NC State head coach Dave Doeren is not making excuses.

But he’s also not going to ignore reality.

The latest injury news is going to present challenges and adversity that this team will have to overcome.

The good news? If the Pack can do so, then it can continue to control its own destiny in the ACC Atlantic. Wake Forest is the only other team in the division that can make that claim.

However, a run to the program’s first-ever ACC Championship Game appearance will have to come without its heart and soul of the defense. Redshirt junior linebacker Isaiah Moore is out for the remainder of the season and will need surgery following an injury he suffered during the first half of the Miami game.

Moore’s loss is big both on the field, where ACC Network’s Eric Mac Lain tweeted last week that Moore was his midseason ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and off of it. Moore wore the coveted No. 1 jersey because of his undeniable leadership.

“That to me was the biggest loss in the game,” Doeren, who said he was heartbroken by the Moore news, said. “Not losing the game, losing a player of that magnitude, a leader of that magnitude.”

Also gone for the remainder of the season and in need of surgery is redshirt senior left guard Chandler Zavala. The transfer from Division II's Fairmont State started the first five games of the season before missing the last two. A week after stating that the jury was out on how long Zavala would be missing, Doeren confirmed the worst.

The last and only other time NC State lost this year, a 24-10 defeat at Mississippi State on Sept. 11, it also found out in the immediate aftermath that it had lost starting linebacker Payton Wilson, a redshirt sophomore, and senior first-string safety Cyrus Fagan.

The team responded by winning four straight games.

“We’re going to have the same demeanor,” Doeren said. “Everybody was hurting yesterday. By the time we got done meeting with them and talking, they know what we got to do, and I trust them to do it.

“The difference is you’re doing it with less than the last time you had to do it. Last time we were missing two starters on defense. Now we’re missing four.

"It’s a challenge. It’s also an opportunity, and we’ll look at it as the latter with our football team.”

How to replace Moore will be determined. Doeren and defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Tony Gibson will use the week to “toy around” with combinations.

Possibilities include elevating second-year freshman Devon Betty to first string, moving sophomore Jaylon Scott (who replaced Wilson at strongside linebacker) inside or cross-train weakside linebackers sophomore Drake Thomas or redshirt junior Vi Jones to learn the middle.

Whomever steps into the role will have large shoes to fill in an important assignment Saturday. Louisville, who comes to Carter-Finley Stadium for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff on the ACC Network, has dynamic quarterback Malik Cunningham, arguably the most athletic signal caller and best dual-threat player at his position in the conference.

Cunningham is completing 63.4 percent of his passes for 1,684 yards with eight touchdowns and four interceptions and has rushed 79 times for 497 yards and five more scores. He has 6,839 career passing yards and 2,068 rushing yards while combining for 82 touchdowns throwing and running.

Doeren called Cunningham an “outstanding player.”

“He’s not just an athlete,” Doeren noted. “He’s a really good quarterback.”

It is likely that a defense, down four starters after losing redshirt freshman nose tackle C.J. Clark prior to the Clemson win on Sept. 25, will need the offense to pick it up some to offset some of the losses, Doeren acknowledged.

“That’s the way it is,” Doeren said. “I can tell you this: I’m not saying these things as an excuse. It’s the reality.

"It’s the reality of where we’re at. It doesn’t change our goals. We’re still one game at a time. We still play a good Louisville team, and I got a bunch of guys that want to win that game.

“So that’s where our focus is.”

• Doeren replaced Wilson as a team captain with Thomas. He’s unsure what he’ll do now that Moore is unavailable. It’s possible he’ll go with game captains for the defense.

Doeren noted that the injured players brought value beyond their play on the field.

“If you wanted to pull the four most vocal playmakers out of our defense, you just did,” Doeren added, referring to the two linebackers, Fagan and Clark. “That makes it hard. It really does. It puts more stress on the guys around them. They’re going to have to step up and take advantage of their roles.”

• Louisville true freshman running back Trevion Cooley has rushed 40 times for 213 yards and caught four passes for 76 yards and a score this year, but he’s coming off a potential breakout performance in a 28-14 win over Boston College Saturday.

Cooley ran 13 times for 112 yards in the home victory.

NC State is familiar with Cooley. He’s a native of the Raleigh suburb Knightdale and was offered by the Wolfpack.

“He’s a really good young man,” Doeren recalled. “I enjoyed getting to know him in the recruiting process. He chose to leave the state.

“You see him getting more and more. He caught a wheel route for a touchdown earlier. Just had his first 100-yard game. He was a track athlete in high school that had good track times as well, so we know he’s got that kind of speed.”

• If NC State had won Saturday at Miami, the fake punt would have been well-remembered. Redshirt sophomore H-back Trent Pennix took a direct snap and ran for a 40-yard gain to set up an early fourth quarter touchdown that briefly put NC State on top, 27-24.

“We’ve had that fake in since training camp,” Doeren noted. “Been waiting for the right moment to call it. It was a time we needed momentum."

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