Apr. 10—MORGANTOWN — It's been a week since West Virginia's Gold-Blue Showcase, which was one of the earliest spring games in college football.
Over the next couple of weeks, a bunch of FBS teams will have spring games. Pitt's Blue-Gold Spring Game and Marshall's Spring Game are on April 12, and Penn State's Blue-White Game is on April 26.
The content of spring games has dramatically shifted from even 10 years ago. The games aren't games anymore. They are more glorified practices, and it was what was expected for WVU's game.
But there was a little more than expected. Rich Rodriguez had a kicking competition to start, then had full 11-on-11 for a little over an hour with full contact, except two quarterbacks. He ran a little over 80 plays.
"I was going to get to between 70 and 80, " Rodriguez said. "I was going to run six two-point plays, but somehow the coaches screwed up the first one. That threw it off schedule."
That's not what Rodriguez said was going to happen. Before the spring game, Rodriguez said there would be some drills, a little scrimmage and some seven-on-seven. He didn't want to show off too much.
"That today was kind of more like a practice, " Rodriguez said. "It wasn't going to be a true game. We're not keeping score. I did that one time where you have a scoring system for like three and outs or a first down. After five minutes, I got confused."
The spring games have become something more for players on the bubble and players who are a little deeper on the depth chart. They've essentially become tryouts for other teams. During the spring game, players who don't normally see action get film to show to other teams when they enter the spring transfer portal.
This is why a lot of teams have opted out of having a spring game. Texas and Nebraska are two teams that aren't having a spring game. Colorado's Deion Sanders wanted to practice against another team.
Teams aren't required to showcase practice or have spring games. It doesn't add another practice to the limited 15 practices over the 34 days in the spring. It hinders coaches because they don't do as much as they could in a closed practice.
It's not even a time for evaluation for players who might be cut when the roster shrinks down to 105. Rodriguez wasn't going to do much evaluation Saturday because it's not realistic.
"I wouldn't take a whole lot into anything that happened, " Rodriguez said. "Some it is like 'this guy looked great.' He was going against a true freshman that's supposed to be getting ready to ask his girlfriend to prom."
So, what's the future for West Virginia's spring game ? It's too early to tell, but one of the options is just having a closed practice instead, and Rodriguez wasn't opposed to practicing against another team if that's passed by the NCAA.
In 1925, Michigan had the first spring game shown to fans, creating a spring festival. That's the biggest downside to removing the spring game. Losing the spring game, loses a lot of money for college towns, who rely on the April financial boost. One day in the middle of April, the stadium seats are occupied, the tailgate lots have cars, and the restaurants and hotels are filled. The announced attendance for the Gold-Blue Spring Showcase was a little over 10, 000.
The financial impact is one of the only reasons the spring game still lives on and will probably continue in Morgantown. Luckily for the fans, Rodriguez showed more than a lot of coaches in this era would.
"There's a certain level of trust I have with the media, " Rodriguez said. "We'll see where that takes us, right ?"
