Pittsburgh: Dave Wannstedt's first spring game as Pitt's coach was notable for two sights rarely seen around Panthers football this time of the year.
A power running game. A turnaway crowd.
With Heinz Field unavailable while new grass is being grown, Wannstedt moved Pittsburgh's scrimmage to suburban Gateway High School and was greeted by an overflow crowd of 8,007. It was a bigger turnout than those during Walt Harris' eight seasons as coach, when the 2001 spring game was held sans crowd at the school's practice complex.
"We had a lot more fans, obviously, than we had room," said Wannstedt, the former Bears and Dolphins coach who is still adjusting to his first college head coaching job. "It's a nice problem to have when you don't have enough room."
Freshman running back Rashad Jennings powered through the No. 1 defense for 119 yards on 19 carries.
With the top three backs from Pitt's 8-4 Fiesta Bowl team (Tim Murphy, Raymond Kirkley and Marcus Furman) injured and out, the 239-pound Jennings is clearly the top candidate to start heading into summer camp in August.
Tyler Palko was 18-of-27 for 151 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, including middle linebacker H.B. Blades' 56-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Florida State: The Seminoles' defense beat the offense 20-10 under a modified scoring system, finishing with seven sacks, two interceptions and linebacker A.J. Nicholson's 85-yard return on a fumble recovery.
The defensive rebounded after giving up Lorenzo Booker's 6-yard touchdown run on the opening drive of the spring game.
"The offense started off real good and then the defense just swarmed them to death," coach Bobby Bowden said. "You can't hardly protect those guys when they start blitzing. ... I would like to see more (big plays), but it's nearly impossible for those quarterbacks to cock their arm. The heat is so vicious on them because our defense is so quick and so fast."
Virginia Tech: Aaron Rouse returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown and Marcus Vick led the Maroon team to a 13-0 victory over the White before a crowd of about 34,000 in Virginia Tech's spring game.
Vick, who started drills listed as the No. 3 quarterback after returning from a suspension that sidelined him all of last season, was 9-for-17 for 107 yards with one interception. Vick's longest completion went for 29 yards to Justin Hamilton.
Sean Glennon, No. 1 at the start of spring practice, was 7-for-18 for 38 yards for the White team. He threw three interceptions, fumbled once and was sacked four times.
Missouri: Quarterback Brad Smith's first three series with the No. 1 unit produced only one first down, setting the tone for a dominating day by the defense in Missori's Black and Gold game.
Smith picked up two first downs, one with the benefit of a pass-interference call, in his fourth series before Tony Temple lost a fumble after a reception.
"The offense struggled a little bit, so we've got a lot of things we've got to get better at and work on," Smith said. "That's why we practice."
The game was the first chance for fans to see the Tigers' revamped, no-huddle shotgun attack. Missouri went to the new offense, based on the successful system used by Utah to win the Fiesta Bowl last year, to provide more opportunities for Smith after a disappointing 5-6 season in which the Heisman hopeful was bottled up all year.
"We definitely made progress," receiver Brad Ekwerekwu said. "As far as putting in the new system, I think we did really well."
Using a system that rewarded sacks, forced turnovers and forced punts with points, the defense won 63-46. Backup quarterback Brandon Coleman and third-stringer Chase Patton each threw two interceptions and the offense managed only two touchdowns, one on the final play of the scrimmage.
Nebraska: Joe Dailey, the starter last year but now fourth on the quarterback depth chart, was 7-of-20 for 121 yards and an interception returned for a touchdown in Nebraska's Red-White game.
"It's up for grabs right now," he said. "I plan on being here until '07."
Asked later to clarify his thoughts, the junior said, "If I decide I want to transfer, I may. If not, I'm staying through '07."
Coach Bill Callahan said Dailey remained alive in the competition even though Zac Taylor, Beau Davis and Joe Ganz are listed ahead of Dailey on the depth chart.
Clemson: Kelvin Grant had eight catches for 146 yards and two touchdowns and backup quarterback Will Proctor threw three TD passes in Clemson's spring game.
Proctor was 18-of-23 for 275 yards and starter Charlie Whitehurst completed 21-of-30 passes for 177 yards and an interception.
Tavaughn Monts and Michael Hamlin had 11 tackles each, and Tye Hill, Brandon Croley and Brandon Nolen intercepted passes.
"We are working on being a good defense, a great defense," Hill said. "It starts this spring. If we can do this all season, I am pretty sure we are going to be a top 10, top five defense."
Jad Dean missed his first three field-goal tries -- coming up well short from 49, 45 and 54 yards -- before making a 45-yarder with 19 seconds left.