Massbull

 I have a different take after they stopped UCF on fourth down.  I felt being up by six points was a perfect opportunity to try to establish the run. The momentum was with USF and I believe they could’ve put them in third and manageable situations  where  they would’ve had run or pass available. Also it would have shorted the game. 

 I was watching the game on ABC and they did a terrible Job showing replays of some of the penalties. I thought one of the biggest calls in the game was the holding on MVS when Flowers ran for a first down they were driving at that point. Was it a good call?

 Please watch #1 and #28. I believe #1 has been on Kick return teams all year.  I heard that Coach Strong  he put on a more defensive unit for the kick return. How in gods name did somebody who’s avoids contact get on that return team. Total breakdown by special  teams coaching staff. My opinion is that the coaching staff what this team down in both their losses 

Coaching let this team down especially on offense. That being said how can any coaching staff not fix the special team problem after 11 games. Watch some film #1 had no business being anywhere near the field in kick coverage he missed more plays than the law allows.

Special teams have terrible all year need a new  special tams coach

 Wilcox screwed up  butoffense of playcalling when the up by one score in the fourth quarter was terrible also no excuse to let them run that kickback squib it or kick it out of the end zone

Outcoached outcoached outcoached in the fourth quarter

 It was my biggest fear coming to this game 

Manderson had a double double in the preseason game and Yetna  has been the top rebounder in practice 

 I believe both will be starting when they are available. 

 They are missing two key players and when they come back this will be a much different team in my opinion.  Too bad they will not be available for Indiana 

This article says everything about CCS attitude.  It’s first and foremost the coaches job to put his players in a position to succeed. It sounds like he is taking no responsibility for Lack of adjustments on offense and his incredibly piss poor time management  at the end of the game. This article makes it painfully clear that he blames the players has not done any self evaluation as coaches

FROM TBT

If USF is planning any type of offensive shakeup in the wake of Saturday's 28-24 loss to Houston, Charlie Strong isn't telling.

But based on his comments Monday during the American Athletic Conference weekly coaches teleconference, he seems intent on maintaining the status quo, and just executing it better.

When asked if he feels the need to diversify his power-based offense, Strong said, "I mean, offensively we were able to score points. We've just got to get off the field on defense. We scored enough points to win, we were up 7-0 at the half and let the other team score 28 points. 

"It's not just one thing, it's all phases."

USF finished with a season-low 137 rushing yards on 55 carries (2.49 yards per carry). On the Bulls' final scoring drive, resulting in a field goal, the Bulls had first-and-15 from the Cougars 24, but opted for three consecutive runs that netted 11 yards.

Additionally, USF ran the ball 23 of 36 times on first down, totaling 22 yards on those runs. 

"It's just executing," Strong said. "You've got to block guys, we just didn't get enough hats on the bodies."

Houston coach Major Applewhite acknowledged his defense's objective basically was to load the box and force USF to beat the Cougars through the air.

"A lot of it really was, yes, you've got to stop the run game," Applewhite said on the teleconference.

"(Darius) Tice and D'Ernest (Johnson) are great players, as is Quinton (Flowers). They run the ball well, and not to (discount) (WR Marquez) Scantling and the other guys, because...they made plays outside.

"But it was really to keep everything in front of us and try to eliminate the huge, explosive plays outside and then try to tackle the run game inside."
 

 This game actually falls on the coaches.  

WORST GAME MANAGMENT IVE SEEN IN A LONG TIME

They have three timeouts on 3rd down if they were going to run the ball why didn’t they just let the clock run to one second call timeout. Then let the clock run all the way down to one second on 4th. then kick the field goal instead they left about 20 extra seconds on the clock. Their kick  coverage has been terrible all night you should’ve squibed the final kick. 

 Not to mention coaching decision going on fourth down in the first half all the time they left at least six points on the field.

 Although that was a miraculous play on fourth down. It appears that this defense  wares down in the second half.

 No excuse for this loss I can’t see them winning out really disappointing!

 This absolutely falls on the coaches on both sides of the ball. You’re winning 34 to 7 and you don’t score again. Bad play calling and bad team preparation. Example on the last drive when the field goal was blocked. On the play before that QF Should have been coached to run if no one was open to get the clock running so that Tulane  would’ve had to use their last time out. Just one example many questionable decisions. On defense he kept attacking even though they were up three scores .rather than making them drive the length of the field and taking time off the clock. the only way Tulane could get back in a game is with big plays and easy TD’s. USF’s defence was dead tired so the more they attacked the more vulnerable they became totally poor coaching decisions. They pulled it out but this team is far from being great they are 7-0 because they played terrible competition and their talent level is just that much better.

Example: the Team is 4-0. Averaging more than 30 points and a vastly improved defense and the local reporter votes them out of the top 25. How ignorant is that. because in his view they  weren't impressive enough.

 If I am a fan in the Tampa area and I read that type of analysis what do  you think my motivation is to go to the game. when I'm being told that USF Is not living up to their expectations. they're not as exciting as they need to be they won by 30 but they should've won by 60.

