Notre Dame defender Louis Nix stole the spotlight Saturday with this rumbling two-point conversion play. (USA Today)

By Zac Ellis

After yet another weekend full of spring football games, here’s a rundown of the latest news and notes from across the nation:

• Notre Dame: The Irish defense came to play in the annual Blue-Gold game on Saturday, accounting for 10 sacks, two interceptions and a safety in the scrimmage. The offense, however, failed to find its groove, with second-year quarterback Everett Golson finishing 6-of-13 passing for 98 yards with one interception. He was also sacked three times. Coach Brian Kelly said he wasn’t concerned with the offense’s struggles, admitting he’d seen improvement on that side of the ball throughout spring. But the offense did find a spark late in the game when nose guard Louis Nix III took a goal-line snap and rumbled in for a two-point conversion. Perhaps Kelly should consider that package for the fall.

• Alabama: The Crimson Tide were anything but streamlined in Saturday’s A-Day game. The Crimson and White teams combined for nine turnovers — six interceptions and three fumbles — in the contest, leaving coach Nick Saban understandably upset. “The biggest thing I was concerned about was how the team would go out there and what would be their energy, their enthusiasm, and their attention to detail,” Saban said. “I don’t think that there were enough guys that answered that question in a positive way to my liking. But I’m never satisfied.” SI.com’s Lars Anderson reported on the game from Tuscaloosa. Oh, and AJ McCarron’s famous female companion Katherine Webb also made an appearance.

• Penn State: Around 28,000 fans ventured to Happy Valley for the Nittany Lions’ spring game this weekend, braving the icy elements in State College. But there wasn’t much closure for fans hoping to get a feel for Penn State’s quarterback situation, in which Steven Bench and Tyler Ferguson are battling for the starting job. Coach Bill O’Brien was non-committal when discussing both passers after the game, but the competition may become more heated when five-star recruit Christian Hackenberg arrives on campus this summer.

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Sources tell us Jim Bollman is expected to accept the Michigan State OC job—
FootballScoop Staff (@footballscoop) February 27, 2013

In his only OC season Jim Bollman took Braxton Miller, a veteran line he hand-picked, NFL talent at RB/WR & finished 107th in total offense.—
Ramzy Nasrallah (@ramzy) February 27, 2013

Symmetry begets order, so we suppose it’s only natural Mark Dantonio would want to complement his Surly Hillocks defense with … whatever this is going to be.

There are nine Boise State football players in this picture. Can you spot them all? (AP)

Boise State and the Mountain West are trying to make it work, you might have heard, and apparently part of this rekindled relationship involves letting Boise be Boise. The Idaho Statesman got ahold of a letter in which the MWC, which previously banned the Broncos from wearing blue uniforms on their blue home field because of some bizarro belief that elite college athletes cannot see in three dimensions, defends Boise against a proposed NCAA rule change that would take that prohibition nationwide. Why?

The Mountain West required Boise State to wear a contrasting color for conference home games the past two years as part of the Broncos’ membership agreement. However, the league agreed to allow the blue uniforms beginning in 2013 as part of the school’s renewed commitment to the league.

The letter itself states that “The proposed rule is not related to any student-athlete safety concerns,” a position that must be given some weight considering the Broncos’ trip to East Lansing last season. The team was repeatedly victimized by Mark Dantonio’s “Surly Hillocks” defensive alignment, which consists of Spartan defenders dressing in all-green uniforms and lying perfectly still on a verdant field to form tripping hazards.* The unit’s top-five finish speaks for itself.

*This is not actually a thing Michigan State does, but only because Dantonio finds the practice overly slothful.

Assorted bests and worsts from college football’s weekend that was:

• Play of the week. Bryan Bennett, Colt Lyerla, we don’t even particularly want to know what happened here; we just want to bask in its radiance. Friendship!

Just a few yards further back from the goal line and this might have turned into the clown-shoed fumble of the week, which makes it all the more poignant and glorious.

Serious (ish) question. Who gets the touchdown on that Oregon score? Can you split them like sacks?

— Joe Galbraith (@joestate) September 23, 2012

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Tracking the zeitgeist through college football’s opening weekend.

I like that when we play overseas, we send Navy. Just in case.

— Brody Logan (@BrodyLogan) September 1, 2012

Mark Richt has lost control of my bougainvilleas.instagr.am/p/PC6_QMrv3n/

— sarah sprague (@sarah_sprague) September 1, 2012

Casual Todd Blackledge is disconcerting, like seeing your teacher at the grocery store

— Bobby Big Wheel (@BobbyBigWheel) September 1, 2012

Somewhere, I imagine Derek Dooley’s mom visibly seething that her son is on national television with his shirt untucked like a heathen.

— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) September 1, 2012

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Just try and tell us there’s not a hand turkey drawn on there somewhere, Tyler Bray. (AP)

Tonight in your living rooms and on your laptops: Two storkish quarterbacks, two stone-faced coaches and a reason to watch San Jose State besides geography, for once.

The opening act

7:30 p.m.: Tennessee vs. NC State (ESPNU). All summer long, we have pointed to the likely length of this game as its greatest attraction factor. Between Tyler Bray, Mike Glennon and the recent history of both teams’ ground attacks, this first game in the Georgia Dome could easily stretch until Auburn and Clemson faithful begin setting up their Saturday tailgates.

The natural matchup to watch tonight is the Vols’ aerial offense against State’s secondary. Of the two combatants, Tennessee’s passing game gets more attention on account of Justin Hunter, the highly publicized departure of Da’Rick Rogers and Tyler Bray being Tyler Bray. But SEC types remain unfamiliar with Wolfpack cornerback David Amerson at their own peril: The junior in the No. 1 jersey led the nation in interceptions last season, and will presumably be dogging Hunter all night long. For added flaky layers of uncertainty, Hunter’s game tonight will be his first since tearing his ACL in Week 3 against Florida last year; Rogers replacement Cordarrelle Patterson is a brand-new juco transfer, and tight end Mychal Rivera is recovering from an ankle sprain. Oh, and State dings its own depth by holding senior cornerback C.J. Wilson out of tonight’s action with an unspecified “eligibility issue.”

Look at us, building this up to be a shootout. After last season, which was almost entirely useless for data-mining purposes, we’re uncomfortable betting on Tennessee either way. For all we know, Rajion Neal could have a breakout game at running back for the Vols behind a solidified offensive line, Mustafa Greene could blow up for the ‘Pack after missing all of 2011 due to injury and this thing could finish 21-20 on a special teams facepalm.

We suspect not. But we’ve been wrong before, and will be again. We’ll also be in the Georgia Dome tonight to find out in person.

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