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RALEIGH -- N.C. State made a belated return to football Saturday evening, throttling Wofford and ending the school's longest losing streak since 1959.

First things first. State could yet make something of its season, but the Wolfpack first had to win a game. Wofford came just in time.

Even Duke has finally learned that to end a streak, you schedule a win. Or as old Clemson coach Frank Howard used to say, you find somebody you can beat and schedule 'em every Saturday.

State won for its new coach, Tom O'Brien, who had already seen a season of woe before finding somebody he could beat, and now he and his team will march into the teeth of what suddenly looks like an imposing schedule.

It won't get any easier, O'Brien said. In fact, now's when the fun starts.

"We're obviously happy to get a victory,'' he said without smiling. "I didn't even know if we knew how to celebrate once we got in the locker room.''

O'Brien had seen his team fall twice and extend a losing streak he was hired to end. Before he could, State fell to Central Florida and Boston College, his previous employer, while losing three of his best players, replacing his starting quarterback and hearing just the slightest rumbling from the Wolfpack's famously fidgety fan base.

But as anyone looking out over the ACC landscape can see, nobody's any good to begin with.

State began with a victory over Wofford, and now the Wolfpack has joined the race for conference superiority and all that goes with it. That would be an Orange Bowl berth, which Wake stole a year ago and State is certainly capable of stealing this year. The combined won-lost record among in-state ACC schools is now 4-8. At 1-2, State has the same record as Wake Forest, UNC and Duke with the toughest part of its schedule yet to come.

Clemson comes into Raleigh next week. Louisville will visit the week after that, two straight opportunities for the Wolfpack to erase the early season shadows and make national noise. Road trips to East Carolina and Florida State follow.

N.C. State, like almost every team in the entire ACC, can end up anywhere between here and Miami. State is that good, and the conference is that bad.

The late-arriving Wolfpack is deep and talented with experience at key positions. The team has needed everything it has just to get to 1-2, what with the injuries and mixed signal callers and all that goes with any transition from one administration to another.

There were times, in the Chuck Amato years, when it looked as if the inmates were running the asylum. Now with an ex-Marine at the helm, N.C. State will likely get tougher as time passes and eventually surpass expectations.

O'Brien didn't seem all that happy about beating Wofford. He said he was tired when it ended.

"I never thought a wishbone game would go four hours,'' he said.

The long victory over Wofford was as tough as he thought it would be, and O'Brien said he would rest better but not dwell on the victory with Clemson looming. He said he would let the players enjoy it.

"I think they're excited,'' he said. "They're happy. They've got the 800-pound gorilla off their back right now. Now we have to start a winning streak.''

Already, the Pack has found its schedule tougher than anyone expected and that's before all the holy wars later in the season.

East Carolina, North Carolina and Wake Forest await the team picked by the media to finish last in the Atlantic Division.

Against the Southern Conference foe it beat 90-7 the last time the schools met, State broke out of a slumber that started against Wake last October. The seven straight losses last season cost Amato his job and set the scene for O'Brien to leave Boston College and come to Raleigh promising a no-nonsense return to significance.

In its slumber, the Wolfpack lost three straight games to Carolina, saw Wake go to a BCS bowl and helped fuel the re-emergence of ECU, which fell to 1-2 Saturday just like everybody else in this state.

O'Brien will have to rebuild on the run with 14 senior starters and the first of what State fans hope will be a series of good recruiting classes. O'Brien will have to win back the state of North Carolina before the Wolfpack can re-emerge as a steady football program.

First, though, comes the rest of this season. As strange as it sounds, N.C. State is as good as anybody else right now and could end up anywhere from 1-11 to a BCS bid.

That's because the rules say someone from the ACC gets to go to a BCS bowl every season.

The early returns suggest that will be Boston College, which would be irony only a State fan can appreciate. N.C. State can yet make something of a season that started 0-2, but the Wolfpack first had to stop its longest losing streak since the Eisenhower Administration.

Everything's a learning experience again at N.C. State.

The first thing was to learn how to win again. Next might be learning how to enjoy it, but that might have to wait. O'Brien did suggest he and his players might work on some postgame traditions.

"We sang the alma mater on the field,'' he said. "We've got to put the words up on the scoreboard so we can learn them. So we can sing.''

State's dour victory was a victory nonetheless. And now the fun starts.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ehardin@news-record.com