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The defense ran on to the field in celebration as it came away a 25-20 winner when Josiah Yazdani's 46-yard field goal clanked off the right upright.

Neither side held anything back. Jovon Johnson delivered a big hit on Jordan Reid in the game's second series, players from each team were called for offsetting personal fouls in the first half and the defense called a timeout before the final play to try to ice Yazdani.

With the game tied at 20, Yazdani connected from 29 yards out after the timeout, but the offensive coaches, despite having no prior official warnings, were flagged for being on the field, giving two points to the defense and setting up a second more difficult attempt for Yazdani, and this time, he was just off the mark.

"You want competition, so we put together a point system that allowed us to have competition, and lo and behold, it was pretty close at the end, so the point system must have worked OK," Solich said. "It must have been a fair point system to some degree and a little bit of fun at the end when we had the officials throw the flag on the coaches on the field to make it end the way it did."

Solich said he let the offensive and defensive coaches make their own calls, including the one to try to ice Yazdani, saying that it was "beautiful, man."

"I make enough calls that questioned during the regular season, so I let these guys make the calls in spring ball," he added. "We have a little bit of fun with it, and it's fun for the coaches and it got to be fun for the players, too, which is good to see."

While it might have needed a little help at the end to come out on top on the scoreboard, the defense probably deserved the victory, holding the offense to just one touchdown and one field goal in the scrimmage.

Many first-string players on both sides sat out with injuries, and most of those who did play saw limited action.

Redshirt freshman running back Maleek Irons was the only player to reach the end zone, scoring from 4 yards out late in the first quarter. He was the leading rusher was 31 yards on seven carries.
"It was a good feeling," Irons said. "We have a great line, and they pushed well. I didn't get touched until the secondary, so congratulations to the line. Statement-wise, we've got five good backs. Everyone specializes in something. We've got a great arsenal of players as far as backs."

The starter as a freshman, A.J. Ouellette played only the first series and a half, running for 14 yards on four attempts. Papi White rushed five times for 19 yards, Dorian Brown had four carries for 17 yards and Bo Hardy ran five times for 2 yards. Daz'mond Patterson was among the many regulars who did not participate.

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"We showed flashes of being able to run the ball as well as throw the ball, so I think we can be a team that is not just one-dimensional," Solich said. "One thing we've done much better than we've done for many a year is throw screens. That seems to be something that we've worked hard enough now that we're starting to see some production in that area."

JD Sprague got the majority of the time at quarterback, playing five of nine possessions. He went 13-of-21 for 136 yards with an interception when he and a receiver were not on the same page on an out route. Redshirt freshman Curtis Brunson returned the pick about 40 yards, getting close to the 10-yard line.

As the only truly game-experienced quarterback, Sprague was the only one to wear a black jersey that prohibited the defense from tackling him. Including times he was touched down for sacks and fumbled, he carried eight times for 3 yards. He led the only touchdown drive, though it started from near midfield while all the others began with the ball at the defense's 25-yard line.

Greg Windham went 3-of-6 for 53 yards, including a 41-yard hookup to sophomore Jerrid Marhelfka, who had four catches for 79 yards. The big completion helped set up the offense's only other actual game points, a 28-yard field goal by Matt Amicone midway through the second quarter. Yazdani missed on his try from that distance.

Joey Duckworth, who sat out his senior year of high school and true freshman year of college with a knee injury, went 6-of-10 for 49 yards in two series, with one ending in a punt and the other with the game-ending missed field goal.

Conner Krizancic, a transfer how spent last year as a wide receiver at Minnesota, was 2-for-4 for 13 yards and ran once for 9 yards on his only possession, which ended as a turnover on downs inside the 30-yard line.

Especially with Vick missing time, Solich said he was far from being able to name a starter.

"It's been tough to just take spring ball and say somebody is now your starting quarterback," he said. "I don't think you can say that."

Time ran out on Sprague's final drive of the first half, and he and Irons could not connect on a lateral inside the 20-yard line, and it was recovered by Brandon Purdum.

Solich said more often than not in the past, the defense was ahead of the offense in the spring, but having a full winter to work in Walter Fieldhouse, the indoor practice facility, was especially beneficial for the quarterbacks and receivers, and there were times this year where the offense got the better of the defense during scrimmages. In fact, that was the case the final time out before the Green and White Game.

"The past scrimmage, they beat up on us kind of good, so we wanted to get out there and go after them today and win," Johnson said.

Blair Brown and Chad Moore were credited with sacks, and Kent Berger had a sack negated by a penalty. Defensive linemen Cleon Aloese and Andrew Payne had tackles for loss, and linebacker Bryan DiCillo had four tackles and a pass breakup.

"We have a defensive unit that's got really good team speed, so flashes of that showed," Solich said. "We can be a very good blitzing football team and a team that just runs to the football, and generally a team like that creates turnovers. You didn't see a lot of that today; you saw some, but team speed in that can really be a team factor in creating turnovers and getting drives stopped. I like that part of what we're about defensively."

More than 20 players missed the final game, with a high percentage of them on defense. Among those who sat out were safeties Corey Quallen, Devin Jones, Grant Cunningham and Calvin Holloway, cornerback Ian Wells and Blake Scipio, linebackers Quentin Poling and Chandler Frueauf and defensive linemen Tarell Basham, Tony Stephens, Blake Crow, Kyle Kuhar and Trent Smart.

Offensive players who sat out included Vick, Patterson, wide receivers Sebastian Smith and Herman Brunis and linemen Lucas Powell, Durrell Wood and Stephen Langenkamp.

Despite players missing time with injuries, Solich said he feels positive about how the spring went, including the game to wrap up the season.

"I thought it was a very gritty contest," he said. "I thought our guys were ready to play football. I thought they showed signs that we can be that kind of football team, which is where you always want to start. We got to get a little bit better at refining some of our skill level and be more productive as a team or as individual players, but I like where we're at right now. I think we're ahead of where we were last spring right now."

Note: Some numbers vary from those reported by university (but quarterback and receiver completions match here).
Score by quarters
Offense 11 5 2 2 - 20
Defense 2 11 3 9 - 25
Statistics
Passing: JD Sprague 13-21-1 136, Greg Windham 3-6-0 53, Joey Duckworth 6-10-0 49, Conner Krizancic 2-4-0 13. Totals 24-41-1 251.
Rushing: Maleek Irons 7-31 TD, Papi White 5-19, Dorian Brown 4-17, A.J. Ouellette 4-14, Conner Krizancic 1-9, Sprague 8-3, Greg Windham 2-3, Bo Hardy 5-2. Totals 36-97 TD.
Receiving: Jordan Reid 5-47, Jerrid Marhelfka 4-79, Mason Morgan 2-37, Cedric Brown 2-24, Andrew Meyer 2-10, Robbie Walker 2-7, Kyle Belack 2-(minus 1), Brendan Cope 1-21, Kawamae Sawyer 1-9, Oliver Grimard 1-8, Dorian Brown 1-7, Papi White 1-3. Totals 24-251.