April 21, 2008

Raleigh, NC (UWIRE) -- Football coach Tom O'Brien had one hope for how the annual Red-White spring game would end in front of a crowd of 15,273 fans. In a closely-contested game in the fourth quarter, O'Brien just wanted to see an attempt to make the big play for the win.

So when Justin Burke heaved a 30-yard pass into the end zone to well-defended redshirt freshman tight end George Bryan as time expired, giving the Red team a thrilling 23-21 victory, O'Brien got all he hoped for from the scrimmage's final moments.

"The only thing I wanted was for the game to come down to the end and for somebody to have to make plays to win," O'Brien said. "So, it was a great ending, and it seems like there's a lot of those in this stadium."

Though the ending proved exciting, questions regarding competitions at key positions remain unanswered. Redshirt freshman quarterback Russell Wilson, who seemed to be setting himself apart in the previous spring scrimmages, struggled in the game, connecting on eight of 21 passes for 61 yards. His key highlight, however, was a 25-yard touchdown rush to give his White team the lead with 1:12 left in the game before Burke answered his game-winning heave.

Burke, perhaps, was the greatest surprise of the game, throwing for 191 yards and two touchdowns on 17-for-24 passing, while redshirt junior Harrison Beck threw for 158 yards on 13 of 20 passing.

Needless to say, the spring game did little to distinguish one man for the quarterback job in O'Brien's mind.

"We're not going to make any decisions off this game. We have a long way to go," O'Brien said. "And that's what I told the team: We're better than we were a year ago at this point, but that doesn't really mean anything...we were a 1-5 football team the first six games of the year. The most important thing is what takes place from now and how we get ready to attack summer ball because we're in no position to go win a football game now with this team."

Still, Eugene was not pleased with the game's outcome, as his White team fell in the final seconds.

"We lost the game," Eugene said. "I don't like that at all. I don't like to lose."

But Eugene said getting the reps in the spring practices will only help him in the race to maintain his starting running back spot.

"I feel this is an opportunity for me to get better," Eugene said. "I got a lot of reps and that helps. But it's going to come down to who makes the most plays, and they're [Baker and Brown] going to come back healthy and push me."

In the receiving game, sophomore Owen Spencer led the way with 80 yards on five receptions for the winning Red team, while junior Donald Bowens pulled in five catches for 70 yards for the White team, including a 22-yard touchdown pass from Burke.

In one of the more confusing plays of the day, a botched nine-yard punt from the White team incidentally fell into the hands of redshirt senior linebacker Robbie Leonard, who hesitated to run with the ball, then realizing the ball was live, rushed 56 yards for a touchdown.

Despite the excitement and even silliness of some of the game's highlights, O'Brien said his team has a great deal of growth to make in the upcoming months.

"It's a practice. It's one of the 15 spring practices, and that's how we look at it as an evaluation," O'Brien said. "We're not a finished product by any stretch of the imagination."

(C) 2008 Technician via UWIRE