NC State football is having one of its best seasons ever. Why does it feel so disappointing?

RALEIGH — Expectations have cast a dark shadow across an N.C. State football season that could be among the best in school history.

The Wolfpack were left staggering from the body blow that occurred last Saturday during a 45-42 loss to Wake Forest, a result that will likely cost them a spot in December's ACC championship game.

But there's no reason why the loss should be a knockout punch.

Wake Forest's student section cascading onto the field to celebrate the win actually amplifies N.C. State's accomplishments this year — fans don't celebrate that way for just any win.

Let's not forget  how Wolfpack fans reacted after beating Clemson at Carter-Finley Stadium this season, the same night coach Dave Doeren proclaimed "the curse is broken" after erasing an eight-game losing streak to the Tigers.

"We understand where the fan base is coming from," offensive lineman Ikem Ekwonu told the USA Today Network this week. "We also have really high expectations for ourselves."

Those expectations, though, should not stop fans from appreciating what this team has done and could still accomplish in 2021.

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With two regular-season games remaining and a subsequent bowl game, the Wolfpack (7-3, 4-2 ACC) could still play in Charlotte if Wake Forest loses on the road to Clemson — the Tigers have won 33 straight in Death Valley — and Boston College, which is 2-0 since the return of quarterback Phil Jurkovec.

N.C. State can still finish the regular season with nine wins for the second time in four years and an undefeated record at home for the first time since 1986. Of course, that means beating Syracuse on Saturday at 4 p.m. and UNC next week during senior night. 

Only the 2002 team, led by quarterback Phillip Rivers, has ever won double-digit games in a season for the Wolfpack. This year's squad could be the second.

There has been a fair share of setbacks and criticism this season. Injuries have decimated the defense, the once potent run game has been abandoned and dropped passes and missed kicks have come at inopportune times. 

But most disappointing has been the heated reaction of fans, not towards coaches or play calls — which is expected and sometimes warranted —  but towards the players themselves.

Passion for college football runs so deep that we forget college-age kids reside under helmets and pads.

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Kicker Chris Dunn received hundreds of angry messages, many of them death threats, after missing three field goals against Clemson, even after the game ended in a win. Wide receiver Devin Carter dealt with a similar outpour after dropping a catch in the fourth quarter in a 31-30 loss to Miami. 

"You see those comments and it definitely adds on top of what you're going through," injured linebacker Payton Wilson told the USA Today Network. "You can walk around all day and say that stuff doesn't affect me, but your phone is in the back of your pocket and the back of your head all day, and you're like, 'this is what people think of me.' "

Like any fan base, N.C. State faithful want to be a national powerhouse. But they should also appreciate what is being built in front of them:

Consistency.

Doeren, now in his ninth season, has won 11 of his last 16 ACC games and is on pace to become the program's all-time winningest coach in the next two years. He needs one more victory this year to have five eight-win seasons with the Wolfpack. No other N.C. State coach has done that. 

"I had to sit there, shake it off, and then I said, ‘OK, look, what happens if we win out?'" Doeren said this week on his radio show “Well, we’re undefeated at home, we beat our rival, we win nine with a chance for 10 in our bowl game. We’re going to finish in the top 25 if we do that. All kinds of things.”

If this team can accomplish all that, it should not go unnoticed.

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David Thompson is an award-winning reporter for the USA Today Network covering NC State and Duke athletics. He can be reached at dthompson1@gannett.com, at 828-231-1747, or on Twitter at @daveth89.