Christian Mathews, Darrian Miller and Toben Opurum all had pretty impressive showings at Kansas’ spring football game Saturday. Opurum hurried plenty of passes and had one of the game’s only sacks, Miller averaged 5.75 yards per carry on four attempts, and Mathews provided the day’s biggest highlight with a 53-yard touchdown reception.

So, all three should probably be pretty worried.

See, success in the spring game doesn’t always translate into a productive season come fall. In fact, last year it meant pretty much the opposite.

In last spring’s exhibition, Kale Pick was the star, completing 14 of 22 passes for 214 yards and two touchdowns. It was a great showing for the quarterback who was eventually named the starter for the Jayhawks’ season opener.

It turned out, however, that Pick had thrown for more yards in the spring game than he would in the entire season. Pick finished the 2010 season throwing 21-for-36 and 193 yards with one interception and no touchdowns.

Chris Omigie was one of the most impressive receivers at last year’s game, pulling in four receptions for 95 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown reception. But in the actual season? He, too, didn’t match his spring game productivity, racking up only 73 yards and no touchdowns.

Tim Biere was impressive last April, too, with 56 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown reception. Biere had the hardest season opener of all, fumbling twice in the 6-3 loss to South Dakota State and dropping three other passes. Biere, of course, rebounded later in the year and ended the season with four touchdowns.

Mathews even looked promising last year, as well, catching a game-winning 37-yard touchdown pass for the Blue team. That was one of two catches Mathews would have on the year, as he added only one more during the 2010 season.

What’s behind this startling contrast between spring and fall production? It could be that the spring game is simply a glorified practice, nowhere near the intensity of an actual game, where second-string players can go up against second-string players to produce first-string stats. It could be the fact that it’s much easier to have big offensive days when avoiding injury and entertaining fans are the main goals.

The more likely explanation, however, is that the game is cursed. Maybe each pass caught, each touchdown scored and each yard gained on the Memorial Stadium turf in April brings some mysterious force in the fall. Maybe having a big day in the spring game is the Kansas football equivalent to being put on the cover of a Sports Illustrated magazine or a Madden football game, both of which are commonly thought to bring bad luck.

So maybe the true winners Saturday were wide receiver Daymond Patterson and running back Brandon Bourbon, who both sat out of the game with injuries. When the Curse of the Spring Game inevitably rears its ugly head upon Mathews, Miller and Opurum in the fall, look to their talent/unblemished luck to carry the Jayhawks.

— Edited by Sarah Gregory