The last NC State road victory against a ranked opponent prior to Saturday was in 2017, long before “coronavirus” and “social distancing” became household terms. It also preceded redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary’s arrival on campus in the class of 2018.

Fast-forward three years and Leary was in charge of leading the offense with no timeouts and 1:44 remaining with the Pack trailing No. 24 Pittsburgh 29-24.

Seven plays and 66 yards later, Leary connected with senior wide receiver Emeka Emezie for a 13-yard game-winning touchdown pass to seal the 30-29 upset over the Panthers.

“It's one thing to say what we can do. It's one thing to believe. It's another to go do it,” Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren said. “It's just a tremendous thing for your quarterback to know that it doesn't matter what's on the clock, he'll drive us down to score and win. It was a really good drive with good play calls by [offensive coordinator] Tim Beck. The kids executed well, they managed the clock and the O-Line protected against a really good defensive line. It's a huge character deal.

“Devin was nails. He did a great job reading coverage and putting the ball where it needed to be.”

In just his sixth career start, Leary was already having the best game of his so-far short time at NC State. The 6-foot-1, 212-pounder finished the afternoon completing 28 of 44 passes for 336 yards, four touchdowns and, most importantly, zero interceptions.

“I just take it play by play. You just have to go 1-0 every single play,” Leary said. “If I'm preaching that to my teammates, they're going to look at me to approach the situation the same way. Each and every, play, no matter what the situation, just go 1-0. That's how I take it mentally.”

It hasn’t been all flowers for Leary leading up to Saturday. The signal caller was named the team’s starter by Doeren in spring practice, a role he kept until just hours before the Pack’s 45-42 opening win over Wake Forest.

Instead of Leary, redshirt junior Bailey Hockman earned the start against the Demon Deacons. After the game, NC State revealed that Leary had missed 20 days of practice due to a contact tracing quarantine in the weeks leading up to the season.

Following Hockman’s management of the offense against Wake Forest, the team rode with the lefty into its first road game against Virginia Tech on Sept. 26. Hockman struggled in the 45-24 loss and was subbed out for Leary in the third quarter when the game was already out of reach.

Leary played well in Blacksburg and led the Wolfpack to two touchdowns on three drives, but it was still unknown how the redshirt sophomore would perform as the team’s starter against an opposing first-string defense.

“As hard as it was for him to not play in the Wake Forest game, it was the right thing for us to do,” Doeren said. “Coming out of the quarantine that he had, we gave him time to get back to where he needed to be. He's done a great job of taking coaching from Coach Beck. It was nice to see him with starting wideouts, starting offensive linemen, three rotational tailbacks and all the tight ends. I think you got a good glimpse of what he is and what he could be.”

The problem in week two wasn’t just the play at quarterback. NC State’s offensive line lost the battle at the line of scrimmage all night against the Hokies’ defensive front and gave up six sacks and five quarterback hurries.

The Wolfpack’s offensive line had a quick turnaround before facing potentially its toughest challenge of the season against Pittsburgh’s pass rush defense. Entering Saturday, the Panthers were first in the FBS with 17 sacks and had the highest-graded overall defense among Division I teams according to Pro Football Focus (PFF).

NC State’s offensive line gave up just two sacks to a team averaging triple that number prior to the contest, even without fifth-year senior starting right guard Justin Witt.

“They took the last game to heart,” Doeren said. “We worked really hard on our pass rush fundamentals this week, things we got exposed on in week two. Our offensive line took giving up six sacks in a game to heart.

“They saw what they were up against with Pitt’s D-line. Coach [John] Garrison and them had a great plan. Tight ends and backs are all part of that too. There's a lot of times they're in the protection with them.”

After leaning on the rush attack in the first two weeks, NC State had a pass usage of 60 percent with Leary under center. He accounted for all four of the Wolfpack’s touchdowns and completed five passes with a gain of at least 20 yards, four of which came in the second half.

“We've been waiting for him to become the guy, and we've always known what his arm was,” Doeren said. “This team believes in him. You can see it in the locker room — they rally around him. He's just calm and poised, and he's got a really, really good arm. He's a tough kid, and he really played a heck of a football game. I'm very proud of him and happy for him.”

Leading up to Saturday, Emezie had only grabbed five receptions for 44 yards through two games and had not yet become a major part of the Wolfpack offense.

