At the bye, NC State is 4-2, all in ACC action. It's quite an accomplishment to have reached this point having played every game that was scheduled pre-bye. The only schedule change was pushing back the opener at Virginia Tech to Sept. 19, but the Wolfpack was able to check off each of the first six teams on the original slate.

Five more remain. With COVID-19 cases on the rise nationally, it will take similar good fortunes to get all the games in, but the Wolfpack still has the flexibility of an open date on Dec. 12 if needed.

Under the assumption that all the games are played, what will be the Pack's closing win-loss record? The Wolfpacker staff takes a guess.

As dispiriting as the lopsided loss was to UNC was, I’m still pretty bullish on this Wolfpack season, and a lot of that has to do with the schedule. ESPN’s FPI has it as the No. 92 remaining strength of schedule in the country.

What remains are home games against (in order) Miami, Florida State, Liberty and Georgia Tech with a road trip to Syracuse sandwiched in between the final two contests at Carter-Finley Stadium. Even with the loss of redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary for quite possibly the remainder of the year, in the so-called power rankings of the ACC, only the Hurricanes would rank ahead of the Wolfpack at the moment.

NC State has also not lost at home (small sample size of two games), and the one road game is against a team in Syracuse that has struggled all year with depth and numbers.

Miami is the one squad that the Wolfpack probably would be underdogs against, and indeed it’s the only game that ESPN’s FPI has the Pack unlikely to win.

Just how much is it favored in the other contests? ESPN’s FPI has NC State with a better than 68 percent win probability in all of them. The fact that the most lopsided chance is 74.2 percent against Georgia Tech suggests that there is room for a head-scratching performance in there.

If there is, my vote would be it will come against either Florida State (68.6 percent) or Georgia Tech. Both teams are rebuilding, but once in a while this year they have shown that they can rise up on a given Saturday.

Still, I like NC State’s odds in all of them. Thus I have the Pack going 4-1 to finish the year, with the one loss a close affair to Miami. That would put NC State at 8-3 overall and 7-3 in the ACC (and set a new record for ACC wins in a year, but obviously with the asterisk of having played two more games than ever before in the league).

I'll be the first to admit, my preseason win total prediction of five appears destined to be shattered by this Wolfpack team. Isn't it better to underpromise and over-deliver, though?

As I explained when making that prediction, the 2020 schedule presented several toss-up matchups in which neither team would have a greater than 60 percent chance of winning. It's exactly what the doctor ordered for this young NC State roster.

By avoiding meetings with Clemson and Notre Dame and, heck, Boston College this year, a Coastal Division round-robin riddled with 50/50 contests has allowed the Pack to gain some confidence after a disappointing 4-8 record in 2019.

Confidence is everything in football.

That does worry me a bit considering the Wolfpack is still licking its wounds from a 48-21 loss to its archrival. But I still think the good has outweighed the bad to give this team enough mojo to finish strong down the stretch.

Before seeing NC State take the field this season, I considered eight of the 11 scheduled games to be realistically winnable. The exceptions were Pittsburgh, North Carolina and Miami.

I was wrong about the Panthers. But redshirt sophomore quarterback Devin Leary was on fire that afternoon, exceeding everyone's cautiously optimistic forecasts for his development in year two.

Leary is now most likely out for the remainder of the regular season with a broken fibula, so I'm not sure the Pack will be able to recreate the magic from Heinz Field when it faces Miami next Friday in likely its last game against a ranked opponent this year.

The Wolfpack has won every game that has been competitive but has lost by an average margin of 24 points in its two defeats.

I see these final five games all being close — except maybe Syracuse. They have fewer players on scholarship this year than many FCS programs due to opt-outs and roster disparities.

Without Leary, though, this team still has to prove it can consistently beat evenly-matched to inferior competition as it has in the first six contests.

The Pack will play Miami strong and I could even see an upset on a Friday night in Carter-Finley Stadium. Then it will take care of business, for the most part, against Florida State, Liberty, Syracuse and Georgia Tech. A slip-up or two is to be expected, however.

State goes 3-2 down the stretch and finishes 7-4, exceeding the expectations of many and leaving behind a solid foundation for an interesting season in 2021.

Duke's Mayo Bowl, here we come! I sure hope so. I'm definitely buying a ball cap with that logo on it in Charlotte.

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