How good will NC State football be in 2014?

Is it too early to hazard a guess at the competency of NC State's football team in 2014? If you happened to catch this past season, your answer might well be a resounding "yes, yes it is way too early and also could we potentially give up football altogether so I can live longer?" You shush it! You shush it right up, bub.

State won a shade fewer than half its games last season, but there is reason beyond the addition of Jacoby Brissett to think that the Wolfpack can get back into bowl-eligible shape. Bill Connelly has constructed a system for preseason projections that account for several different factors, and while it is obviously no sure thing, it's a pretty good ballpark reference. By his measure, the Pack stands to rank around the middle of the FBS (No. 68), which is an improvement over the team's 85th-place finish in 2013.

This is significant progress; let me lay it out in tiers.

Ranking 1-25: nope

Ranking 26-50: it's our Orange Bowl and we'll go if we want to

Ranking 51-68: this is our calling

Ranking 69+: oh for fuck's sake