news-record.com

RALEIGH (AP) — N.C. State's hot start is history. The Wolfpack's national ranking slipped away, too — right along with a huge lead.

For the first time this year, N.C. State's humbled team is getting a lesson in dealing with adversity.

That presents a new challenge this week: Turning the focus to Boston College and putting last week's demoralizing loss to Virginia Tech in the past.

The Wolfpack (4-1, 1-1 ACC) can't afford to dwell on their first defeat or the agonizing way it happened, allowing a 17-point lead to evaporate in a mistake-filled second half.

"We all needed to feel the defeat, the taste, and I think we're ready to get back to work now," receiver Darrell Davis said Monday. "We've been winning this whole time, and you kind of need to feel that so you can get back to work and not feel complacent. You get kind of greedy. You don't work as hard."

At least for now, the Wolfpack are free of a few distractions: Their 4-0 start was their best since the 2002 team won its first eight games. They sneaked into the polls at No. 23 for the first time since '03. And they became the talk of the Atlantic Coast Conference as its last remaining unbeaten team.

That's all gone now, having been swept away in a second-half flurry in which Virginia Tech wiped out a 17-0 deficit by scoring 34 points, coming away with touchdowns on five of seven possessions and reeling off 13 points in final 90 seconds. That turned a late two-point lead into a 41-30 setback.

Coach Tom O'Brien doesn't seem too concerned that the loss will linger, saying that by Sunday's practice, his players appeared to have moved on.

"It doesn't stay with them long," he said. "Youth is a wonderful thing. They forget things fast."

But of greater importance is that they learned some things they can apply, starting with this week's visit from the Eagles in an Atlantic Division matchup.

O'Brien wants to take care of the shoddy tackling and fundamental defensive errors that allowed the Hokies to move the ball, calling it "shades of last year" — when the Wolfpack had one of the ACC's worst defenses.

And there's no doubt he wants the offense to take better care of the ball in crucial situations. Russell Wilson threw three interceptions: one in the end zone when the Wolfpack could have gone back up by 17, and another on the first play that followed Tech's go-ahead touchdown.

If nothing else, the players seem to have put things in perspective already.

The division remains wide open — No. 23 Florida State, the only ranked team from that half of the ACC, still must come to Raleigh later this month — and most of the team's preseason goals remain intact.

"Our leadership this year is better, and as a team, we're a little bit more (of a) closer-knit group," safety Brandan Bishop said. "So I think we're going to handle this loss. It's only one loss, but I think we're going to handle it and bounce back."