After NC State defeated Georgia Tech 23-13 last Saturday to wrap up an 8-3 regular season that included a 7-3 mark in ACC action, I wrote that I believed this was Dave Doeren’s finest coaching job at NC State, for a variety of reasons.

That is regardless to whether or not he gets ACC Coach of the Year. Doeren is certainly a prime candidate for the award along with Miami’s Manny Diaz, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly and perhaps even Boston College’s Jeff Hafley.

All have viable claims to the honor.

However, one point that was driven home to me recently that I think gets somewhat lost in the discussions about whether or Doeren is coach of the year or could this be his finest job performance in Raleigh, and it is this: the 2020 NC State football team has talent, and more than it is getting credit for having.

Too often, we tend to rely on star rating as an indicator of the talent of the team. As someone who has been to hundreds of high school football games over the years, I can honestly claim that is an overblown factor, especially once you move past the elite players and teams.