NC State plays five teams ranked in preseason AP Poll|NC State Hot Topics|Team BattleGround|College BattleGround

I go back an forth about how I feel about this season, from excitement for the challenge ahead to sheer terror for the challenge ahead. It ain’t about to be an easy year, but I also feel like this team has a better chance to surprise than any of Dave Doeren’s prior Wolfpack teams. (After the completely dull 2015 season, I’ve talked myself into this idea.)

They’ll have plenty of opportunities to do that, with five opponents in the AP top 25 to begin the season, and three of them in the top 10. Miami just missed the cut, finishing 26th in the voting. I guess the good news is that these six games are split evenly between home and road. We have enough of a hill to climb with a lopsided number of these upset bids having to come on the road.

My plea this offseason is the same as it was two years ago: please, please let our starting quarterback be good. Give me that and I should be able to mostly be at peace with what happens this year.