Sometimes, good teams make their own breaks.

NC State faced fourth-and-one at the Virginia 16 late in the second quarter holding a 10-7 lead. The call was a simple quarterback sneak, but Wolfpack sixth-year senior Ryan Finley fumbled the ball. NCSU senior running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr. alertly dove on the loose football before a pile swarmed on him. When Gallaspy was uncovered, the ball was at the 15 for a first down.

But the play needed to be reviewed first. At some point, while the head referee Gary Patterson was conferring on the headset with review officials, someone or something sent a signal to the Virginia sideline that the call was about to be overturned. A joyous Cavaliers defense raced off the field to be replaced by its offense. NC State seemed to take its cue from Virginia and also switched its unit readying for when play resumed.

Then Patterson started explaining the ruling. Finley fumbled at the 16, he said. It was recovered by NC State at the 15, and it’s a first down, he continued.

The break was big for NC State, and two plays later Finley completed a 14-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore tight end Cary Angeline, answering one of the questions that emerged from the 37-20 win over Marshall the previous Saturday: where is the now eligible USC transfer ?

In a season that has trended nicely for NC State, Angeline was not the biggest revelation Saturday. Redshirt junior defensive tackle Larrell Murchison had three sacks. Freshman running back Ricky Person Jr. rushed 14 times for 108 yards. Freshman kicker Christopher Dunn made a 44-yard field goal right before halftime, and the rookie is now 8 of 10 on field goals this year.

NC State is not only 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the ACC, it seemingly has been building off each of its prior performances.

“That was a fun win against a great team, and we’re excited to be where we are right now,” NC State sixth-year head coach Dave Doeren said afterward.

Virginia is far from a top-25 team, but it was 3-1 coming into Saturday, with the lone loss in monsoon-like conditions at Indiana. The Cavs also came into Raleigh fresh off a 27-3 home win over Louisville.

Yet the two-touchdown margin summed up the difference between the teams pretty well, and if the Pack has truly turned a corner in the running game after rushing for 173 yards versus Virginia, then the offense will have officially graduated to nightmare status for opposing defensive coordinators.

“I was really surprised about their ability to run the football,” Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall admitted Saturday.

The improvements for NC State were not just on offense. The defense that was supposed to be rebuilding looked a lot more like a unit doing some reloading. The front helped produce four sacks and three quarterback hurries.

Murchison is helping to replace NFL defensive tackles B.J. Hill and Justin Jones. Neither one of them were able to tally three sacks in a game. In fact, the most either had a season was 3.5, which both Jones and Hill accomplished once in their respective careers.

Murchison helped lead an effort that held Virginia junior quarterback Bryce Perkins to a season-low 24 yards rushing. Perkins had twice rushed for over 100 yards this year, and in his other two games he ran for at least 63 yards both times.

Doeren credited his defensive coordinator for all six years at NC State, Dave Huxtable, for crafting a stellar game plan.

“I thought Coach Huxtable and our guys did a great job,” Doeren said. “We put some stress on our corners today, but we felt like if Perkins couldn’t run the ball today, then it would be hard for them to beat us.”

The tests will continue to get stiffer. Virginia is more likely to be interested in reaching a bowl game than competing in the ACC’s Coastal Division. A physical Boston College team capable of a prolific offensive attack comes to Raleigh next Saturday, where it has won two straight times.

Then after a bye comes the ACC’s top dog, a road trip at Clemson. Then the tough follow-up at suddenly dangerous Syracuse, which nearly upset the Tigers in Clemson Saturday.

If the Pack keeps making their own breaks and adding dimensions to the offense and defense, then NC State has the potential to keep trending in the right direction.

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