Remember back to Oct. 3.

Pittsburgh scored on its second play of the game against NC State that afternoon, a 75-yard pass from quarterback Kenny Pickett to receiver Jordan Addison on a busted coverage assignment by the Wolfpack.

It was the second play after the Pack had been embarrassed at Virginia Tech the Saturday prior, 45-24.

Playing on the road against a top-25 team, the outlook was bleak on many fronts.

One, it didn’t look promising for the Wolfpack on the field. It also was questionable how long this season would be and how many games NC State would get to play.

Refresh your memory further back to Sept. 12.

That was the date that NC State was supposed to open its season at Virginia Tech. Instead, Wolfpack fans were watching other teams across the ACC start their years while it had to wait a week. A COVID-19 cluster on the football team left head coach Dave Doeren’s squad in no position to play that day.

NC State would have to wait a week further, where it won a thrilling 45-42 shootout over Wake Forest at home. Then came the game at Virginia Tech.

Remember that week?

It was nonstop speculation and concerns about whether or not the kickoff would happen due to COVID-19 issues on the Hokies’ roster. Doeren’s Thursday media availability was led off with a simple question: is the game even going to be played?

A funny thing happened between that Addison's touchdown and the final seconds of NC State’s 23-13 home win over Georgia Tech on Saturday.