One of ESPN’s most successful ventures has been its 30 for 30 documentary films, leading the network to spin off a franchise called SEC Storied for the SEC Network.

The about-to-be-launched ACC Network seems likely to adapt that approach. It is already set to air a documentary called The Class That Saved Coach K on its opening night.

Which leads to a fun question — what would be some good topics for a NC State-themed documentary?

One of the best has already been taken. The 30 for 30 movie Survive And Advance chronicled the national-title-winning 1983 team that stunned Houston at the buzzer in the championship game in one of the greatest March Madness runs in NCAA Tournament history.

But there are some other options, some fun and some perhaps better described as painful:

While the 1983 NC State team is its most famous, the 1973-74 squads were its strongest and among the best in ACC history. From 1967-75, UCLA won the national championship every year except one, when the Wolfpack beat John Wooden’s squad in the 1974 semifinals before knocking off Marquette to win the championship.

There are several potential storylines for the show, with former NCSU star David Thompson the clearest. His spirited recruitment played a role in an undefeated Wolfpack team in 1973 being ineligible to play in the postseason. Thompson is considered by many to still be the best basketball player in the ACC of all time.

The Pack lost only one game in two years, and that was to UCLA in the 1974 regular season before NCSU avenged the defeat in the Final Four. That Bruins were led by Bill Walton, always an entertaining interview and sure to add some flavor to the potential documentary.

NC State almost did not have a second chance at UCLA. The Pack first had to beat a top-5 Maryland squad in the championship of the ACC Tournament in an era where only one team per conference received a bid. The Wolfpack beat Maryland 103-100 in overtime during one of the greatest ACC games of all time.

Then there was the scare in a rout of No. 13 Pittsburgh in the NCAA regional finals, one game before playing UCLA in the Final Four, with Thompson’s frightening fall to the floor. Soaring to try to block a shot, Thompson literally had his legs swept out from under him by a standing Pittsburgh player under the basket and fell on his head.

After a trip to the hospital, Thompson returned to the court with a heavy bandage on his head to let everyone know he was okay.

NC State’s history with quarterbacks is a worthy subject:

• Roman Gabriel revolutionized the position, and in 1962 was the No. 1 overall pick in the AFL and No. 2 in the NFL. He would be a four-time Pro Bowler and the NFL’s MVP in 1969, and he also had a few Hollywood movie appearances, including in a John Wayne film.

• Erik Kramer was an unlikely success story — a junior college transfer who became the ACC Player of the Year in 1987. After going undrafted, Kramer had a successful 13-year NFL career.

Unfortunately, there have also been personal struggles in Kramer’s post-NFL career.

• After Kramer comes the recent successes: Philip Rivers, Russell Wilson, Mike Glennon, Jacoby Brissett and Ryan Finley. All five of them are currently in the NFL. All have unique stories.

Rivers and Wilson were notably underrated and under-recruited. Rivers’ personality and standing as a Wolfpack legend is worth an extensive segment itself.

Then there is the Wilson-Glennon saga following the 2010 season, which based on message board banter remains divisive years later.

Both Brissett and Finley transferred in to NC State, where they racked up the majority of their college statistics and spent the most time.

There are some who have claimed they could write a book on all the weirdness around NC State athletics. Lauren Brownlow of WRAL.com and 99.9 The Fan — a recent guest on The Wolfpacker Podcast — even did a podcast series on the subject.

The show could lead with current NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts famously declaring the Wolfpack's "stuff" (bad mojo) was retired after the regular-season finale of his first year in Raleigh, only to lose his next two games, a first-round ACC Tournament contest against Boston College and a first-round NCAA Tournament tilt with Seton Hall.

There are countless examples that a documentary could use, including NC State being in the midst of a 27-year drought for a conference title in football, men’s and women’s basketball, and baseball.

However, most NC State fans would not want to watch this documentary.

First T.A. McLendon was the hero, and then the goat, but in between is one of the most controversial series of events anyone will see in a college football game.

And very few people could see it.

While Duke-UNC basketball is a premier event in sports every year, the intensity on the gridiron between those two schools pales in comparison to NC State-UNC. Yet the 2004 game was not widely broadcast, forcing most fans to listen to the game on radio.

UNC appeared destined to pull off an upset, leading NC State 30-24 in Chapel Hill, but a late Wolfpack drive set up second-and-goal from the 3-yard line with 30 seconds left.

McLendon took the handoff and stretched out to the end zone. Head linesman Mike Owens ran in to signal touchdown. The points were added on the scoreboard, and the game was tied 30-30.

However, line judge Rick Page, who was on the other side of the field from where the play was run, said he was down. A conference led to head official Jim Knight announcing McLendon was a foot short of the end zone.

With both teams hustling onto the field, McLendon was blown up on the next play at the goal line and fumbled the ball to UNC.

Ironically, UNC finished 6-5 and was able to play in a bowl game. NC State went 5-6 and did not.

Because there were few camera angles available since it was not broadcast but on a local digital cable channel, no one will probably know what really happened.

Adding to the intrigue of the game were two alums as head coaches — NC State’s Chuck Amato and UNC’s John Bunting — who at the time did not think highly of each other. A year later in Raleigh, Amato furiously screamed at Bunting after UNC players had entered NC State’s pregame warm-up space by huddling (the UNC players would claim they stopped to pray) in front of a line of recruits visiting in the Wolfpack end zone.

There is also the side note on Knight, who in 1997 was saved by the heroics of paramedics at UNC’s Kenan Stadium when he collapsed following a massive heart attack while officiating a Virginia-UNC game.

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