He more than doubled his season stat totals on Heinz Field, grabbing seven receptions for 101 yards and setting a new career-high of two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 23 seconds remaining.

“It was awesome for Emeka,” Doeren said. “He was struggling these past couple weeks just because his role wasn't too big yet. He just kept fighting, kept working, kept practicing. [Wide receivers coach] George McDonald does a good job with him.

“I was really happy for him to make that play, and he's earned it by continuing to work hard. That was a big play for us in that drive.”

The 6-foot-3, 220-pound senior was Leary’s favorite target of the game, seeing a team-high 12 balls thrown his way. He was also part of the most explosive offensive play of the game when he caught his first touchdown, a 35-yard pass from Leary to put the Pack up 17-7 with 12:56 remaining in the second quarter.

“Emeka is definitely his own biggest critic, but the kid's a baller and he's got so much talent,” Leary said. “Being able to see him play today with so much joy and being able to get all the guys around him upbeat as well was very pleasing to see.”

The connection between Leary and Emezie didn’t happen overnight or even in the weeks leading up to the game against Pittsburgh. Following the win, Emezie talked about the bond he formed with the quarterback in the offseason following the Pack’s disappointing 4-8 campaign last fall.

Even a pandemic couldn’t stop the duo from getting in reps several months before the season began.

“Back in the summer, when we couldn't come in for two weeks, we just ran routes with each other every single day,” Emezie said. “It was probably 100 degrees, and I'd come out in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He'd be out here with long sleeves. We just wanted to make it as challenging as possible.

“We were always just trying to get everything perfect. It's always been there. We've just worked so hard together.”

Despite winning the season opener over Wake Forest, NC State’s run defense faced questions after allowing Demon Deacons running backs Kenneth Walker III and Christian Beal-Smith to combine for 170 yards.

The uncertainty was amplified when the Wolfpack was gashed for 314 rushing yards against Virginia Tech, which included three Hokies players averaging over eight yards per carry.

As the team prepared for Pittsburgh, it was no secret that the Panthers would put the Pack’s run defense to the test.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Payton Wilson called it a “meat and potatoes” matchup, while Doeren prepped the media for a “smash-mouth football game” during game week.

NC State’s run defense aced the test, holding the Panthers to just 92 yards on 37 attempts for an average of 2.5 yards per carry.

“It's a joint effort when you stop the run, it's not one guy,” Doeren said. “Obviously having Alim [McNeill] in the middle helps, it always starts inside out. We didn't play well in the rushing defense the first week because of our edges and the second week for a myriad of reasons. It was great to see them get that shored up in game three.

“I thought we tackled better with some really good tackles in this game. We had crisp, contact plays on defense. They were striking people. It wasn't just dragging people to the ground, — they were striking people in the run game.”

While the run defense was exponentially better, NC State nearly gave up as many passing yards against Pittsburgh (411) as it did against Wake Forest (236) and Virginia Tech (181) combined.

Panthers senior quarterback Kenny Pickett had one of the best games of his career, completing 22 of 39 passes for 411 yards and one touchdown.

However, the Wolfpack defense made stops when it needed to.

One such stretch came when Pittsburgh marched down to the NC State one-yard line in its first drive of the second half. The Pack’s defense stuffed the Panthers on four consecutive plays to turn the ball over on downs, retaining a 17-13 lead midway through the third quarter.

“Defensively, we hung in there,” Doeren said. “We had some good red zone stops, we had a goal line stand. We had an unfortunate deal where we had a pick six that was called back. Personally, I didn't think that was a very good call, but the guys still stopped them on that drive.

“I just thought they were resilient. We are down in personnel right now. Those guys really had to suck it up on that side of the football.

"I'm very proud of them. It says a lot about the fight of these kids and these coaches. I'm very thankful for the way that they just took a tough situation, made it theirs and did something great with it.”

Now NC State (2-1, 2-1 ACC) will prepare for its third consecutive ACC road game next Saturday against the Virginia Cavaliers.

“It says a lot about the grit of these kids and the togetherness of this team,” Doeren said. “A lot of people just threw us in the trashcan after last week, and that's the world we're in. These kids just hung together, the coaches hung together and there's a lot of football left.

“We've embraced the chip on our shoulders. We're going to continue to do that and try to get the most out of the players that we have to coach. Now we just need to get ready for another great game next week in Virginia.”

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