It was apparent the Lincoln Blue Tigers were better on one side of the ball than the other during Saturday's spring football game at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
The defense won 32-16 against the offense, only allowing one late touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Lincoln coach Steven Smith said he has been pleased with what he has seen from his defense during the past four weeks.
"We have a good nucleus on defense," Smith said. "Right now, we just have to get our offense to match our defense."
Lincoln's spring game consisted of four 10-minute quarters with a running clock. Also new to the game this year was a scoring system.
The offense could accumulate points with a first down (1 point), a 10-yard run (1 point), a 15-yard pass (2 points), a drive inside the defense's 35-yard line (3 points) or a touchdown (7 points).
Meanwhile, the defense could score with a tackle for loss (1 point), a sack (2 points), a punt (1 point), a takeaway or a fourth-down stop (3 points) or a touchdown (7 points).
The offense only scored three points in the first half, all off first downs, and failed to cross midfield. One first down was the result of an unsportsmanlike penalty on the defense.
"The biggest thing for me right now is the O-line play had some good hits, they did some good things," Smith said. "But they have to be more consistent."
Smith said the offense came into the game wanting to run the ball. Lincoln ran on the first three plays, producing a first down, but a 5-yard loss on a run after moving the chains stalled the opening drive and resulted in a punt.
"I believe you can run the ball and score too," Smith said. "But we've got to be consistent."
Lincoln's offense struggled the rest of the first half, completing just one pass for no gain.
The defense stopped the offense on all four first-half drives to lead 13-3 at halftime. Four plays into the second half, the defense had its lone takeaway of the afternoon, as Will Sewell forced a fumble on fourth down that was recovered by Karl Evans Jr. That play extended the defense's lead to 18-3.
The offensive woes mostly came with the backup players on the field, but Smith said that's no excuse.
"These young guys have to push themselves just as hard as the older guys," he said. "I don't like that it went down, but we have to be better."
Trailing 27-7 with about five minutes to play, the offense finally found the end zone. Running back Kimbo Ferguson raced 50 yards untouched for the score to make it 27-14 with 4:20 to play.
"He ran the ball hard," Smith said of Ferguson, who had seven carries for 63 yards.
Lincoln only completed one pass for positive yards, a 24-yard dump pass from quarterback Drake Davidson to running back Kian Cooley-Pilot midway through the third quarter.
The defense held the run game to 29 carries for 97 yards, with more than half those yards coming on the touchdown run. Lincoln's defense also finished with nine tackles for loss and four sack, which accounted for 17 points.
Now Smith is ready to see what the defense can do against a different opponent this fall.
"I want to see how physical they can be," he said. "They're a veteran group, but I like my young guys. We recruited some really good guys, and some of the guys who didn't even play last year, this has opened their eyes a lot."
Smith added no injuries were sustained this spring, leaving his team healthy heading into the summer.
The summer activities for the Blue Tigers will begin May 29.
"We have about 13 guys coming in early in the summer that we feel like can help us play right now," Smith said. "They'll start their workouts earlier and go through stuff with the team as they continue to push through the summer."
Smith said he feels better about the Blue Tigers at the end of this spring season compared to last year. He said the biggest issue to address now is consistent play, something that plagued Lincoln throughout the fall.
"We had 27 turnovers last year," Smith said. "One thing I can say this spring is we haven't had a bunch of turnovers. We haven't had a bunch of penalties, and we only had a few today.
"We just have to be more consistent and efficient."