Winners and Losers of Saturday's College Football Spring Games
Thousands of college football fans flocked to stadiums across the country Saturday, essentially to watch a series of practice games that will have no bearing on anything in the future.
Welcome to spring football. Though nothing counts, since the season is still more than four months away, performances from schools' spring games and scrimmages help leave a lasting impression—good or bad—for the rest of the offseason.
No players, position groups or teams should be judged by what happens during the spring, but it does at least give an idea of what we can expect in the fall. Some performances were promising—others not so much.
We've chronicled the most notable efforts from Saturday's slate of spring football, picking out some choice winners and losers.
Winner: Kentucky's Run Game
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Only Missouri ran the ball fewer times than Kentucky did last year among SEC teams, which is something coach Mark Stoops wants to change in 2016. New offensive coordinator Eddie Gran has the same mindset, and the spring game showed this renewed emphasis on the run.
The Wildcats had 274 yards on 56 carries, up from their average of 162.7 yards per game last season. And that was without leading rusher Boom Williams, who sat out spring ball while recovering from elbow surgery.
Senior Jojo Kemp had nine carries for 66 yards, including a 37-yard run, while sophomore Sihiem King had 95 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. Most of King's work came against Kentucky's first-team defense.
"What I really like about him is he (has) really good vision," Stoops said, per Kyle Tucker of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Loser: Boston College's Offense
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Boston College's offense became a punch line last season en route to a 3-9 record and winless mark in ACC play, with the Eagles averaging 17.2 points and 275.6 yards per game. It was even worse when you took out the numbers against two FCS opponents, which put them down to 10.6 points and 246.5 yards against FBS competition.
Based on what we saw in the spring game, the jokes will keep on coming in 2016.
Using a standard scoring system—unlike the modified ones that some schools use, awarding points for defensive stops and takeaways—neither BC's Maroon or White squad could manage a touchdown. The final score was 6-2, which was the result of two field goals and a muffed punt that resulted in a safety, and that was the score at halftime.
While it should be noted that BC's defense was darn good last year (it ranked first in FBS, allowing 254.3 yards per game), that doesn't take away from the fact there's still a lot of work to do on the offensive side.
Winner: Louisville QB Lamar Jackson
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It goes without saying that spring-game statistics mean nothing, and those posted when a team plays its first string against the second string should be even further discounted. Still, Lamar Jackson was mighty impressive Saturday.
The sophomore completed 24 of 29 passes for 519 yards and eight touchdowns in helping the Red team to a 73-7 win over the White squad. Jackson threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Reggie Bonnafon early in the third quarter for his only throw in the second half after going 23-of-28 for 454 yards and seven TDs in the opening 30 minutes.
"Jackson got better as the game went along, finishing his final four drives with TD passes of 44, 85, 54 and 65 yards," Steve Jones of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote.
Jackson also ran for 31 yards on six carries, though it was clear that Louisville coach Bobby Petrino wanted to see more of what his quarterback could do through the air than on the ground. In 2015 Jackson threw for 1,840 yards and 12 touchdowns but completed only 54.7 percent of his passes, topping 60 percent in just four full games.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Loser: Texas QB Tyrone Swoopes
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A shoulder injury to sophomore Jerrod Heard effectively ended Texas' spring quarterback competition, though it did open the door for freshman Shane Buechele to get more snaps down the stretch in hopes of challenging Heard and senior Tyrone Swoopes for playing time.
Buechele's strong effort in Saturday's weather-shortened spring game should help his cause, but not as much as how poorly Swoopes looked.
He was just 4-of-16 for 71 yards with two interceptions in one half, as rain canceled the second half. Meanwhile, Buechele went 22-of-41 for 299 yards and two TDs. The full-time starter in 2014 who fell behind Heard last season, Swoopes isn't going into the summer with much momentum.
Once Heard returns to full strength, the competition can return to action, but at this point it's still wide open.
"I'd love to have someone named (as starting QB) way before the first game," Texas coach Charlie Strong said, per Mike Finger of the Houston Chronicle.
Winner: Notre Dame Quarterback Battle
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For anyone who expected Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly to name a starting quarterback after Saturday's spring game, we're sorry. Even if there had been some clear separation between senior Malik Zaire and junior DeShone Kizer, it was unlikely that any announcement would come until the preseason.
It's probably better for the long run that both passers had equally solid performances in the spring game, though Kizer's overall numbers look a little better. He was 10-of-17 for 113 yards along with 21 rushing yards on four carries, while Zaire was 6-of-15 for 120 yards and ran for 17 yards and a touchdown.
