I have told people, N.C. State and Carolina is the best rivalry in college football. It has to be, hands down. Look at three of the last four years. Each game has been decided by four points or less. Games like that are expected in rivalry games. You take away all coaching and athletic ability, and you get those flags and penalties. Those will happen in a rivalry game. You can’t control them because emotions will start to fly in a rivalry game. That’s why they call them rivalry games.

On my touchdown catch late in the third quarter, we wanted it more. We had all the receivers going after one ball. It was seven on seven, a lot of bodies over there. Darrell Davis gave me a chance when he grabbed it and it was knocked out of his hands. It winded up in my hands and everybody was just in the right place at the right time. It was a blessing for me to be in position to get that ball. That was definitely the biggest catch I have ever made. And it made a lot of sense. If it were to happen in any game, I’m glad it happened when it did.

I didn’t know until the next morning that the catch was No. 1 on SportsCenter’s Top 10. When I woke up I had 30 text messages and this all this Facebook stuff congratulating me. I woke up and I was trying to find it, but it never would show it. It was No. 2 when I finally saw it. I also saw that I was also up for Capital One player of the week and all that good stuff. It was pretty nice to see that N.C. State has some love.

When I caught the ball I felt that I was getting kicked in the face by Reddick. I got up and all I could see was everybody saying it was a touchdown. I turned back around and saw Jarvis getting into it, with his helmet off. He came to the sideline all upset and he was crying. With me and Jarvis being as close as we are, and that’s how I am with any of my teammates, I feel what they’re going through, like him not being able to retaliate, no matter the circumstances. He took a shot in the face. But you can’t really do much. Its hard to turn the other cheek in a rivalry game like this when so much is at stake. Pride is at stake. Respect is at stake. I was walking with him and it really hit me, ‘oh, he’s going out of the game, he got ejected.’

I started crying a little bit because I knew his pain, how bad he wants to play in this game. I’m pissed off because he was just looking out for me, he was helping me out. He was letting a guy know, ‘hey, you can’t do that to my teammate.’ All the emotions started coming to me. After that, we were like, ‘that’s it, lets put these boys in the dirt. They are staying around too long and starting to get mad at us. We know how to beat those guys.’ It just went downhill from there.

On T.J.’s punt return, he kind of sparked me. That’s what we needed to get through the rest of the game. I wanted that for him so much. During the return, I teared up again. I was a mess, man.

That’s two weeks in a row that I’ve cried. It’s emotional, this is my senior season. I can’t hold water when it comes to stuff like that – football and family, all that type of stuff. When it all comes together at one time, I can’t control it. That’s what I signed up for.

I knew in spring and summer workouts that we had the players to win the ACC. We had the minds to do so. We didn’t have the guys with the big egos like we may have had in the past. Everybody came to work and came together. We all gelled together as a team. The biggest difference between this year and last year is character.

I knew around the middle of the season that we had a chance to go the ACC Championship game. You could feel it. This is our season. Why can’t it be? I always said, being here for four years, my senior year is going to be the year. I have to will my team. Our seniors have done a great job leading our underclassmen to a great season, and they have helped us out as well.