Highlights! NC State finds the big plays in blowout of VMI

The game yesterday went pretty much exactly as anticipated, with NC State very quickly overwhelming VMI on the way to an easy win. Big plays abounded, led by Julian Gray, who had a long catch and run, and also returned two kicks for scores (though one was negated by penalty).

Brennan Armstrong was outstanding—that throw to Gray was perfect—and the offense didn’t punt in the first half. while Robert Kennedy had one hell of a productive afternoon defensively. Kennedy had 1.5 sacks in addition to his first-quarter pick-six.

Freshman running back Kendrick Raphael got a lot of burn in the second half and ended up with a team-high 85 yards rushing on 16 carries. NC State was even able to insert walk-on quarterback Ethan Rhodes late—he didn’t get to throw a pass, but still it was a nice gesture by Dave Doeren to reward a dude who no doubt works hard behind the scenes.