Monday, 20 April 2015

THE READ OPTION: 99,000 people attended a fake Ohio State football game

Good morning! Here's what you need to know from the college football weekend. There's some non-Buckeye stuff!

Ohio State had 99,391 fans attend its spring game on Saturday.

That's a new all-time spring game record, breaking OSU's own mark of 95,722 in 2009 and topping annual contenders Alabama and Auburn by more than 30,000 each. (The state of Alabama had weather.)

Eighteen FBS teams hosted fewer fans in their entire 2013 seasons than OSU had on Saturday. Even at many big schools, attendance is slipping as staring at electronic screens becomes more appealing than driving, spending, parking, sweating, and driving some more.

Those of us who love the sight of a full college football stadium shouldn't take for granted that we'll have all that many of them in 20 years. Let's mass together while we can, no matter what's at stake, and figure out the future later.

Does it matter that almost 100,000 people gathered to watch Ohio State practice? It doesn't matter at all. And that's exactly why it's awesome.

Here's the updated spring games attendance tracker. You gonna try and be visible from space next Saturday, Tennessee fans?

Spring games rundown!

Alabama ran the dang ball, but showed what might be the three premier pieces of its new passing game.

Auburn's new quarterback might mean a less run-heavy offense, based on spring overreaction.

Georgia Tech's replacing a whole bunch on offense, and the visuals confirmed this.

Louisville's QB quarrel is all but concluded after a one-sided performance.

Mississippi State rang in a new era:

Missouri's defense remains its much stronger unit, shocking zero onlookers.

Notre Dame's quarterback battle will continue, despite Cardale Jones poking fun at it and despite Malik Zaire doing this:

Ohio State learned it only has three starter-quality quarterbacks, not four. The heart breaks. The two quarterbacks who played did get to smack each other pregame, and Cardale threw a ball about as far as a ball can possibly be thrown ...

... so, yeah, the Buckeyes had the most entertaining spring game, in addition to the best-attended. They're also the national champions, btw.

Oregon State broke out its unpro-style offense.

Penn State's offense had some actual bright spots, if you squint!

Texas has a clear favorite at QB, but much remains unsettled.

And many other things happened! Visit your school's SB Nation site right away for more.

CROOTIN'! The biggest spring game weekend means tons of visits, and tons of visits mean plenty of commits. Surely Ohio State didn't win this section as well, right?

As far as blue chips go, LSU regained a five-star defensive tackle, Notre Dame added a four-star tackle, Cal gained a four-star safety, Penn State snagged a four-star corner, UCLA picked up a four-star receiver, and USC [another synonym] a four-star back.

But dangit, Ohio State won. OSU's *five* commits spread across two classes and included three four-stars, one a linebacker with the outrageous name Tuf Borland.

King of the Mountain. Remember when Boise State had that one eight-win season, and everyone concluded the Broncos' window had closed and UCF would be the new face of mid-majordom forever and nobody would ever eat potatoes again? Bill C's heroic preview series has wrapped and ranked the MWC, where the Fiesta Bowl champs are absolutely loaded.

If you rank BSU in your preseason top 10, I will give you a respectful high five.

ARREST SEASON IS HERE. The nearing end of spring ball signals the time of year when the only thing going on in college football is miscreancy. The weekend blotter:

Five-star UCLA freshman Soso Jamabo racked up six vehicular charges on prom night, since reduced to just evading arrest, and Florida corner J.C. Jackson allegedly participated in an armed robbery.



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