Its result will mean nothing when the WSU football team opens the 2016 season Sept. 3 against FCS Eastern Washington, but Saturday’s annual Crimson and Grey game is set to help the coaching staff sort out its depth chart on both sides of the ball.

The team will be traveling 75 miles north to Spokane to hold the contest at Joe Albi Field, a venue WSU football played games at for over three decades between 1950-1983, and this year’s edition of the annual spring game will serve as the final of three scrimmages for spring practices.

Spring football opened up on March 24 and since the first practice, the team has officially scrimmaged twice over the past two Saturdays.

Even with the result of the spring game, nothing is set in stone, and there are plenty of individual and team battles on offense and defense worth following at Joe Albi.

“Just do your job and do it faster and better.” Head Coach Mike Leach said of the message going into Saturday’s game. “There may be some other elements thrown in, because we’ve had good effort (this spring). But just focus and don’t try to make too much happen.”

Offensively, Leach’s air raid attack struggled a bit coming out of the game in the first few weeks of practice, leading redshirt junior quarterback Luke Falk to call out the unit after the team’s first scrimmage on April 9, but appears to have since turned a corner.

“I think we’ve progressed a lot throughout the spring,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Peyton Bender said. “We’ve had a lot of young guys step up and get some playing time, make some plays. We’re young, we’re thin on offense but I think we’ve progressed well and I think we’re ready for Saturday.”

In last Saturday’s scrimmage, the Cougar offense accounted for 10 touchdowns, six through the air and four on the ground and limited its turnover total to three for the day.

Leach has already penciled in Falk as the starter at quarterback for the second-consecutive year, but has left the role of backup quarterback up for grabs between Bender, who appeared in four games last season and was the starter for the Apple Cup, and redshirt freshman Tyler Hilinski.

Both quarterbacks arrived in Pullman with plenty of hype surrounding their arm talent, as they arguably each can put a little bit more on the ball than Falk, but what likely determines who gets the nod for the job is who is more proficient in their zone reads, the area separating Falk from the pack.

Bender tossed a touchdown pass on Saturday, netting 102 yards on 10-17 passing, while Hilinski threw for two scores and went 14-23 for 104 yards. Hilinski has gradually progressed his pocket presence and second, third and fourth reads over the past month.

Redshirt sophomore Andre Dillard and redshirt junior Cody O’Connell are in a two-man race of their own for the right to protect Falk’s blindside as the starting left tackle this season.

The two linemen have been splitting reps at the position fairly evenly, but offensive line coach Clay McGuire pointed to Dillard as the leader in practice Tuesday.

“I would definitely say that if we were to play a game tomorrow, he’s definitely our left tackle,” McGuire said. “He did a great job of stepping in last year playing four games for us. He’s really had a good spring. He’s been very solid on the left side over there and I’ve been really pleased with his play. I think he’s really a special talent and has a chance to have a bright future.”

After being shutdown through the majority of the first part of spring practices, the strength and conditioning work first-year inside receivers coach Jamarcus Shephard has put the receiving core through appears to now be paying dividends.

Netting six touchdowns in last Saturday’s scrimmage, the unit looks visibly stronger and quicker off the snap and on the reception.

Seniors River Cracraft and Gabe Marks have expectedly drawn the majority of the passes but sophomore Tavares Martin Jr. and senior John Thompson are now clamoring into the mix as well. Martin Jr. caught two touchdown passes on Saturday and it will be interesting to see how freshman and early enrollee Isaiah Johnson fares in his first true taste of college ball.

Second-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch is fronting a group of players making the transition from underclassmen to upperclassmen classification, and it has shown in the comfortability the first and second string is displaying in running his hybrid 4-3 attack.

The defense has delivered on Grinch’s philosophy of forcing turnovers, three interceptions and a fumble on Saturday with six sacks, and has limited the effectiveness of an experienced offensive unite at the skill positions in Leach’s air raid.

The first string rotation of the secondary and linebacking core appears to be pretty well-defined, with returning linebackers Parker Henry and Peyton Pelluer and cornerbacks Marcellus Pippins and Darrien Molton looking every bit as tough as they were in the fall. Redshirt sophomore defensive end Hercules Mata’afa also looks to be a force in building off of his freshman All-American campaign last season.

Thus far, Grinch has mixed and matched with his desired 24-man rotation, and likely will continue to do so through the first few games of the season, beginning with the spring game.

Players and coaches do in fact care who comes out on top on the scoreboard in the spring game and have vested interest in the result, so Saturday will be the first real taste of what the 2016 WSU football team’s makeup will be.

Ultimately, however, this game will be a tone setter in shaking out the plethora of openings in the team’s depth chart.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted live by the Pac-12 Networks.