The season has the potential to get really interesting, in a good way, for NC State football.

Now 2-0 in the ACC and 5-1 overall, the Wolfpack finds itself ranked No. 18 in both the Associated Press and the coaches’ polls. With wins over Clemson and Boston College in league action, the latter an impressive 33-7 road triumph this past Saturday, NC State is squarely in the mix for an ACC Atlantic Division title.

Even if it might be doing so a bit under the radar.

Notoriety is not Doeren’s chief concern at the moment. The focal point is Saturday’s trip to Miami for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on ESPN2.

However, Doeren admits he does not understand how and why NC State is rated where it is despite its good start.

In Doeren’s estimation, NC State perhaps should have had more preseason love after going 8-4 in 2020 and winning a school record seven ACC contests. His guess is that COVID-19 took attention away from the team last year and also that a poor 2019 season that preceded it pushed NC State onto the back burner.

"It doesn't seem like people respect us, for whatever reason,” Doeren noted.

"I would think losing to Mississippi State on the road, everyone knows how hard it is to play there. I know it's not a loss we wanted to have, but is it a loss that kicks you out of the top 25 forever?

“That's a pretty good team that also beat Texas A&M.”

However, the trip to Starkville produced an intangible element that may have helped the Wolfpack.

As Doeren noted, “If you can use it, and really learn from it, it’s not a loss for the season.”

"They played great in the first game, and they thought it was going to be, 'Here we go again.'” Doeren said.

The problem was it did not turn out that way. Mississippi State returned the opening kickoff for a score and never trailed in a 24-10 triumph over the Wolfpack.

During the loss, Doeren thought the offense, in particular, became more worried about getting catches or carries rather than executing the call. It was exactly the thing they warned against in the preseason.

"I thought our guys took it to heart,” Doeren said. “They owned it. As coaches we learned a lot with our guys in that. We got better from it.

"Not that I ever want to lose a game, but I'm thankful we lost that game the way we did that early in the season because it has helped us."

Since that loss in week two, NC State is unbeaten and moving in the right direction. There may become a moment where NC State is viewed as a favorite in every game from here on out, and the attention starts matching the production.

It has not necessarily reached that point yet in Doeren's eyes. Miami, which is 2-4 overall and 0-2 in the ACC, actually opened up as a slight favorite over the Pack before the line quickly flipped the other way.

Doeren also added the approach shouldn’t change if NC State becomes the hunted rather than the hunter.

“If we do … the message will be pretty clear,” Doeren said. “It's, ‘What got us here is doing things this way, and it doesn't matter where they put us underdog or not, we have to keep playing the same way.’”

After viewing game film on Miami, Doeren admitted he was impressed more than he expected to be. Doeren noted that Miami’s receiving corps, for instance, torched NC State last year and is one of the best in the ACC.

“My focus is just trying to keep them in a place that we’ve been, and that’s hungry,” Doeren said. “We’re climbing a mountain. We haven’t gotten to the top of it. What I don’t want to do is take our eyes off the path.

“I want to stay right where we’ve been on the process of winning.”

• NC State played Saturday at Boston College without starting left guard and fifth-year senior Chandler Zavala. Redshirt freshman Dylan McMahon slid over from right guard to left to replace Zavala, and redshirt sophomore Derrick Eason Jr. earned his first start of the season.

Doeren said there is no firm timeline on Zavala's potential return from his undisclosed injury.

"I don't know if he's out long term or not, yet,” Doeren said. “It's just day to day. He wasn't ready to play this past week.

"We're hopeful, but I can't give you a deal on him, yet."

Doeren did say that sixth-year senior tight end Dylan Parham, who landed awkwardly on his four-yard touchdown reception, should be fine.

• NC State has a luxury of not having to rely on true freshmen from the 2021 recruiting class thus far this fall.

That does not mean that none of them are impressing. It's just that the volume and depth at older players have kept them from otherwise probably contributing.

“Demie Sumo is playing in his third game now on special teams [and] would be a guy at running back,” Doeren noted. “Sean Brown on defense is a guy that's really impressed us as a safety. Those two guys jump out. [Receiver] Julian Gray is actually playing right now. Those are the three freshmen that you probably see out there the most.

"Had [linebacker] Jordan Poole not had a hamstring injury and missed basically all training camp, he probably could have helped us a little bit more.”

• Doeren noted that Miami’s schedule may be a reason for why the Hurricanes have struggled in wins and losses thus far.

“They've played some great teams: Alabama and Michigan State are two of the top teams in the country,” Doeren said. “App State's always a very good football team, and then Virginia and UNC are teams with explosive offenses.”

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