Wolfpack Victory Marked by Emotions on Both Sides

The North Carolina junior wideout could see the N.C. State players pointing. Their fingers were aimed at the interlocked "NC" emblem at midfield of Kenan Stadium.

As the clock wound down, the Wolfpack players sprinted to midfield and danced in celebration. N.C. State's seven-game losing streak against the Tar Heels had finally ended with its 38-20 victory.

"After seven straight years of not winning and then having a chance to win, I expect them to be excited," UNC coach Carl Torbush said. "I'm a little bit disappointed we had a couple of guys who got a little frustrated."

Bailey was one of them. He did what he could to stop the celebration - or at least try to keep it at a respectable level.

"We have a saying around here," Bailey said. "If we're going to win, we win with class. If we're going to lose, we lose with class."

Bailey ran out to meet N.C. State's players and told them not to disrespect UNC in such a manner.

It didn't work.

Bailey got caught up in a sea of white and red and eventually got pushed out of the pack. Bailey had to be restrained by teammate Andre Williams.

"They got on our emblem, man, and did the dance," Bailey said. "It's something Florida State does, so I don't doubt that they got that from Coach (Chuck Amato), or they felt like that's something they can do now. I just felt like it was disrespecting us. I took it personally and kind of lost my head a little bit."

Moments after the Wolfpack gathered at midfield, hundreds of N.C. State students and fans joined the celebration, which later moved to the east end zone in front of the N.C. State band. A few fans even tried unsuccessfully to jump on the goal post in the east end zone.

Amato didn't stick around for the celebration. Fresh off a water-cooler shower from his players with less than a minute to play, he went quickly to the locker room.

"It was great, but I don't like to do those things," Amato said. "But you couldn't hold those kids back. You just hope that it comes to a point where celebrating because we win a game isn't normal.

"That's attitude. I want them to win with class and play with class. It's been seven years, and every powder you put on can't stop the itch."

The game - the first between the two teams in Chapel Hill since 1996 - was filled with trash talking and hard hitting.

Both teams were issued one unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty. Including plays that were discounted for offsetting penalties, N.C. State had five personal fouls, compared to one for UNC.

Torbush kept his postgame speech in the UNC locker room short. Tailback Brandon Russell said he could tell from what Torbush said how much the loss hurt him.

N.C. State's players came out of their locker room beaming with smiles. The streak was over, and linebacker Levar Fisher couldn't contain his excitement.

"You look at the sidelines, and they were all down," Fisher said. "It was just beautiful."

The Sports Editor can be reached

at sports@unc.edu.