4 minutes ago, Apis Bull said:

Holtz era + first couple of years of xCWT era + relegated to the G5 + uninspired home schedule + media sniping (outside of Knight) = low attendance

Totally agree.

I live 1500 miles away so it's hard for me to criticize people for not going to the games. However to create excitement in the community everything needs to be working on all cylinders. 

1. A good Team 👍

2. High expectations 👍

3. University support & outreach i.e.; a marketing statagy ?

4. Student support ?

5. Media support 👎

 I don't believe that the local media's job is to carry the water for the program.

However it seems  to me that if they participated in creating excitement rather than just constantly listing the deficiencies of the program and work along with the University  to create a buzz in the community that could drive attendance it would benefit them most of all.

 Living so far away, my only contact with the program is either through blog post like this or media .I can tell you that it seems that the majority of stories focus on what is wrong with this program or what needs to fixed. 

This team has enough positives going for it that expectations and excitement should be through the roof. IMO after reading most media reports you think just the opposite.

Recent article from the Oracle

“Everybody’s still trying to adjust (to a new coaching staff), even me,” Flowers said. “There’s some things that my coach wants to see out of me and I’m still trying to figure out the reason why he wants to go there, and what he’s going there for so I can understand too.” 

 looks to me like Flowers is frustrated and doesn't understand the offensive  philosophy. My feeling is again they're trying to fit Flowers into their system rather than their system into Flowers.

not a good sign.  Unless something changes it's possible you could see this offense averaging no more than 21 to 24points a game against solid competition which is nowhere near enough to go undefeated and get to New Year's bowl.

Coaching staff needs to WAKE UP!

I said this last week. Gilbert Took a Ferrari and put a governor on it

they will lose at least three games this year.

Defense much improved  but not good enough to carry this offense unless he opens it up on first down.

 I don't expect the administration to comment about the litigation but they should comment about the derogatory statements made about Coach Strong and the culture of the FB program.  Which I believe indirectly draws aspersions on the rest of the Athletic department. 

 Very disappointed that the university has not come out with a statement in support of Coach strong and the athletic program. Burying your head in the sand is just cowardly.  If I were a coach or employee of the USF athletic department I would really be questioning whether or not the University had my back and believed that I was doing everything I could to have a clean program that is focused on the student athlete .

From what I understand first place was $10,000 & free trip to Disney 

 Can't wait ! 

BB can rebuild much faster than most sports because of the size of the team. You need only 3 or 4 good players to turn a program around quickly and that can be easally done over a year or two. CG should focus on bringing in a core groupe of freshman and adding a few transfers to help through the transition of changing the culture at USF. As been said he should focus on local athletes that have emotional ties to the area. Just look at the football program, there were virtually no transfers when Taggart left.

COA program had no rhyme or reason when it came to building a foundation it's why it collapsed when the going even got a little tough.

 I believe this is the right guy at this point for the USF basketball program and I'm willing to give him Time to solidify a solid foundation for success.

Hard to believe USF would make an offer on selection Monday for WBB & steal  their thunder.  Not sure this not just a BS story responding to rumors in USF press.

We have criticized JK enough on this blog. But he deserves credit for digging into this situation and exposing some of the obvious concerns about two adults missing a flight.

 But I can't help but think that this is exactly what USF was trying to avoid,a he said she said with the players mother.  That's why the current coach took responsibility and you've heard nothing from the administration in regards to the responsibility of the players.

 Actually I believe the reporting says that they noticed they were missing even before the plane started Pull back. Which means that as soon as They got on the plane someone took a headcount. Unfortunately the airport closed the doors for boarding and there was nothing they could do about it. The two players made it home that afternoon and were with the team today. Is it stupid YES! However these are young adults who should take at least a little bit of the blame. Unfortunately with the basketball program in such disarray incidents like this get magnified.

i'm sure the coaching staff was mortified but I would bet that the players took quite a bit of ribbing from their teammates.  It will be interesting to hear the players take on this,my bet is they would not think it's that big a deal and probably feel pretty stupid.

However once one of the students parents & the media got involved it became an indictment of the MBB program and huge story.

They have more talent than last year and they have a deeper bench. 

As in past games they succumb to pressure and that's A lack of mental toughness . They are young so maybe COA can get them to play tough for the whole game. metal toughness is one of major things that a head coach is responsible for. Have not seen it in any of his teams yet.

Ruben Guerrero may have won the sportsmanship award but he is really really really soft. He disappears in big games and big moments if he would excert himself they could be so much better.

if this was not happening we would be hearing about other possibilities, that we are not is hopefully a good sign. 

The sooner they get a decision the better as the quiet period starts Monday. New coach needs at least a few day to talk to commits and offers.

I think Charlie Strong should be the first choice. He did a great job at Louisville.  However when he took the Texas job he was facing headwinds right from the start. I'm not sure he had the full support of the entire Texas athletic community behind.  So I don't think he had a completely fair shot there. It was obvious that his players respected him and played hard for him to the end.

 Also he was at a disadvantage recruiting in Texas. He will have a much easier time using his Florida connections to get good athletes to USF then he did getting them to Texas .