NC State coach Tom O’Brien is trying to be philosophical after two losses in a row, including last week’s weak effort against Virginia, as his team prepares to host Wake Forest Saturday.

“I’ve been around long enough to know that – there’s only one team that meets its goals every year, and that’s the team that wins the National Championship,” he said. “You try to win 14 games, that’s what you want to do. Life is about readjusting and setting different goals as you go along.”

Turnovers have derailed the Wolfpack season and have them readjusting their goals. State has turned the ball over just four times during its five wins but have turned it over 19 times in its four losses. “It’s pretty apparent what you have to do to be successful,” O’Brien said.

Combine that with the fact that the Wolfpack was flat against Virginia and beaten in the trenches. Problems with the offensive line and runningbacks have hampered the Wolfpack with their running game. “That’s what happens in college football,” O’Brien said. “That’s why each week you worry about what you’re able to control that week, because you don’t know what team you’re going to have until the trainer tells you who’s going to practice and what you have. And then you take that product and you do the best you can to try to put yourself in the position to win each and every Saturday, and that’s the way it goes.

“And then at the end of the year, you’re either going to make goals like winning seasons, go to bowl games, those things, or you’re not.”

O’Brien on Wake Forest:
“It’s a typical Wake Forest team, a lot of red shirt seniors and juniors, a lot of experience, been in the program for a long time. Certainly the heart and soul of the guys on defense is Whitlock in the middle, No. 50. He’s played for a long time, makes a lot of plays, causes a lot of disruption there. They’re great run-to-the-football, get-after-you type of guys there, and then certainly (Michael) Campanaro is back, and he and (Tanner) Price, they’re on a different wavelength than everybody else. They know where they’re going to be and what they’re going to do, and Josh Harris does a great job when he gets the ball in his hands of making things happen. They’re very inventive with what they do offensively, and the 3-4 allows them to do a lot of different things on defense.”