Zaire's TD came on a 13-yard run, one that Kelly said helped him get over a mental hurdle after having surgery last fall for a broken ankle. "That injury is now in the rear-view mirror," Kelly noted, per JJ Stankevitz of CSN Chicago.
Notre Dame's spring game was a low-scoring, 17-7 affair, one that was deliberately set up to put each quarterback in a situation that wouldn't be easy. The strong effort from each signal-caller bodes well for the future, but it will still be a long time before the team makes any decision on a starter.
"Brian Kelly re-affirmed his belief that the quarterback battle between Malik Zaire and DeShone Kizer will go deep into fall camp," Angelo Di Carlo of WNDU-TV tweeted.
Loser: Alabama Kicker Adam Griffith
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Adam Griffith has made 36 field goals in his Alabama career, though it's one particular miss (which led to the infamous Kick Six against Auburn in 2013) that will be remembered more than the others. Chances are most Crimson Tide fans won't even remember how the senior performed in his final spring game, unless it proves to be a harbinger of things to come.
Griffith was 1-of-5 on field goals in Saturday's spring game, with his only make coming on a 21-yarder in the fourth quarter after missing four times (from 36, 47, 42 and 54 yards) in the first half. That gave the Crimson team a 3-0 lead before it lost 7-3, though Griffith kicked for both squads.
Early struggles aren't anything new for Griffith, who missed his first four field goals in the 2015 season—two against Wisconsin and two against Middle Tennessee. However, he then converted 23 of 28 attempts to finish the year.
Winner: Georgia QB Jacob Eason
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The No. 2 pro-style quarterback from the 2016 recruiting class, per 247Sports, Jacob Eason's early enrollment only added to the high expectations he brought with him to college. And that was before he made all the throws during Georgia's spring game.
Despite hardly playing in the first half—his only contribution was to hold on an extra-point attempt—Eason was clearly the highlight of the afternoon. While senior Greyson Lambert, junior Brice Ramsey and redshirt freshman Nick Robinson were hot and cold, Eason wowed throughout his time on the field. He started with a few checkdown passes and then fired a 33-yard strike to fellow true freshman Riley Ridley.
Later on he dropped one in the bucket down the sidelines to Reggie Davis, setting up a touchdown, and Twitter reacted appropriately.
"Oh Jacob Eason, a perfect pass to Reggie Davis," Bleacher Report's Barrett Sallee tweeted. "Just take the job, man."
Eason's final line: 19-of-29 for 244 yards and a touchdown. How much that helps him in the quarterback competition when it resumes in preseason camp remains to be seen.
Loser: Late-Arriving Ohio State Fans
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Having already produced the two largest spring-game crowds in college football history, Ohio State wasn't satisfied with last year's crowd of 99,391. Even coach Urban Meyer wanted more, telling reporters Monday that "there’s nothing like performing in front of 100,000 people."
Meyer and the Buckeyes got their wish, with an announced crowd of 100,189 to set another spring attendance record, but they probably could have gotten even more. Ohio State's official capacity is 104,944; however, more than two-and-a-half hours before the 1:30 p.m. ET start, the school announced on Twitter that every available ticket had been purchased.
Guess it pays to show up early in Columbus, even for scrimmages.
Winner: Penn State QB Trace McSorley
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The quest to replace three-year starter Christian Hackenberg isn't over, but Trace McSorley appears to have put himself in the lead after a strong spring. That continued with Saturday's spring game, in which the sophomore showed a strong grasp of the Nittany Lions' new uptempo offense.
McSorley went 23-of-27 for 281 yards and four touchdowns, connecting with four different receivers on scores. His competitor for the starting job, redshirt freshman Tommy Stevens, was 10-of-17 for 100 yards.
Just as important as the accuracy and efficiency, which came in a no-huddle attack implemented by new offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead, was McSorley's ability to get the ball away quickly. He was sacked once, compared to the four times that Stevens went down, after Hackenberg and McSorley were sacked a combined 46 times in 2015.
Loser: USC's Defensive Line
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One of the final competitions of Saturday produced what could be a significant injury, despite every effort by USC to keep its public spring event as safe as possible.
The Trojans actually stuck more to drills than have a scrimmage, yet that didn't prevent sophomore defensive tackle Noah Jefferson from injuring his left elbow, per Keely Eure of USCFootball.com. If the injury proves to be severe, USC's already-thin defensive line will have taken another hit.
USC graduated all three starters and five members of its defensive line rotation, and then early in the spring, junior Kenny Bigelow suffered a torn ACL. Jefferson, who had 23 tackles last year, is expected to contend for a starting spot in 2016.
Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com or Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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