NC State fans…take a deep breath…the sky is not falling.

Unless your goal for this season was the College Football playoff, all of the realistic goals are still intact.

An ACC Championship, for me, is the goal for this team. I’m proud of this team, but they aren’t a national championship caliber team. Can this team win a conference championship still? The first one for NC State since 1979? Let’s take a look at that.

Did this loss to Notre Dame hurt NC State’s chances of winning the conference?

Not at all, but someone might need to remind some TV people that.

BREAKING NEWS

Notre Dame must be a full-fledged member of the ACC now. pic.twitter.com/0skuI3wM1Q

— Rob McLamb (@RobMcLamb) October 28, 2017

Attention everyone. Notre Dame is officially an ACC member in basketball, but they are an INDEPENDENT team in football.

Therefore, NC State is still undefeated in conference play, and sits in 1st place in the Atlantic division. They hold the keys to the goals they have set.

If the Wolfpack can come back to Raleigh and redeem themselves by beating the Clemson Tigers, the national champions that they should have beat last year, they will have nearly punched their ticket to go to Charlotte representing the Atlantic division in the ACC championship game.

In fact, if NC State beats Clemson, they can lose two out of the three remaining games against Wake Forest, Boston College and UNC, and still represent the Atlantic in the ACC championship game.

Now, beating #7 Clemson is no easy task, but I went into yesterday’s game thinking NC State had a better chance of beating the Tigers, than they did at beating the Fighting Irish.

The game at 3:30 against Clemson is in Carter-Finley Stadium. Chances of winning a football game there are much better there than yesterday’s matchup in South Bend. I think NC State matches up better against Clemson. They are more familiar with Clemson. They know they should have beaten them last year.

Also, I’m banking on Nyheim Hines being back (please God) against the Tigers. His absence yesterday threw the whole offense off-kilter. My gut says that the staff didn’t want to risk him not being available for the more important game…the Clemson game.

Clemson should be the favorite next weekend, but NC State should hold their head high. They aren’t chasing the top spot in the division. They are defending it.

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