Here’s what NC State’s path to an ACC championship looks like after a win over FSU
Onto the next one.
N.C. State defeated Florida State, 28-14, on the road Saturday night. It was the second road win in four attempts, but the big one to set up next weekend’s showdown in Winston-Salem.
What Saturday’s win did was allow N.C. State to still control its own destiny. A win over the Seminoles means N.C. State is still very much in the hunt for its first football championship since 1979.
The road to that championship goes through Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are 5-0 in ACC play and 8-1 overall. State’s lone ACC loss was to Miami, a member of the Coastal Division. N.C. State has two divisional games remaining: at Wake Forest and at home against Syracuse the following week.
The Demon Deacons’ final three games are all against Atlantic Division foes, including a trip to Clemson after taking on N.C. State.
Winning out would be the best bet for the Wolfpack to advance to its first ACC championship game. A loss at Wake Forest would just complicate things down the road.
As the message has been all season, N.C. State still holds the pen.
“It’s a really special thing,” tight end Trent Pennix said after the win over Florida State. “We have a really special team.”
With three games remaining in the regular season, plus the bowl game, the Wolfpack can possibly win 11 games if they win out, 12 if they make it to and win the ACC title game.
N.C. State has won nine games twice under Doeren and could make it to at least that mark with two more wins. Three more wins would lock up the first 10-win season since 2002. The Wolfpack have defeated Florida State and Clemson in the same season for the first time since, you guessed it, 2002, so it seems like they could be on track to mirror that magical season.
It all starts Saturday in Winston-Salem, where N.C. State has dropped two in a row, including a 44-10 defeat in 2019. But this Wolfpack team is in no mood for a history lesson. They are looking ahead at all the possibilities.
“One day at a time,” safety Tanner Ingle said. “Coach always says be where your feet (are). When we wake up tomorrow, we’ll watch the film, correct what we need to do and just move on. It’s hard to win in the ACC, it’s hard to win in college football, so we’re just going to celebrate every win.”
