C'mon man, I watched it too. Limit the hyperbole. Phil threw a pick on a deep ball, into double coverage behind the receiver. He also over threw some short out routes...just to name a few of passes he did miss.
He lead an offense that was 4-12 on 3rd down, fumbled on a strip sack which his OL recovered, and took 5 additional sacks (BC has a touted, veteran OL with plenty of preseason hype, Book took half as many sacks with a good OL against the same D).
How about Duke committing 5 turnovers playing a roll in field position, momentum, and opportunities? BC only outgained them by 30 yards. To compare how ND fared against the same team: more yards, more first downs, and more points. I get games are turning into Book vs Phil, but the first half of this game in particular, Phil struggled.
-1st drive, 10 plays, 8 rushes, 2 pass, one complete, one miss, the WR made some nice moves after the catch, rush TD
-2nd drive, 2 plays, 1 rush, 1 pass, INT
-3rd drive, 3 plays, 2 rushes for short gains, 3rd down held the ball too long, sack, 3 and out
-4th drive, 4 plays, 2 rushes for short gains again, a designed pass play broke down and he tucked it for a few yards, and missed a throw on 4th down, turnover on downs
-5th drive, 9 plays, 4 rushes, 5 pass, 2 complete, 2 misses, and took a sack, punt
-6th drive, 7 plays, 1 designed QB run, 6 pass, 2 complete, 1 miss, 2 sacks, 1 nice run, punt
HALFTIME
-7th drive, 5 plays, 3 rush, 2 pass, 1 complete, 1 miss, punt
-8th drive, 3 plays, 2 rush, 1 pass, sack, FG
-9th drive, 4 plays, 4 passes, 4 completions, pass TD
-10th drive, 1 play, 1 pass, 1 completion, pass TD - busted coverage, wide open
-11th drive, 13 plays, 6 rush, 7 pass, 4 complete, 2 scrambles, 1 sack, FG
-12th drive, 4 plays, 4 rush, end of game
His overall stats look nice at the end, but you couldn't have watched the same game as me, unless you were wearing anti-Book bias glasses. He had 2 nice drives, found the open receiver on broken coverage on another, and handed off during a strong running drive, so 4 of 11 were positive?
Now I'm not a Book supporter. I believe with Austin, Lenzy, Johnson, Skowronek, Watts, McKinley, and Wilkins there is talent at WR and there is certainly talent at TE with Tremble and Mayer as receiving options. So unfortunately, we are most talent deficient, of all positions, at QB. I'm just not so sure Phil was the answer due to how he handled his business. All serious QBs early enroll now, that didn't help from the start. And to be the man, you have to beat the man. He was playing catch with Kyle Hamilton during scrimmages instead of developing positive reads and results during practice opportunities. He wasn't preparing like they wished/wanted. In summary, he never MADE the coaches put the young guy with potential in over the incumbent player.
