⚡ CFB Dashboard

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.--  The stage is set for Virginia's spring game on Saturday afternoon.  "I'm looking forward to splitting the teams up and getting after it," Virginia head coach Tony Elliott told reporters on Thursday after practice. This year's game will be a little bit different than previous spring games. According to Elliott, since the team was not able to practice at Scott Stadium as much as they normally do in the spring, they have adjusted the spring game format and kept it more like a scrimmage as far as continuity of the team.  The teams will be split into offense and defense - with the white being the offense and the blue being the defense. Taylor Lamb will be the head coach for the offense, while Mike Adams will lead up the defense.  "We will try to make it flow as much like a game," said Elliott. "Our special teams, we won't do full speed. We'll just have the kicker and the return guys on punt and kickoff. We will kick our extra points live, because we need some work there. And after the coin toss, we're going whoever wins the coin toss will have a kickoff, and then we'll spot the ball on the 25 or the 35, depending upon if the kickers hit the kick point that they're supposed to kick the ball to. So put a little pressure on them, even though they don't have coverage units, and then we're going to roll the ball. acting first team offense versus acting first team defense. "  For the offense the scoring system is as expected, however, the defense has the ability to earn points with a turnover (6), fourth down stop (6), three-and-out (3), forced punt (1), and stopped 2 point try (2) - in addition to the regular touchdown, safety etc.  The first half will be 15 minutes and it will be like a regular game.  "And then if we force a punt, then we'll run the specialists out there, and we'll punt the ball. And then the acting second team offense will go out versus the second team defense. And we'll do that for the first half,"explained Elliott,  "and then the start of the third quarter, all of our third team guys will get to play a couple series. And then after the first five minutes of the third quarter, it'll be a running clock throughout the duration. So we're trying to simulate a game as much as possible.  But also, we need to see a couple more things with how guys operate together from a continuity standpoint. over in the stadium, because we didn't get to do two of our scrimmages in the stadium. So that would be the format. And then we got a different scoring system, since it's offense versus defense."  Quarterbacks will of course not be going live in the game.  Kickoff for the game will be at 3:30 p.m. and it will not be televised.