Spring Football For the Alabama Crimson Tide's 2016 Opponents

THE SCHEDULE:

Sep. 3 vs. Southern Cal (Spring Game Attendance: 23,000) - The Trojans are starting over yet again after the crash and burn of Steve Sarkisian. New Head Coach Clay Helton was hired by Lane Kiffin in 2010 to be his quarterbacks coach and was later promoted to offensive coordinator. Former 5-star QB Max Browne (7-11, 114 yds, 3 TD) was recruited by Kiffin. As a redshirt junior, it looks like Browne is finally ready to take the reins at quarterback. So Cal's "spring game" was more of a scripted practice that included situational play.

Sep. 10 vs. Western Kentucky (n/a) - The Hilltoppers are finding a way to move on without school-record shattering quarterback Brandon Doughty. The Red and White Spring Game is this coming Saturday (see below).

Sep. 17 at Ole Miss (0) - With Vaught-Hemingway Stadium under renovations, the Rebs did not have a spring game this year. They did hold a scrimmage in the final practice that saw the offense struggle to get in rhythm. Quarterback Chad Kelly missed the final week of practice due to a sports hernia surgery. They were also without Issac Gross, Tony Conner, Fadol Brown, Robert Conyers, and Rod Taylor who were all sidelined with various ailments.

Sep. 24 vs. Kent State (0) - Apparently, the Golden Flashes did not hold a spring game. Early enrollee running back Justin Rankin was named the offensive MVP for the spring.

Oct. 1 vs. Kentucky (28,441) - Sophomore Drew Barker has received the starting nod from head coach Mark Stoops after a solid spring at quarterback. With the absence of Stanley "Boom" Williams at running bnack (recovering from elbow surgery), little-known sophomore Sihiem King led all players with 95 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. The Cats will be much improved on offense. Defense...? Not so much.

Oct. 8 at Arkansas (TBA) - Brandon Allen's kid brother, Austin, takes over as signal caller in Fayetteville. The Hogs play their spring game this coming Saturday, Apr 23 (see below).

Oct. 15 at Tennessee (67,027) - Trying to rally excitement, Butch Jones didn't use a traditional scoring system but held a lot of mini-competitions with odd and inconsistent point accruals in between full team activities. Thus, the Orange topped the White 70-63.

Oct. 22 vs. Texas A&M (27,412)  - Quarterback Trevor Knight had a breakout freshman year at Oklahoma, leading the Sooners to a 11-2 record and a certain major bowl victory we won't mention here. Two seasons later he was third-string, which led to a grad-transfer to the Aggies. In TAMU's spring game, Knight looked like his younger self as he finished 25 of 36 for 282 yards, with a passing touchdown and a rushing score. His one blemish on the day was a first-quarter interception. FWIW, the Texas A&M Offense "outscored" the Defense by a score of 42-38 in another weird point award system game.

Oct. 29 bye

Nov. 5 at LSU (21,000) - The Tigers had the third-worst spring game attendance in SEC. The Purple defeated the White, 17-7. Perhaps not so surprising, Leonard Fournette had a quiet day rushing for 49 yards on eight carries. Most of the concentration was on the passing game and the progression of QB Brandon Harris (11-15, 106 yds). LSU had many walk-ons filling out the second and third-team defenses. Is there a depth issue in BR?

Nov. 12 vs. Mississippi State (15,717) - Dan Mullen is looking to fill the gaping hole left by Dak Prescott. However, the bigger concern might be the defense where the Bullies lost both starting corners, DT Chris Jones, OLB Beniquez Brown, and DE Ryan Brown among others.

Nov. 19 vs. Chattanooga (n/a) - Don't they have some kind of train or something there? Spring Game on Apr 23.

Nov. 26 vs. Auburn (45,723) - Spring is a time to start with a clean slate, right? Not for the Tigers. The offense was a combined 1 for 22 on third downs and had two fumbles in the red zone. An 81-yard scoring run by Ryan Davis was wiped out due to holding call against WR Darius Slayton. FWIW, the Blue team beat the White team 19-10.

OTHERS:

Georgia - New coach Kirby Smart challenged the fan base to pack Sanford Stadium and they responded with 93,000 and standing room only. Many fans were actually turned away from the 92,746-seat stadium. Their latest Messiah, freshman QB Jacob Eason, looked pretty good, which triggered UGA fans' natural instincts to heap unrealistic expectations on an 18-year old kid who should be picking out a tux for the Prom.

Miami - Meanwhile in South Florida, how did the 'Canes fans react to their new coach? 14,000.

Ohio State - It is unclear what motivated Buckeyes fans to their big turnout but the school is claiming a record number of 100,000. Maybe it was beautiful weather or maybe it was the NHL Blue Jackets missing the playoffs. It seems odd to have such excitement around the program with so many roster holes. Whatever it was, Bucky is the king of spring football attendance. Incidentally, capacity at "The Shoe" is 104,944.

Texas - During his short tenure in Austin, Charlie Strong has refused to release attendance numbers. There is probbaly a good reason for that. I am going to liberally guess around 30,000 showed up. Senior QB Tyrone Swoopes was atrocious: 4-16, 71 yds 0 TD, 2 INT, 2 sacks.

Boston College - Maroon 6, White 2. There was no special scoring here. It was two field goals and one safety. Yep. That's about right.

ATTENDANCE:

A select group of attendance numbers:

UPCOMING:

A few games of interest for this Saturday (CT):

* Oregon is slated for Apr 30.