There may not have been 40,000 screaming fans packed in Autzen Stadium. There may not have been an actual game being played on Saturday afternoon. Heck, there may not have even been a real opponent.
But there was football.
And that’s all that mattered to the 8,573 die-hard followers who soaked in the Oregon football team’s annual Spring Game under gorgeous blue skies in Autzen.
At Thursday’s practice, head coach Mike Bellotti said he would be tough to satisfy in Saturday’s annual intrasquad Spring Game.
The coach expected his Green team — made up of first- and second-teamers — to dominate his White team — composed of third- and fourth-stringers.
The Green team passed for 364 yards and reached the end zone four times in shutting out the White team 31-0 to close out the spring season.
Was it enough to impress the coach, who watched the entire game from a bird’s eye view up in the press box?
“Umm … temporarily. Let me say that,” Bellotti said. “I’m never completely satisfied. I feel like we’ve made some progress this spring. I was pleased with the way the green group operated.”
It didn’t take long for Joey Harrington and the rest of the starting corps to set the tone for the afternoon.
The White offense went an unimpressive three-and-out to open the game. Harrington then trotted onto the field in his mallard green uniform at the 12:40 mark of the first quarter.
He came out firing on his first play, a 16-yard completion to wide receiver Keenan Howry. On the next play, Harrington showed poise in the pocket and found wide receiver Marshaun Tucker deep downfield for a 40-yard pick up.
All of a sudden it was first-and-goal from the seven-yard line, and Harrington handed off to redshirt freshman tailback Joe Broder, who rumbled home for the touchdown. Broder led all rushers with 43 yards on seven carries.
Josh Frankel proceeded to knock through the extra point and it was 7-0 Green team after an impressive opening drive that took only 39 seconds.
“We were all pretty pumped coming off the sideline there,” said Harrington, who completed 8 of 10 passes for 185 yards and one touchdown. “We expected to move the ball and we did.”
A.J. Feeley, who split time with Harrington on the Green team, had a frustrating afternoon as the elbow on his throwing arm continues to bother him. Feeley said he’s not where he needs to be and that his 3-of-10 performance for 30 yards was the least of his concerns.
“It was nice to play in front of the crowd today, but it’s just disappointing the way everything worked out for me,” Feeley said. “But I’m not going to dwell on that. I just have to look ahead and get healthy.”
With Feeley’s questionable status, the need of a solid third-string quarterback is vital. Enter Jason Fife.
The redshirt freshman presumably won the No. 3 QB spot over fellow freshman Orlando Evans. Fife began the game with the White team and went 4 of 6 for 37 yards. But it was in the second half, when Harrington and Feeley never left the sidelines, that Fife was most impressive.
At command of the Green team, Fife directed the offense to two touchdowns en route to a 10 of 11 second half showing for 149 yards.
While he spoke afterwards, he happily signed autographs for kids and said he wasn’t nervous about directing the first-team offense.
“I was excited,” Fife said. “I was like, ‘All right, cool. It’s an opportunity, let me take it.’”
Both touchdown drives that Fife directed (71 and 79 yards, respectively) ended with the ball in fullback Josh Line’s hands, as he continued to delight Bellotti with two one-yard scoring plays.
“I thought it was a good outing, and I think we got a lot of things done,” Line said. “The main thing now is to carry it on to next year and build off it.”
Also scoring a touchdown was tight end Justin Peelle who capped a 71-yard scoring drive late in the second quarter when he shook off two tacklers for the 39-yard touchdown reception from Harrington.
Oregon did show up on defense too, as the two team’s combined for eight quarterback sacks. Free safety T.J. Tomlin had a game-high six tackles.
Although there were plenty of things to be pleased about, Bellotti was most satisfied that there were no significant injuries.
“I can’t tell you how great that is,” said Bellotti, who noted that Al Cotton (sore shoulder) and Seth McEwen (sprained ankle) would be fine. “To play the game, get everybody a lot of action and be healthy gives us a great start [on next season].”