GAME OVER
Newton is now QB for the Blue team. Williams gets a carry for a few yards, then Newton runs for 24 yards. No one touches him, but he is run out of bounds. Then, he fumbles a snap and jumps on the ball for the recovery. A loss of four gives time for two more plays.
Newton hands off to Williams for a few yards, then a run for Williams again. This one is over.
1:41 LEFT IN FOURTH QUARTER
Newton switches sides, now quarterbacking the Blue team. He hands off to Mon Williams, who fumbles. Jaye Howard, playing for Orange, picks up the ball and the Orange team takes over with under three minutes left. And guess what. Newton is back quarterbacking the Orange team.
Moody carries the ball for Orange, running for only two yards. With the clock winding down quickly, this will probably be the last possession of the game. Newton runs for 16 yards out of bounds, setting up a first-and goal from the 10. Orange runs the ball into the end zone with Brandon James. Greg Taussig hits the point-after, and it's 28-14.
3:38 LEFT IN FOURTH QUARTER
Orange is quickly in trouble, having to face a third-and-nine situation. But Newton makes a carry for eight yards, setting up a fourth-and-one run up the middle from Moody for a first down. Flags are down on the play for only the second time all game, and it is decline. Moody has looked much better in the second half despite that fumble.
Dunlap again gets to Newton, sacking him for the third time today and a loss of six. The drive ends with a turnover on downs as a pass attempt from Newton is broken up in the end zone.
END OF THIRD QUARTER
Cam Newton leads the Orange team down the field quickly on this drive, and Moody is getting more and more carries. After Newton looked pretty bad in the first half, they're giving it to Moody more. But Moody also had that little mistake last possession, fumbling before he got into the end zone.
Dunlap is having a great game, putting pressure on Newton again and he releases a pass that hits no one but the grass in the middle of the field.
4:21 LEFT IN THIRD QUARTER
Emmanuel Moody starts off the second half in style, running for 34 and then 12 yards. But the sophomore transfer fumbles as he reaches across the goal line after an 18-yard run. The Blue team jumps on top of it, recovering the ball for a touchback.
Blue takes over and quickly moves down the field. Tebow brings them to the 32 yard line, then throws deep to Rainey in the endzone. The speedy back can't hold on to the ball, however, and it's second and 10 instead of a touchdown.
After an 18-yard completion to Nelson, Tebow runs for no gain, and then Riley Cooper makes a catch for six yards. Blue is down to the nine yard line. On third and five, Tebow takes the snap and gets sacked by Terron Sanders. It's now fourth and nine from the 14, and Tebow sneaks the ball in to Riley Cooper for the touchdown just across the goal line. The band starts to play, and Phillips hits the extra point. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a blowout.
HALFTIME
Newton is getting pretty good at throwing incomplete passes, and it's quickly third-and-10 on Orange's final possession of the first half. Newton gets a completion to Deonte Thompson, but the receiver is about a yard short of the first down. With the clock running down, Orange hurries up and goes for it, with Newton on the draw getting the first down.
Newton gets sacked by Carlos Dunlap for a loss of 11, making it second and 21. It doesn't look like Orange can score, and Dunlap sacks Newton again as I type it. It's third and 28, and the Orange team is farther back than when they started. The clock winds down, and the first half is over.
1:39 LEFT IN SECOND QUARTER
The Blue team starts the drive with two straight runs, giving Tebow's arm a rest. Rainey tries to reverse field but gets brought down for no gain.
Aaron Hernandez makes his first catch of the game, a six-yard-gain for a first down, and gets popped so hard at the end of it that his helmet comes off. Tebow follows that by getting hit as he throws, winging a duck to no one in particular. Lawrence Marsh gets credit with a hurry, and he really put a good hit (unintentionally) on Tebow.
Chris Rainey is quickly becoming the stud of this game. He takes a handoff from Tebow for 18 yards up the left side. He really is quick. Tebow fakes a handoff to him on the next play, and instead he dumps the ball to Hernandez for a seven-yard gain. Tebow throws deep into the end zone, but the pass is incomplete. Rainey follows with a run up the middle and is stopped by Brandon Hicks for a loss of one.
Riley Cooper makes a good catch running across the middle of the field, then splits two defenders on his way to a first down and a 25-yard gain. It's first and goal for Blue, and it has a chance to double its lead.
Rainey takes the ball up the middle and gets about three yards. It's second and goal at the one. Blue scores on the next play, as Rainey finishes what he started in the previous play.
7:17 LEFT IN SECOND QUARTER
Orange finally gets on the board, intercepting Tebow at the 50 yard line and returning it for a touchdown. Tebow hit a cornerback pretty hard trying to get to Lorenzo Edwards - who made the pick - but Edwards made his way into the end zone no problem.
9:55 LEFT IN SECOND QUARTER
Newton starts Orange's third possession with an incomplete pass, then throws a completion to James for a first down. Moore gets a nice gain up the middle, running over a defender at the end of the first quarter. Moore gained 12 yards on that carry for a first down.
They just announced an estimated attendance of 61,000 people at this game. That's insane. For a meaningless glorified scrimmage, they sure can pack the house here in Gainesville.
