RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Soon, the pressure will start building for North Carolina State. The 13th-ranked Wolfpack are undefeated, dreaming of a perfect season.

"The one thing about being the hunted is you're going to take the best shot of every team you're going to play," coach Chuck Amato said Monday.

"Now, can you handle that? Will you, under stress, give in? Will you fail because of the pressure or will you step up, which is our theme this year, and go beyond that? When you are the huntee sometimes you don't know who you're hunting. We know who's hunting us."

The Wolfpack (7-0, 2-0 ACC) can match the best start in school history with a victory Saturday over 25-point underdog Duke. Amato was a senior linebacker under coach Earle Edwards in 1967 when that club started 8-0.

After the Blue Devils, the Wolfpack takes on Clemson, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Virginia and Florida State to end its 13-game regular-season schedule.

N.C. State's first seven opponents - which included two Division I-AA teams - have a combined record of 21-25. The last five ACC teams the Wolfpack face are 21-11.

"Whether you have as many good players as the other team that's important, but the most important thing is will those 11 that you put on the field play as a unit, be a team that has a common goal to win," said Amato, who still believes Florida State has the most talent in the ACC.

Through seven games, N.C. State is third in the nation in scoring (43.7), 16th in total defense and is converting an ACC-leading 52.2 percent of its third-down plays. The Wolfpack's special teams are also one of the best units in the nation.

There appear to be no weaknesses on the field. That's why Amato said he'll stress the intangibles the next few weeks to try to keep his team sharp and not thinking of the polls or the Bowl Championship Series ranking, the first of which comes out in a week.

"We have a chance to win them all, lose them all or something in between," Amato said. "We've probably got comparable talent to everybody, with one exception. Florida State still has the best talent in the league 1-through-85. We don't even have 85.

"Now it comes down to, let's work our fannies off, let's coach the little things, let's stress detail, let's stress bending your knees, let's stress stance, let's stress alignment."

Amato told the team Sunday they have just 14 hard practices - two each week - the rest of the regular season. He wants each player to make them count.

"I shouldn't have to walk off the field without a voice," he said.

Amato said he can set the proper tone for his team, and take the pressure off, by telling a joke or by getting serious when it matters most.

The former Florida State assistant will earn his money this week, trying to get his club emotionally ready to face a heavy underdog seven days after beating cross-town rival North Carolina.

"We're undefeated, but that doesn't mean the other teams in this league are going to lay down," Amato said. "Look at what Virginia has done, they've won five in a row. Every team scares you. Now is when sometimes we as coaches become cowards because there is a lot at stake."

Amato laughed when asked if understands how the BCS standings are compiled, and said he would watch next Monday night to see where the Wolfpack lands.

"I don't understand it all. I just understand 1-through-10," Amato said. "All I know is I told our coaches in a staff meeting that this could be a lot of fun."