Exciting, competitive game.
I haven't followed NCSt much but I was impressed by their toughness. Their Freshman QB was shaky at the start of the game but when we allowed him to break contain he then settled down. He doesn't have the arm, but he plays like the old Philadelphia Eagles QB Randall Cunningham.
The NCSt defense was pretty stout. They stuffed our run game quite effectively and their pass coverage was pretty tight.
I am not a fan of the 3 man rush on the long field. I can understand it in Red Zone defense, but not on a long field. A 3-man rush against a dual threat QB on the long field should be a Capital Offense.
On live viewing, I think I counted 6 dropped passes: two by Hawes (one a big third down), the two biggies by Singleton, One (TD) by Avery and one by Chase Lane. Two would have been for touchdowns and one (the long play to Singleton in the first quarter) would have been down inside the 3.
Some of the drops were tough, contested catches, but the QB put the ball where the receiver could get two hands solidly on the ball. Had we caught even three of those six drops, the game would not have come down to the FG.
Yeah, Philo throws a hot ball, but the NCSt coverage was tight and those balls have to have zip. The dropped TD pass in the End-zone for the tipped INT, the QB has to put zip on that ball in that area of the field. Singleton was at the end of his route but looked around at the defense when Philo threw the ball. Got to keep your eye on the QB at the top of your route.
When Philo is in the game, we have gotten a look at our pass blocking, which is actually really good. I wonder how many points this O could have put-up with a healthy Haynes King?
I fully expect to hear that Haynes King will have his second shoulder surgery this off season and would not be surprised if this represents his last year as a QB at this level. Hope I'm wrong, but I don't see any QB controversy in the future over him.
Philo is a natural slinger. Without hesitation he can get balls through solid coverages into the hands of receivers. Hard to believe he can read a defense and deliver sweet balls like that given his experience level. Either he is going on raw instinct and that when the coaches give him stuff to think about is when we will see the hiccups or he is really that quick of a processor and we are looking at a future pro.
Birr is back, which is nice...
(I've seen what our defense is capable of giving up late in games for many, many years) There is absolutely NO WAY a D should give up a pass 25-30 yards downfield in that situation. We are extremely fortunate that the FG missed - the wind was trying to blow it back into the uprights. 
