have the skill guys around him, but then also make them have to defend his legs, that's tough on defense. It's really hard," Doeren said after the Virginia win. "Then you're going to add more people in the box when you're worried about quarterback runs, that opens up to things in the air."

Bailey has run it well in the red zone, scoring two of his three rushing touchdowns from inside the 20. With the quarterback's legs as another option, the Wolfpack offense inside the red area improved in the first three games when compared to the 2024 season.

Situational Football

Bailey's ability to perform on third down also looks improved. In the first three games, he's completed 72.7% of his third-down passes, with eight of his 16 completions coming for first downs. While the Wolfpack defense struggled mightily to get off the field on third downs, Bailey was able to extend some drives for the offense to counterbalance those issues.

Roper also showed some trust in Bailey on fourth down in the Wake Forest game. Deep in Demon Deacon territory, the Wolfpack went for it on a fourth down in the first quarter. Instead of a short run play for first down, Roper put the ball in Bailey's hands and the quarterback found tight end Justin Joly in the end zone for six points. The touchdown pass was his only chance on fourth down this season.

If Bailey can continue to thrive in some of these underlying statistical categories, the ceiling could be much higher than anyone expected for the Wolfpack offense.