The Wolfpacker had to stop its countdown to kickoff series for a second time this offseason. The first was when the ACC made official what everyone knew was coming: a delay in the start of the season and a modified schedule.

Then came the unexpected news this week: a cluster within NC State athletics that was confirmed to have touched the football team. Fortunately, both the Wolfpack and Virginia Tech had a shared bye date of Sept. 26, which meant that the two teams could move its opener off Sept. 12 for NC State to get on the other side of the outbreak.

In a weird way, moving the schedule served as further proof that it’s, for now, full speed ahead with football. A couple of ACC coaches this week expressed more confidence than ever before that a season was happening.

Last week, we went over a few reasons why you should be optimistic about a Wolfpack football season. Now for some more fun, a week-by-week look at the best-case scenario entering each game.