If you break down NC State's 2014 season into three chunks, you've essentially got the summary of the year. The Wolfpack took advantage of its non-conference schedule to start 4-0, then went 1-3 over the next four games, and then finished 3-1, including the bowl game.
That made for a per-game percentile performance graph that described our emotions as much as it did the team's results. State bottomed out to an incredible degree against Clemson, but it also had dominant road performances against South Florida and UNC, plus an outstanding effort against UCF in the Knights' back yard.