NC State was going to enter and leave Saturday with its ultimate goal for the season — an ACC title game appearance — remaining intact.

It also knew Saturday was going to be both a psychological and physical challenge.

A draining, double-overtime win over Clemson that saw some Wolfpack offensive linemen on the field for over 100 snaps was combined with an out-of-conference follow-up assignment against a Louisiana Tech squad with a deceptive 2-2 record.

The Bulldogs’ two losses were by a combined three points after blowing a 20-point fourth-quarter lead on the road to a SEC team (Mississippi State, which it should be noted beat No. 15 Texas A&M Saturday) and on a Hail Mary to a still-undefeated SMU squad.

A 20-point betting line in NC State’s favor in Las Vegas suddenly dropped two points late in the week, as if the smart money was onto something.

The fact that NC State faced a four-quarter battle Saturday was not stunning.

NC State head coach Dave Doeren did not hide his concern all week.

“It was a lot getting back up from the win the previous week,” Doeren said following NC State’s 34-27 win over Louisiana Tech in a game that came down to the final play. “That was a monumental task for the guys, more than people probably understand, to win a game like that in double overtime.

“Then you have to get up and play a team that [I'm] not sure how much the guys respect teams like that or not. I was worried about it.”

It also served as a valuable lesson for the Wolfpack and its fans: dreams of what can be this season for NC State should be tempered with a reality that cannot be denied. the Pack has the chance for a special year, but it will not come easy, much like Saturday's game.

The real work begins now. It’s a good time for a bye.

After that break, NC State travels to a Boston College team that has visions of an Atlantic Division title itself, even after falling in a tight affair at Clemson Saturday evening, losing 19-13.

That’s followed by a road trip at Miami. While the Hurricanes are reeling a bit with a 2-3 record, including a pair of home losses already, winning on the road in the ACC is still a challenge.

Next is Louisville at home. The Cards are showing more life than anticipated after a week-one loss to Ole Miss, nearly upsetting ranked Wake Forest in Winston-Salem on Saturday and possessing a nice home win over Central Florida.

Then, NC State is back on the road for two more games: Florida State and Wake Forest. The latter may represent the current favorite in the Atlantic, if it is not NC State, which ESPN’s FPI had as the best chance to represent the division in the title game going into the weekend.

Then, it's home games against Syracuse — which like Louisville looks better than anticipated — and UNC, the Jekyll and Hyde of the ACC thus far this season, capable of blowing out teams or getting beaten soundly itself. The good news for NC State is that UNC’s fate, at the moment, tends to hang on whether it plays at home or the road.

If those games were played today, NC State would be favored in its fair share, but it’s hard to express with complete confidence that any would be a gimme for the Wolfpack, either.

The month of October is off to a good start for the Red and White. It did not receive a high grade for its performance Saturday, allowing Louisiana Tech to seemingly come back from the grave a few times behind its potent offense, but the team still gets a passing score by adding one to the W column.

“It was great to, I guess, not play great and win a football game against a team that I think is really good,” Doeren said. “I said this all week. I didn’t just say it — I think Louisiana Tech’s offense is really good.

"We helped them at times, but from an offensive standpoint they were the best offense we’ve played against, and they looked like it in the second half.”

NC State can have a really good football season, and it’s certainly easier to dream about potentially competing for the ACC title when you are 4-1 going into the bye vs. 3-2.

But Saturday also showed nothing can be taken for granted.

The long haul to potentially reaching that dream has only yet begun, and there are a lot more tense games ahead.

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