Texas, USC follow 'NFL approach,' punt annual spring game

Texas and Southern California are part of the growing wave of prominent programs punting their annual spring game, eliminating the "live scrimmage" element from the offseason practice schedule in favor of an "NFL model."

Coach Steve Sarkisian confirmed the Longhorns won't pack Darrell K. Royal Stadium in April as has been tradition for Texas and almost every college football program in response to the length of the season.

"Over the last two years we played 30 games. That's a lot for college football: 14 two years ago, 16 this year," Sarkisian told Kay Adams in an appearance on "Up and Adams."

"And I just mentioned we've had 25 guys get invited to the NFL combine the last two years, so we've got a lot of young players on our roster. We have 21 mid-year high school kids that just showed up. And so the development that's needed for these guys to get ready for the fall is a little bit different than it used to be."

USC, one of Sarkisian's previous employers, reportedly will move forward with the public engagement elements of the spring game and involve well-known former players and coaches in a replacement event yet to be officially announced.

Sarkisian, who also coached in the NFL, emphasized process and individual player development in leading Texas to the first 12-team playoff in 2024. The Longhorns will double down on that plan.

"Our approach is going to be a little bit more NFL driven. Kind of more of an OTA style early on and as we grow into more of the scrimmage formats in the second half of spring ball, that I just don't know if rolling the ball out, playing the game, when we only get 15 practices is the best for us to maximize the opportunities that we get," Sarkisian said. "So it's going to be a little bit of a different approach, but I think college football is changing right now. And we need to do a great job as coach of adapting to college football and that's what we're trying to do."

While the spring game can be a showcase for a program's stars of tomorrow, the complexities -- and potential unintended consequences -- involved in the modern game pushed other programs to pull the plug on the end-of-semester games. Nebraska's Matt Rhule felt the Cornhuskers' spring game because more of a platform for transfer portal poachers to scout and contact players. National champion Ohio State and Southern California also are done with the spring game as we know it.

Ohio State, one of the most active programs in the transfer portal between the 2023 and 2024 seasons, sold 80,012 tickets to its 2024 spring game according to school estimates, ahead of Alabama (72,358) and Penn State (67,000). Nebraska and Georgia each had more than 50,000.

The Texas spring game drew "a tad under 50,000" fans, according to athletic director Chris Del Conte.

--Field Level Media