The playing of Green Day’s ‘Time of your Life’ did precious little to make life better for fans disappointed in the way the football team’s early 17-0 lead gave way to a 41-30 loss to Virginia Tech Saturday at Carter-Finley.     A beautiful early-October day began with fans wondering how far the Pack would rise in the polls with a win over preseason ACC favorite Virginia Tech. It ended in a stinging loss that left some fans reevaluating a team that looked so dominant through four weeks of action.   Disappointment was the last word on fans’ minds in the early going. Less than a minute into the second quarter, the Pack looked like it might cruise to 5-0. State led by 17 and faced first-and-10 from the VT 43 with about nine minutes remaining in the half. A blowout win, perhaps the biggest victory of Tom O’Brien’s tenure in Raleigh, seemed imminent.   But it wasn’t. Over the remainder of the second quarter and the first play of the second half, Wilson threw two interceptions to Tech’s Jayron Hosley, the defense gave up a touchdown drive highlighted by a 71-yard run by Tyrod Taylor and VT scored on a kickoff return to make it 17-13.    The touchdown return to open second half play helped Virginia Tech outscore State 34-13 over the final 30 minutes and prevail, 41-30.      As is almost always the case in losses, several ugly numbers jumped off the post-game stat sheet at distraught fans, some of whom quickly resorted to wondering if the 4-0 start was a fluke.    Yes, it is easy to wonder if the defense has taken a sudden step backward. Allowing the opposition to pick up 8.6 yards per carry and pile up nearly 320 rushing yards will create such doubts. State let the Hokies’ Darren Evans pick up 161 yards and average nearly 11 yards per carry and had just as much difficulty corralling Tyrod Taylor, who rushed for 147 more from the quarterback position.    And the fault doesn’t lie on the defense alone. The offense gained 507 yards, but scored only one touchdown and 13 points after the first minute of the second quarter had elapsed. All three of the team’s turnovers were committed after the strong early start, and on the day, only two of the Pack’s five forays into the red zone led to touchdowns. Virginia Tech was out-gained by more than 60 yards, but came away with touchdowns every time it got in the red zone.   But even on an afternoon when so much went wrong, late in the fourth quarter, the Pack had the ball and a chance to pull out a thrilling victory over a team that started the season in nearly everyone’s top 10.    It’s hard to lose the turnover battle 3-1 and beat good teams. It’s nearly impossible to be competitive, much less victorious, when giving up a non-offensive touchdown on top of failing in the turnover department.    Expecting to pull off such a feat against a team of VT’s caliber would be unreasonable at best. Virginia Tech dropped a shocker to FCS opponent James Madison, but narrowly lost a tossup a week earlier to Boise, a team that figures to contend for a national title. Expect the Hokies to play a big role in determining the 2010 ACC champ.    But if State could come that close to beating a team like Tech on an afternoon filled with red zone miscues and some poor decision making by its best player, one can’t help but wonder what the Pack’s limits are if and when it develops a killer instinct and does a better job taking care of the ball against high-caliber foes.   This doesn’t change the fact that State had a golden opportunity to go 5-0 and establish itself as the team to beat in the ACC. But in coming so close to winning in spite of so many things going wrong after the first 16 minutes, the Pack showed that no matter the opposition, it is anything but an easy out, even on an off day. For a squad that only won two conference games a year ago, that has to be at most encouraging, and at the very least, somewhat comforting.