TRACKING THE PACK
16 ■ THE WOLFPACKER
■ Hooray For Hollywood
Redshirt freshman running back Hollywood Smothers grew up in Charlotte, and he understood
the intensity of NC State's rivalry with North Carolina even before playing in the showdown game.
Heading into this year's matchup in Chapel Hill, Smothers, who returned home during the offsea-
son after starting his college career at Oklahoma, was thrilled to be making his first appearance in
the intrastate
clash.
"I was real excited, knowing the history behind this," he said. "Plus, UNC didn't offer me coming
out of high school, so that was another thing. I wanted to go hard on them. You know the history,
and you know what it's going to take in games like this. You know it's going to be rowdy."
Smothers ended up playing a decisive role in the game, rushing for 83 yards and scoring 2 touch
-
downs, including a 2-yard blast with 25 seconds remaining that gave NC State a 35-30 win. It was
the fourth consecutive
victory in the series for coach Dave Doeren's team, and no one was happier
afterward than the guy who had just supplied the winning points.
That short touchdown run was "a blessing," Smothers said. "Coach trusted me to go punch it in."
— Matt Herb
PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE FOOTBALL
PACK PICTURE
