RALEIGH - N.C. State's Justin Burke may have done more Saturday than throw the winning touchdown -- a 30-yard Hail Mary heave to tight end George Bryan on the final play -- in the Red-White spring football game.

Burke also may have given Wolfpack coach Tom O'Brien and the offensive staff more to think about heading into summer workouts and then fall practice.

While much of the scuttlebutt in spring practice has been about quarterback Russell Wilson, about how well he was throwing the ball, it was Burke who appeared to be the most poised and effective quarterback this day.

Wilson, a redshirt freshman, had a shaky first half and closed 8-of-21 for 61 yards -- hardly what the crowd of 15,273 at Carter-Finley Stadium probably expected to see, given all the pregame chatter. Burke, splitting time with both teams, was 17-of-24 for 191 yards and two touchdowns.

And there was the last play.

Wilson, in his most productive stretch of the game, had guided the White team to a 21-17 lead, scoring on a nifty 25-yard run with 1:12 to play. But Burke, playing for the Red team in second half, responded with some good throws and two scrambling runs.

With 4.9 seconds to play, the Red team called a final timeout.

"It was our end-of-game situation. It's heave it up and let someone make a play," Burke said.

Bryan, a 6-foot-5, 250-pound redshirt freshman, was flattened by linebacker Audie Cole coming off the line but bounced back to his feet and ran to the right corner of the end zone. Burke rolled to his right, the game clock already at zero when he threw the ball.

"He was being chased for his life, and he threw the ball in the end zone, which you have to do in that situation to give yourself a chance to win," O'Brien said. "He made a play, and that's good."

Bryan, a big target, came down with the ball in a scrum for the 23-21 victory.

"The coaches lined us up and told us to get in the end zone and go for the ball," Bryan said. "Everybody's fighting, and I just came up with the ball."

It was an exciting ending, and Bryan's grab happened to come in the same spot where Danny Peebles latched on to Erik Kramer's Hail Mary throw to beat South Carolina in 1986.

Burke also had a 22-yard touchdown pass to Donald Bowens.

Harrison Beck, who started four games last season, was 13-of-20 for 158 yards. Daniel Evans, who started eight games last season, sat out the game and still is recovering from shoulder surgery.

Also on hand to observe was Mike Glennon, an incoming freshman and one of the nation's top quarterback recruits. O'Brien has said the 6-foot-6 athlete could be in the mix in fall camp.

"I'm just going to go in and compete and trust Coach O'Brien," Glennon said. "I think he'll do what's best for the team. If he wants me to redshirt, I'll redshirt."

O'Brien praised the play of Burke and Beck but noted, "We're not going to make any decisions off this game. We've got a long way to go.

"That's what I told our team: We're better than we were a year ago at this point, but that really doesn't mean anything because ... we were a 1-5 football team the first six games of the year. The most important thing is what takes place from now and how we get ready to attack summer ball, because we're in no position to go win a football game now."

The Pack, turnover-prone last season, did not have a pass intercepted and had just one fumble. Tailback Jamelle Eugene led all rushers with 68 yards on 15 carries, including a 21-yard touchdown run, and Bowens and Owen Spencer each had five receptions.

Linebacker Robbie Leonard scored on a 56-yard punt return, scooping up the ball near the sideline after a shanked kick.

Burke, a redshirt sophomore from Lexington, Ky., seemingly has been the forgotten man the past two years. He was in for just eight plays in three games last season. But after Saturday ...

"It should make the team feel good that the quarterbacks are making each other better through competition," Burke said. "Russell's had a great spring. ... He's worked really hard to get his game where it's at.

"Having said that, [for] Harrison and I, that's a challenge. So it's been good for all three of us."