SPRING FOOTBAW: WARNING, GRAPHS INVOLVED

Sir—
  backing up the idea of new coaching buzz translating into spring game attendance is that Louisville had over 28,000 for their spring game to see new coach Steve Kragthorpe. Meanwhile, Bobby Petrino thought briefly about sending a nice bouquet to celebrate the Orange bowl victory with former players btu ultimately just rolled over and went back to sleep.

L-ville should be on here—unsure why it’s not.

College football is in the air – alive and doing well in April. As for Ron Zook and the Fighting Illini. He held his spring game at St Rita High School in Chicago. The scrimmage went so well that the #1 prospect in Illinois, Darius Fleming was so impressed he committed !!!! To Notre Dame !!!!!!! Thanks Ron !!!! This makes up for Pete Vass’s dumb text message to Regis Benn (yes Regis is his nickname)

Congrats to Ohio State for showing class by wearing the “VT” on their helmets. This was a nice tribute to the school. Big ups to Tressel…..

Congrats to Alabama and Penn State for putting on a good showing.

Amazing what good weather can do for attendance in Happy Valley. It’s the first time in years when the weather hasn’t been a 45-degree downpour.

(45-degree, of course, referring to the temperature and the angle of the rain)

Spot on…

I’m a little biased, but I think Nebraska did a pretty good job selling itself on TV this spring. Not only by just getting the spring game on the NFL network, but taking the opportunity to talk about the program, the school, and bringing the coach into the booth to talk about his vision for the program. That’s hours of easy, positive publicity that could pay off big in terms of recruiting and overall public opinion.

does this mean USC (the one in LA) and Michigan have no hope this year?

I’d like to know where Arkansas’ 1,800 in attendance is sir?

HAHAHAHAHA.

Jon, Orson, you’re right. Louisville should have been on there. Somehow I missed them.

I’ve added them now (over on bigrednetwork.com) and updated the graph so they’re in their rightful place above FSU and Michigan St.

Leave a comment here or there if you see any other omissions.

Thanks!
-Jason

Michigan didn’t have a spring game.

The odd thing about Callahan is that he gets a bad rap from those outside Nebraska, mostly because he’s an easy target. Yet if the spring numbers are any indication, Husker fans have few issues with him, no?

According to the note at the bottom, Texas A&M hasn’t played their spring game yet. Wasn’t that their tenth win?

The attendance at PSU had a lot to do with the weather – it was the first “non-winterlike” Blue White game in recent memory.

It was a great day – special even (special like Princess Barbie, not the Olympics).

Orson,

On the Callahan front, here in Nebraska it’s a little complicated. 90% of us like Callahan and think he’s doing the right thing for the program. However, some of us can’t get over the old guard (Solich/Osbourne era) not running things. Sometimes traditions die hard.

This whole thing doesn’t help when a few former disgruntled players had a separate golf outing the same day and same time as the official UNL golf outing. Osbourne and a few others from the old regime were at that one. Osbourne’s image in Nebraska is getting a little tarnished. Personally I think the whole thing is fucking ridiculous. Osbourne’s offense has since been rendered obsolete, and Solich, well, let’s just say he couldn’t stop from the GHB.

But yeah you’re right, Callahan sometimes makes himself an easier target for the media (throat slashing, “fucking hillbillies” comment towards OU). I think it’s hilarous.

Chuck

I can’t fathom that 92,000 people would have nothing better to do than go to a spring game(Tuscaloosa), nor can I fathom 51,000 people wanting to actually spend hard-earned cash to watch a silly, meaningless scrimmage (ND), and yet I’m a big enough college football fan that I count down the days to the start of the season once June 1st rolls around.

I guess I’ve always taken the Allen Iverson approach to spring football: “Come on… we’re talkin’ ’bout PRACTICE!”

Then again, the fact that my alma mater’s spring game resembled a grade-school soccer tournament might have something to do with my lack of enthusiasm towards this little ritual (Scheumann Stadium is under construction, so the spring game was moved to the adjacent 50-yard practice field, and you had about 350 or so Ball State diehards in lawn chairs and such surrounding the field… every possession started at the 35-yard line, much like our opponents did during the Bill Lynch era…)

my parents took me to the spring game when I was little and it was a cool opportunity to meet the players and get autographs, things of that ilk. But, unless I’m taking my kids for similar reasons, I feel the same way Papa Lou does about Spring Games. We talkin’ bout practice. I’m happy to get the spring practice reports from the media and the fans – but I’m nowhere near motivated to go watch a practice unless I live damn close to campus.

