College Spring Games Round-Up

Filed in archive College Football on April 14, 2008

© cracklow's faux toes

Mid-April is annually the time when a flood of college football spring games take place, and fan excitement over a team's prospects is at a high. However, it is just a scrimmage and it's beneficial to keep in mind that the defense is almost always ahead of the offense at this point. That said, let's take a look around and see what happened in this weekend's games.

Florida Gators: In front of over 60,000 people, not to mention an ESPN television audience, the Gators rolled out their Heisman winning QB, Tim Tebow, and new tailback Emmanuel Moody, a transfer from USC. Though Tebow was playing with the flu, he still managed to complete 13 of his 21 pass attempts for 200 yards and 2 TD's as the Blue team beat the Orange team 28-14. Moody was also pretty good, with 111 rushing yards and a TD, though he did fumble at the goal line on one play. Also, redshirt freshman RB Chris Rainey scored on a long pass play and had 140 total yards.

Michigan Wolverines: Apparently, this spread offense of new coach Rich Rodriguez can be difficult to run without a QB capable of running it. No score was officially kept, but Michigan's D had five interceptions, and the Ann Arbor News reported Rodriguez has this to say after the scrimmage: "We're not even close to being ready to playing any football games."

Florida State Seminoles: The Gold represented the defense, while the Garnet represented the offense, so the score of Gold 22, Garnet 12 should tell you what you need to know about the performance of the team. Presumed starting QB Drew Weatherford sat out with a sprained knee, so back-ups Christian Ponder and D'Vontrey Richardson filled in, combining to go 23 of 44 for 280 yards, 2 TD's and 2 picks. The two were sacked a combined 11 times.

Oklahoma Sooners: The final score was Red 69, White 40, but that is a bit misleading, as OU uses their own scoring system instead of the usual TD's and field goals. QB Sam Bradford completed 12 of 25 passes for under 200 yards and a TD, but he also threw three interceptions. However, he wasn't alone, as Oklahoma QB's combined to throw five INT's on the day.

Clemson Tigers: Team Orange beat Team White by a score of 16-7 in Clemson's spring game. Wide receiver Aaron Kelly, one of the best in the business, had a good day by hauling in 8 passes for 108 yards and a TD. Throwing to him was QB Cullen Harper, who put in a solid performance with 13 completed passes on 18 attempts for 142 yards and 2 TD's. RB C.J. spiller finished with just 20 yards on 8 carries.