NC State is 4-1 overall, ranked in both the Associated Press and coaches' poll and in the enviable position of having started conference play with a win over Clemson.

Yet there are areas of needed improvement if the Wolfpack wants to successfully navigate the meat of the league slate, which begins with a stretch of four out of five games on the road.

Here are five areas The Wolfpacker has highlighted.

Among teams that have played at least five games this season, there are only 11 that have had fewer than NC State’s seven sacks. The Pack’s average of 1.40 sacks per game ranks tied for 106th out of 130 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) level, and it is tied with Boston College for the worst in the ACC.

Early in the season it was a particular struggle. In games that did not involve the Wolfpack, South Florida has allowed 2.0 sacks per contest. Against NC State, it did not give up any. Mississippi State surrendered one sack to NC State, and nine combined in its other four games.

In the last two games, NC State had two sacks against Clemson, right at the Tigers’ season average for allowed per game, and the three sacks on Louisiana Tech was above the 1.8 the Bulldogs were giving up on a per-contest basis.

So there has been some improvement.

Louisiana Tech is tied for 86th in sacks per game, while South Florida is better than only Central Florida at the FBS level in that statistic. Against those two teams, NC State allowed a combined one sack.

However, it surrendered three to Clemson, who is tied for 35th in sacks a contest, and four to Mississippi State, who is tied for 60th. Also tied with Mississippi State are Miami and UNC, two future opponents on NC State schedule. Four other upcoming games are against defenses ranked tied for 35th or better, including Syracuse (tied for second) and Wake Forest (tied for fourth).

NC State’s offense is tied for 55th in sacks allowed per game, but they’ll need to improve their performance.

This involves quite a bit of luck, but NC State thus far is an 0-for on recovering its opponent’s fumbles. There are just 11 teams in college football that has yet to gain a fumble, and the Wolfpack is the lone one in the ACC.

One reason why NC State has not received many turnovers via a loose football: it has only forced one this year, fewest of any team in the ACC and tied with a group of 13 teams at the FBS level for last in the country.

The stat is skewed by a 100-yard kickoff return for a score by Mississippi State on the game’s first play, but NC State is 123rd out of 129 FBS teams in average yards per kickoff return allowed at 31.2.

The good news is that most of redshirt junior Trenton Gill’s kickoffs go for touchbacks. Only six have been returned in five games. That is tied for 24th fewest kickoff returns in the country.

The bad news is that the Pack has to do a better job of covering on those that do get taken back.

NC State coaches should continue to have a lot of confidence in junior Christopher Dunn, even though he started the season 3 of 7 on kicking field goals through four games. In Dunn’s defense, two of those misses were from over 50 yards.

Nevertheless, Dunn entered this season on track for being potentially the best field goal kicker in NC State history, and getting back to that form, which he showed in the win over Louisiana Tech when Dunn confidently made both of his kicks, would be a significant boost to the Wolfpack.

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