Texas A&M already had their spring game; attendance was 24,212.

 That’s an impressive number, considering the joke our game is, and considering who our coach is.

 Chuck (#13),

 If you think the option is obsolete, you’ve been listening to too many broadcasters.
 The problem with Nebraska wasn’t the offense; the problem was your defense went to crap.

With all due respect Beergut, the option is dead. Recruiting pretty much killed the option. Good QBs want to play in the NFL and an option QB is no way to get to play in the NFL at that position.

1. I think it means that there is better stuff to do in LA or Ann Arbor on a spring weekend.

The USC game was on Easter weekend and the LA Times continued its steep decline and didn’t even cover spring practice this year, so I’m not surprised that the numbers were down.

I think it’s impressive that a shitload of peeps showed up just to watch Alabama and Penn State practice. And there are better things to do in LA, but there are also several million more people in those states. So their absence is more noticeable. Funny how when it’s not your team with the record crowd it’s a show of stupidity or retardation. I guess you also think that the Houndstooth Twins have herpes since you aren’t fucking them

Papa Lou, you can go out on a BEAUTIFUL spring day, and spend it on a beautiful campus (at least in Tuscaloosa, never been to Ball State), tailgate with friends and family and then go cheer on 100 young men who have spent the last three weeks busting their asses so they can entertain you in the fall… or you can stay home and moe the grass.

Can you really not understand it?

Oh, did I mention the scantily clad coeds? Because if I didn’t, there were lots of them. Lots. Very. Many. Hott. Women. Not. Wearing. Very. Much.

I was at the USC spring game, there were about 24K in attendance. 15k was the paid attendance but students and children under 13 were free.

Michigan did have a spring game; it happened a couple weeks ago. But they were actually somewhat honest — they called it a spring practice. I was there, and like many spring practices, there wasn’t much to write home about.

In my experience, Michigan’s spring games/practices/excuses to overcharge for food have long been sparsely attended; this year’s was no exception. I’m sure the gloomy cold weather kept some people away, but it seems like a lot of Michigan fans don’t care too much about the spring practice. And really, I don’t have a problem with that.

Oh, wait, there was one memorable aspect to Michigan’s practice: Mini-Me was there.

92,000 bammers and only 2,000 teeth….they are just like NASCAR rednecks…what a joke!!

Papa Lou (#14), it’s one thing to go to the spring scrimmage to enjoy a nice Saturday afternoon in the sun and seeing the home stadium in a more relaxed setting, and it’s another to analyze the scrimmage to death. The former is perfectly understandable, the latter is not except of course for those who are actually being paid to coach the team.

For the Auburn faithful, A-Day traditionally coincides with a home baseball series against an SEC opponent, and it’s so timed that, when the scrimmage ends, fans can walk across the street to Plainsman Park in plenty of time for the first pitch. That is a fun weekend, and the fact that this year there wasn’t a home baseball series is a big reason I skipped A-Day this year.

(One A-Day weekend, the baseball concessions featured both boiled peanuts and boiled crawfish. Good times, good times.)

#20: Peter, is Stillman really that beautiful in the spring?

“or you can stay home and moe the grass”

Well, I’m not sure how a double eye-poke will help with lawn care, but I’m willing to give it a try…

And I’d still rather sit in a beer garden somewhere on a beautiful spring day than sit crammed with 91,000 sweaty strangers watching a practice where the only possible outcome of any import is an injury to a key starter. But maybe that’s just me.

Regardless of the attendance at the USC spring game, I’m sure we’ll do fine in home attendance this year.

Plus I think there’s more curiosity at Alabama, tOSU, Penn State because those schools have no idea what their team will look like this year. At USC, we pretty much know what the makeup of the team will be like, since it will basically be the same team we had last year plus a dash of experience and an even nastier defense.

Jeff: That may be true in Bama’s case, but OSU fans had a pretty good idea what to expect last year and packed about 70,000 or so in then too.

Those saying the option is dead apparently aren’t watching West Virginia, Florida/Utah, etc. It’s not dead, just retooled into the spread. Wishbone option is dead, yes. Option football in general is not. Kids want to be NFL QB’s, and with more and more Vicks, Vince Youngs, etc. meeting success (relatively speaking, I suppose) in the pros, then they see that being a dual-threat QB is a means to get there.

You can’t be a Tony Rice non-thrower anymore, but the option most definitely isn’t “dead”.