At the start of the second quarter, the Orange team tries some trickery. Brandon James tries a reverse and shows off some punt-return moves by gaining 11 yards. Orange is at the 26 yard line and looks to be getting a good drive together for the first time. As I type that, Newton throws a shovel to Moody for one yard. I've never understood shovel passes, and I would think Meyer has bad memories of them ever since Chris Leak threw a shovel interception for a touchdown in the 2006 SEC Championship game against Arkansas.
After that, Newton rallies off two straight incomplete passes and it's fourth down. Kicker Caleb Sturgis comes out to attempt a 41-yard field goal, and it goes wide left. He gets a second try - this is a glorified scrimmage, remember - and he makes it. But the scoreboard still reads 14-0. Sturgis backs up and hits a couple from beyond 50 yards, then kicks two ducks from beyond 60 yards. On his 3rd attempt he comes very close, but the ball is about five yards short.
0:44 LEFT IN FIRST QUARTER
Blue gets its second possession going with a carry from Rainey, and he gains seven yards. He is definitely showing his speed from the fastest student race earlier in the afternoon, running past defenders as they try to tackle him. Tebow throws next to Butch Rowley over the middle of the field for a gain for 13 yards and a first down.
Tebow fumbles the snap, picks up the ball, then throws to Rowley on the left side. Rowley bobbles it and Ahmad Black picks it off, running two yards before he's tackled out of bounds. That one is all on Rowley, as he should have had that catch. Black got a present in the form of the ball bouncing right into his hands.
So the Orange team gets it back, and they'll start on the 36 yard line. Kestahn Moore gets his first carry, running for only one yard. Jermaine Cunningham gets in on the tackle, completely stuffing Moore. On the next play, Carlos Dunlap sacks Newton, bringing him down with one hand for a loss of seven. The Orange team can't seem to get its offense going.
On third down, Newton tosses to Justin Williams in the left flat. Williams makes two defenders miss, but only gains six yards and Chaz Henry comes out to punt. Henry gets off a beautiful punt, - 64 yards - and it sails into the end zone after one bounce.
Blue gets the ball back with under a minute left in the first quarter. In one play, they score a touchdown. Tebow throws a deep pass to Rainey down the left side. He catches it at the 30, makes a dizzying juke on a defender at the 20 yards line - he cuts inside then back to the sideline, breaking the defender's ankles - and coasts into the end zone after a 65-yard play. What a juke.
5:29 LEFT IN FIRST QUARTER
The Orange team takes the ball for the first time now with Cam Newton as its quarterback. On the first play, he throws short to Deonte Thompson and Thompson gets a nine-yard gain. Brandon James makes the next catch, going for 11 yards and an Orange first down.
Newton throws an incomplete pass to James, then runs for five yards and finally throws an incomplete pass to Thompson. With fourth-and-five, Orange goes for it. Newton overthrows James and Markihe Anderson almost gets an interception. Orange gets nothing with its first possession. Newton has two completions on five attempts.
7:17 LEFT IN FIRST QUARTER
Tebow starts things off for the blue team with a play-action pass attempt, but the defense puts pressure on him and he runs for five yards instead. Tebow was sick with a 102-degree fever yesterday, and he probably won't play much today. Mon Williams gains four yards on a run, and it's 3rd and 1 for the Blue team. Williams carries again and gets tackled by Dustin Doe but the Blue team gets the first down anyway.
Blue gets a four-yard gain on a short pass from Tebow to David Nelson, and then Chris Rainey takes an option pitch for six yards and a Blue first down. Tebow throws deep to Riley Cooper on the left side of the field, but the wide receiver and baseball outfielder can't hold on to the ball. Jacques Rickerson played tight coverage. Rainey runs up the middle for eight yards, making it third-and-2 at the 36. This drive started at the other 35 with no kickoff, by the way.
Tebow again throws to the end zone, this time to Cooper, and Major Wright breaks up the play. A little higher, and that's a touchdown. It's fourth down, and the Blue team is going to go for it. Rainey goes up the middle for 6 yards and a first down at the 30 yard line.
Rainey follows that with a big run, breaking three tackles and hustling for 21 yards. Justin Trattou made the tackle that saved the touchdown. It's first-and-goal at the nine.
On second-and-goal, Mon Williams scores a touchdown, pummeling through three defenders and carrying them with him into the end zone. Jonathan Phillips makes the extra point, and it's 7-0 Blue.
FIRST QUARTER
The game is being divided into four quarters. The first and second quarter will be 12 minutes each, and then there is a halftime period. After that, the third and fourth quarters are 10 minutes each with running clocks. This should be much faster than a real football game, but it will definitely still take more than 2 hours.
PRE-GAME
It's a hot day here at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. ESPN is in the house as well as way too many fans. They are concentrated under the overhangs in either end zone to avoid the heat. The fastest student competition just ended, and apparently Chris Rainey ran a 4.24-second 40-yard-dash. That's ridiculously fast. I don't know how accurate that is, but apparently that's the fastest recorded 40 time at UF since Urban Meyer has taken over. And it was certainly faster than any of the students who ran up against him.
The game starts in 10 minutes, and I'll get back to you then.
