When Yahoo! Sports’ Pete Thamel attended ACC Kickoff in Charlotte in July, he had asked a question about super seniors to Miami head coach Manny Diaz. It apparently prompted a motivation for Diaz to go seek out Thamel.

“Nobody talks about NC State,” Diaz told Thamel, as the reporter recalled in his College Football Enquirer podcast. “I think they’re really, really good.”

Hence why Thamel, albeit with some backhanded compliments to the program during his explanation on the podcast, believes that NC State football could be a sleeper candidate to be a top-10 team by the end of the season.

“They have USF; they’re at Mississippi State, which is very winnable; they have Furman,” Thamel noted, looking at the Wolfpack's schedule. “Clemson goes to Raleigh, and if NC State is 3-0 at that point, Clemson still isn’t what we remember from them three years ago. Just in terms of defensive line, they’re there. Offensive line, they are not still there. Receiver, they have injury questions, [but] the talent is certainly there.

“Long story short, there is a path, if you look at the NC State schedule, for them to go 10-2. That’s not completely out of the question, and they close the year with North Carolina, who could well be a top-10 team.

"And if they beat them, and they’re hanging around that top 15 rank at that point, I think they’re there.”

Thamel also noted the immediate infusion of credibility into the offense that second-year coordinator Tim Beck supplied after being hired.

“Tim Beck did an unbelievable job turning that offense,” Thamel noted. “… Tim came in, turned them into a professional operation similar to when [Eli] Drinkwitz was there a couple years back.

"Devin Leary, the quarterback, is a solid, upper-middle-class ACC quarterback. They got one of the best linebackers in the ACC [in Payton Wilson] who will get drafted this year.”

Thamel’s co-podcaster Pat Forde from SI noted that there is something about NC State that makes them a logical pick to be a potential surprise top-10 team.

“I agree they are one of those schools that, A, this is one of those years where they look like they are at the peak of their game, and B, outside of Clemson it’s all manageable,” Forde said.

——

• Talk about it inside The Wolves' Den

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook