A viewer's guide to the Spring Game

The UC Davis football team's spring game is Saturday morning at Aggie Stadium. The practice starts at 8:30 a.m. The full-contact portion should begin around 9, and last about two hours. The football team must be out of the stadium by 11:30, to make way for Day 2 of the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation lacrosse tournament.

--The format will be such that the first-team defense will always be facing the first-team offense and the second-teams will be facing each other at all times. As for quarterbacks: Matt Engle will take the first snap because he won when the quarterbacks drew lots. He and Tim Plough will alternate series with the first-team offense. As reported in today's Enterprise, those two QBs are neck-and-neck right for the starting job. Freshman Greg Denham will take two-thirds of the series with the second-team offense. Danny Alfaro will pick up the rest.

--Expect a lot of four-linebacker looks from the defense. The position where the Aggies are thinnest this spring is defensive end, and the 3-4 formations can cover for that. Also, the defense will be using its full compliment of blitzes, while the offense will be using very little of its usual pre-snap motion.

--If past precedent holds, the numbers worn on the practice field will have little to do with the numbers on the official roster. The irresponsible rumormongerers over at Aggiesportstalk.com have done their best to compile a practice jersey roster, so if you're curious that might be worth checking out.

--Defensive end James Amos (shoulder), wide receiver Chris Carter (shoulder) and cornerback Adam Cook (shoulder) are the three returning starters expected to miss the spring game.

Also, unlike in past years, there will be points awarded to the offense and defense during the scrimmage. Here is the scoring system, as UCD coach Bob Biggs told it to me:

Offense
Touchdown = 6 points
Field Goal = 3 points
PAT = 1 point
Two straight first downs = 1 point
Run play over 12 yards = 1 point
Pass play over 16 yards = 1 point

Defense
Turnover = 3 points
Missed field goal = 3 points
Sack = 2 points
Tackle for loss = 1 point
three-and-out = 1 point

I don't know if that's the entire system, or if the stats will be kept live at the stadium. It would be a nice excuse to turn the scoreboard on.