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How will UNC, Duke and NC State do this football season? The story for Week 9.

N.C. State can look to Bud Fox for its motto this week: “Life comes down to a few moments. This is one of them.” The Wolfpack is walking into Gordon Gekko’s office in South Bend this week with a chance to stake its claim as a legitimate College Football Playoff candidate. The difference between a 12-1 ACC champion with a win over Notre Dame and an 11-2 ACC champion that lost to Notre Dame could be the difference between getting in and being left out.

Of course, that presumes wins over Clemson and either Miami or Virginia Tech in the ACC championship game, none of which ranks on the low side in degree of difficulty, but if all the pieces are going to fall into place for the Wolfpack (6-1), it’s a lot easier if this is one of them.