Boise State wraps up its spring practice on Saturday with the Blue and Orange Game (actual colors may vary). Many of the Broncos' opponents have already done the same. Join me after the jump for a trip around the Mountain West and BSU's nonconference schedule to see who has done what this spring.
Georgia
Spring game will be held this Saturday, April 16, and will air on regional television. In related news, KTVB just had a brilliant idea.
Toledo
Spring game will be held this Friday, April 15.
Tulsa
Spring game will be held this Saturday, April 16.
Nevada
Spring game will be held this Saturday, April 16.
Fresno State
The Bulldogs held their spring game on Saturday in front of a crowd of 2,000 fans. The Fresno fan base sure is excited about the Bulldogs' final year in WAC play, aren't they?
The story was Derek Carr, Fresno's new quarterback and little brother to Fresno legend David Carr. What did Carr do well in the team's scrimmage? I'm still not entirely sure.
Carr didn't have any dazzling plays or connect on any deep-ball passes to make the crowd roar. Instead, he showcased his quick release on out patterns and quick slants that seemed to impress his teammates -- even if the quality of the throws was lost on the average fan.
Redshirt freshman WR Victor Dean did things that were not lost on the average fan, namely hauling in four touchdown passes a la Austin Pettis fade routes. Expect that play to become a staple of the Fresno playbook, since the offense returns one of five starters and may only have time to snap the ball and chuck it up there.
Colorado State
Spring game will be held on April 23. Should be fun. Last week, the Ram offense committed no fewer than 25 false start penalties in what head coach Steve Fairchild described as the worst offensive practice in his CSU tenure.
Air Force
The Falcons do not have a spring game because that seems just a little frivolous when there are wars to fight, don't you think? Man, talk about a guilt trip. They ended practice nearly a month ago, and even were kind enough to send out an updated depth chart at spring's end. The biggest surprises were that the team's starting safety and starting center were supplanted by up-and-comers, which was kind of a recurring theme throughout spring. Coach Troy Calhoun liked the look of his young players. Air Force dynasty? Probably not, but you never know.
UNLV
Caleb Herring is the clubhouse leader for the Rebels' starting quarterback spot, a spot that no one expected you to know was available. Herring's competition with Sean Reilly mirrors that of position battles up and down the depth chart as the UNLV team is young, inexperienced, and played just poorly enough that no one's job is safe. UNLV football, everyone.
TCU
The Horned Frogs have wrapped up spring practice and can now look forward to a long offseason of "Can Casey Pachall replace Andy Dalton" stories, mostly written by Andrea Adelson. Pachall, the heir apparent to Dalton, was pushed in spring camp by Matt Brown, but as our friends at TCU's Spit Blood blog tell it, the job is Pachall's to lose.
... from the little we saw, Pachall clearly has the throwing edge. He didn't get many chances to air it out, but a couple of times he did and hit Antoine Hicks perfectly in stride... only to have him drop both of them, one of which would've gone for a score. I can only recall one pass where he floated it and would've been picked had the receiver not made a play to break it up. And, after shaking off a few jitters, his short passing game was spot on, although a couple of those early short arms were due to line pressure. Despite the 10 pounds of ink weighing him down, the kid -caution: cliche coming -throws a very tight ball and could fit it into some very tight spaces. That's what she said. A few times he split multiple defenders and hit Skye Dawson perfectly in the ole bread basket. Then later in the scrimmage, he hit Waymon James PERFECTLY in the flat over the heads of a couple of defenders for a nice gain. I'm not clear on his exact numbers, but he had no picks and no balls I can remember that should've gone for picks. I'm not ready to say he's our next BCS Bowl winning QB, but all of the signs are there that he will be fully capable of leading this team into the Big East ...
Sounds a little like Derek Carr. I have no idea if that's a good thing.
San Diego State
The San Diego Tribune ran the following headline for its recap of the Aztecs' spring scrimmage: "Red and Black Game filled with teachable moments." Read: Rocky Long, you have your work cut out for you! The game had the feel of a Boise State spring game - lots of opening week starters sitting idly by watching the youngsters do their thing. RB Ronnie Hillman was the scrimmage's leading rusher with 42 yards on eight carries or, to be more accurate, 41 yards on one carry and one yard on seven carries.
Wyoming
The Cowboys held their annual spring game on Saturday, and the split-squad scrimmage came down to one of the final plays - a sack of redshirt freshman Emory Miller on a two-point conversion. The sack preserved a 14-13 win for the Gold, called such so as to avoid a rather tasteless "Yellow and Brown" game.
Miller brought his spring scrimmage interception total to four with two picks on Saturday. He is competing with true freshman Brett Smith to take over the QB job vacated by the exiled Austyn Carta-Samuels who left the team after last season to be mentored by Jeremiah Masoli. Yes, this really happened. Wyoming head coach Dave Christensen will decide this fall between Miller and Smith ... and maybe Masoli, whom the Internet rumors to be headed back to the Cowboys. Oh, that Internet. First Twitter, now this.
New Mexico
Spring game will be held this Saturday, April 16. Mike Locksley expects a fight.