This Saturday head coach Dave Doeren is looking for his first signature win at NC State.

I want to be clear. I’m impressed by what Doeren has done at NC State, and I’m here for the program he is building, and the word “program” isn’t a term that could legitimately be associated with Wolfpack football for quite some time now.

With that being said, he has yet to beat a team that finished the season ranked in the Top-25. The News & Observer’s Joe Giglio did some research, and he is 0-14 against opponents that finished ranked in the final polls.

Finished? 0-14

2013: 0-3
2014: 0-4
2015: 0-3
2016: 0-2
2017: 0-2 https://t.co/aBNQApQcfT

— Joe Giglio (@jwgiglio) October 15, 2018

According to my calculations, it’s actually 0-15.

2017
#9 Notre Dame (finished 11th) – 14-35
#6 Clemson (finished 4th) – 31-38

2016
#3 Clemson (finished #1) – 17-24
#7 Louisville (finished #21) – 13-54
#19 Florida St. (finished #8) – 20-24

2015
#3 Clemson (finished #2) – 41-56
#19 Florida State (finished #14) – 17-34
#11 UNC (finished #15) – 34-45

2014
#1 Florida State (finished #5) – 41-56
NR Clemson (finished #15) – 0-41
NR Louisville (finished #24) – 18-30
NR Georgia Tech (finished #8) – 23-56

2013
#3 Clemson (finished #8) – 14-26
#3 Florida State (finished #1) – 17-49
NR Duke (finished #23) – 20-38

That’s not to say that NC State hasn’t had ‘big’ wins under Dave Doeren. The Wolfpack have won 6 games since 2013 as underdogs. The two victories over Florida State and Louisville last year, who were both ranked, are the two biggest wins of the Dave Doeren era in my opinion.

2014
Syracuse – 3 point favorite – 24-17
UNC – 6.5 point favorite – 35-7
UCF – 2 point favorite 34-27

2016
UNC – 9.5 point favorite – 28-21

2017
#12 FSU – 11.5 point favorite – 27-21
#17 Louisville  – 3 point favorite – 39-25

A good sign of the consistency of play under Doeren, is the fact that the Wolfpack has won 83.3% (25 of 30) of the games in which they have been favored since the beginning of the 2014 season.

Last season NC State finished the season ranked 23rd in the AP Poll, and even if they lose to Clemson on Saturday, I project that the will finish ranked for the second straight season. The Wolfpack will likely be favored in every game after Clemson, and they have shown the ability to take care of business under Doeren as the favorite.

If NC State finishes the 2018 season ranked in the Top-25, it would be the first time the Wolfpack has done so since 1991-92.

Things are moving in the right direction. Period.

With that being said, if NC State wants to get over the hump, and finish seasons ranked 1-15, instead of 16-25, they have to find a way to pick up some signature wins over opponents that have staying power in the rankings…like Clemson.