UGA had a large crowd this year as well (30,000+, I think). If the other schools are doing what we do, and donate the ticket sales dollars to charity, there should be some happy charities this year.

I do agree with you Nate about the option…it’s not quite dead yet. To quote Fred Zappa “It’s not dead yet, but it’s starting to smell.”

Yes the option still exists in the spread, but those quarterbacks aren’t exactly going to thrive in the NFL. Leak did a tremendous job at UF, but his height and arm won’t make him a starting QB in the NFL. Pat White for WVU is a great athlete, but won’t be starting QB in the NFL either. He’ll play in the NFL, just not at QB.

I think there should be a distinction between an option QB and a dual threat QB. Vick, Vince Young, etc are much better passers than your typical “option quarterback”. They can drop back, pull out of the pocket, and jet it up field. I don’t think Eric Crouch or even Tommie Fraizer could do that, partly because of the option system.

The bigger question is, and Orson I think this would be a great article for you to write, does the spread offense create good QBs? I don’t know the answer to that simply because I’m not all that familiar with it. Can Tebow play in the NFL at QB? I guess that will remain to be seen.

Florida State’s in there, so I get the Mid Major Conferences tag, but why the PAC-10?

Chuck, good points, but the jury is still out on spread option/“dual threat” QB’s. As I said in my original post, you can’t be a non-thrower anymore; the success that a Tony Rice or a Tommie Frazier had throwing the ball all came from the fact that you expected them to run it down your throat; that’s too one-dimensional these days. If your definition of an “option” QB is one who runs the wishbone or an I-formation option, then yes, those days are mostly gone. Outside of the Academy-type wingback formations, you’re not going to see that all that often.

Just like the offenses, the QB’s are evolving, into I guess what you’re classifying as the “dual threat” QB. The more QB’s like Michael Vick (read: Sportscenter highlights. “Sure he was 7-24 for 98 yards, but did you SEE that juke??!?!??!”) and Vince Young have success (read: convince NFL coaches that they can play at that level), the more younger kids you’ll see trying to be that “dual threat”. And then the more you’ll see dual threat QB’s in college, and then get drafted into the pro’s. Do I think Pat White will be an NFL starter? I have no idea. But the pattern is there.

As for Tebow: Alex Smith at San Francisco should give us a clue to that question. I’ll leave it up to the panel to decide if Smith is a success or not, but he is starting in the NFL—I don’t see that Tebow would do anything different.

Mississippi State’s spring game attendance is represented by that speck on your monitor just hovering above the baseline.

Photographic evidence:

Or just click on my name

The reason for our (Alabama’s) large attendance at the Spring game is easily understood: and, I submit, not that amazing. Take any of the football programs with a large fan base (OSU, PSU, Florida, Texas, Tennesse, the list goes on), put them on the same fucked-up roller coaster we’ve been on for the past 10 years, hire a coach with a National Championship, and watch how many fans show up for practice.

Here’s an abbreviated example: If Florida had re-hired Spurrier after Zooker’s firing, I’m pretty sure the Spring Game attendance would have approached a sellout.

1. just doesn’t get it.

But this guy sure does:
http://www.sportsline.com/spin/story/10149381

For Penn Staters – Blue White Weekend is an event – and the spring game is just one aspect. It’s like Spring Homecoming (The Arts Festival is our summer homecoming) – While many more folks made it into the stadium this year, I’d say that there were nearly as many waiting behind in the parking lots. It’s a practice tailgate – as well as a practice game. And it’s free – free – free – free. Nothing else at Penn State is free – but the spring game (and even parking) is, I’ll type it again, free. Suddenly folks can bring all the friends they want to (and children) – come and go as they please and not be out $1,000 for one weekend. It wasn’t always free – when I was a kid I think it was $1 or $2, but it was the one “game” I was guaranteed to get to go to. Plus we FINALLY had good weather and we all wanted to witness yet another reason why Terry Bowden has renamed our corner of Central PA “Classy Valley” (until tomorrow, that is).

South Carolina’s spring game (the real USC) was alot of fun. The game was on ESPNU and their was a Hootie and the Blowfish concert before the game and during halftime(all the guys in the band are alumni). The spring game means nothing, its just a fun excuse to tailgate and party a little bit during the offseason.

What the…..a gamecock? Have you guys EVER been relevant in anything? To say you are the real ANYTHING is a complete and utter joke.

For the record, the spring game is not free everywhere. $5 in Columbus.