Bullpride08

I don't agree. The team should have beaten USM, and Army. We sacrificed 4 INT's, and 12 penalties to USM, basically giving them the game. Against Army we scored 35pts, but our defense forgot to hit the field in the second half, coupled with the crucial mistakes at pivotal moments by QB, we gave that game away. UL, they could have adjusted until their eyes turned blue, but we wouldn't haven beaten UL, don't have the personnel or experience to do it yet. It' ridiculous to assume, or to propose that Hobbie and staff had some awakening before UAB. The fact is they've been adjusting since TCU, however you can't install an entirely new offense overnight, and against USM, and Army we coulda, and shoudla won....that was execution and bad plays by personnel on the field not on the sidelines.

Thanks Howie! You see beastie Chris started for four year's at one of the most powerful basketball schools on the east coast of the United states. He led them to two state championships. Due to eligibility issues he had to either go JUCO or Prep. He obviously transfered to ND, and I am betting the coach promised starting spot. He gets there and finds out they have another kid that came in, and frankly Chris should be concentrating on academics anyway. He decides to leave versus splitting time on a prep team, and why should he stay. He's just signed a D1-A letter of intent to a Big East Program, and his grades are the only issue. He doesn't need to play and prove anything to anyone, he just needs to get eligible, and get on campus. I would bet any money that Howard would have supplanted ND's started by January, but why try. He's got to get that test score and grades up. That's what he's doing! Maybe it will appease you to know that another website has him ranked as a three star, and he was offered by UMass, BC, and Illini were preparing to offer. He has yet to take his SAT, and is a bit of a risk, the word on the street is once Chris Howard became completely eligible the flood gates would have absolutely opened up for this kid. USF grabbing him early was a coup. My bet is coach Mac realizes that Howard has a good chance of becoming eligible, and with Waters already in the fold PG isn't a dire need, but if he can grab an explosive talent like Howard now, do it, because if he becomes eligible, or if he goes JC and graduates he would be too hot a commodity to consider USF!

He did start.....Oh never mind.

Why? NCST recruiting in FL is almost more competitive against USF then FSU. FSU will get their recruits, but a non-bowl qualifying NCST team I believe helps USF far more considering how much they've been raiding this state (they had like eight starters that were from FL last night). Also, that means one less borderline team from the BCS going to a bowl. It might help USF in the end. FSU was already bowl qualified, no major issue.

At the conclusion of the season. If Utah wins out and everything plays itself out. All the BCS schools will have beaten at least one top 10 team, and one top 25 team. Utah will not have beaten a top 25 team, and over half their schedule was against opponents with losing records. It's tough to look Wisconsin in the eye, or Texas and tell them Utah is better because they went undefeated against an inferior schedule. I can understand two loss teams, or teams that don't have top 25 victories, but Utah would go 8-3 at best with Auburn, USC, and Oklahoma's schedules.

Thanks, I've seen Albert play this year. He does have a non-stop motor. He reminds me of Stephen Nicholas, in his energy, he's definitely grown, looks to be at least 6-2, he's taller than Kendrick Stewart- saw them next to one another. He's got potential at DE, or OLB. Also, to get Julius!

Zon, A little FYI, since we've been riddled with OL injuries this season a few things have happened. First, Mike Miller has started three games, he started five last year, and therefore he's like a returning starter. Last game Davis, and Carothers were hurt and Walker spelled significant minutes. Frank Davis, Mike Miller, and Carothers will return to provide the starting nucleus. Replacements for Sarosi, and Newton need to be found. There are replacements. Therefore, we aren't quite as bad for next year as originally perceived.

87 is a little off on his, but I like his style. Urban wants the B10 or Notre Dame...he'll only take about three big ten positions- Michigan, Ohio State, and maybe PSU. He actually has two clauses in his Utah contract (which is quite hefty) and those are Notre Dame and I believe Ohio State. That's his dream, he's a Midwest boy, coached receivers at Notre Dame, loves Lou Holtz, a Catholic Boy. You get the picture. The Cal coach will get the job. His turnaround has been incredible with limited resources. Petrino has little to gain leaving UL at this point, and frankly considering his loyalty issue last year with Auburn, if he went to UF and faultered his name would become MUD in the industry. A very interesting thought that Shula would go to the Dolphins. The Fins would be insane to offer him, but Huzienga's moves to date have not been sound. Spurrier's confusing. I just don't see a major opportunity opening up in the college ranks this year outside of UF. Some say USC because Lou Holtz might want to retire after this year if his team can finish out like 9-3 and get another New Year's Day Bowl. Maybe, but it seems like a weak opportunity. UNC might open up with Bunting gone. The only other opportunities would be for coaches that vacate to other opportunities like Saban to the NFL or something. There is some interesting things happening on the coaching front, and if USF goes on a 4 game tear, which is possible because our defense seems to be improving quickly, and Leavitt gets us to a bowl game, and we finish something like 7-4 or 8-4....his name could suddenly be bantied about. It will be interesting.

UCF did it excessively to the tune of 9-10 JUCO's a year. My guess is this year USF could bring in four JUCO's. They're also after a few others on the Rival's TOP 25. USF is pushing heavily for Julius McClellan. They're trying for the package deal to land Julius' stout DE brother from Lakeland Kathleen. It will be a tough sell, but Julius wants to return to FL, his brother is a **** good DE, but he might be a bit raw for the big three. We may get to see how much Julius wants to play with his brother. Add Marquis Carpenter, and Prechea Rodriguez. Here's a little secret boys, Prechea was a **** good WR from Jefferson HS- a teammate of Josh Balloon. My gut tells me we land Nate Harris, and Prechea Rodriguez from that list. Throw in a TE, and OT that will make our haul from the JUCO ranks.

Not my check, my opinion you fool. My check definitely carries weight, but my opinion far outweighs whatever psycho melodrama you're trying to create on this board.

Carry's more wait then your opinions.

You fans know I am not often wrong about this, but I will say that I am pretty sure Hill will be a Bull. Leave it at that....Miami has 5 commits that are waivering, UF everyone, UGA the same....it doesn't matter because in BIG TIME BCS FOOTBALL recruits are not off limits when they commit. These guys get woed all the time, but in the end the stats show that nearly 80% of early commits stick with their original commit. WHY you ask, well its because that early commit was usually made for all the RIGHT reasons, not based on some last ditched effort by other schools to promise the moon, or to give him three extra lobsters on his recruiting visit. After sitting down and removing themselves from the hoopla most kids remember this. P.S. this is not what I am going off of on the Hill promise.

It didn't rain the entire second half, and we still had to pass to win. That required smart strategies, and playing solid ball control and field position battles. Which we did very well.

He reminds me of Eric Rhett with better cutback ability.

Good question on Smith, Warren, and don't forget Jeremy Burnett. I have been critical of Verpaele but I've been quick to point out he's a true freshman and undersized for a strong safety. He's got good instincts because he's forever around the ball, but to often missing gaps, over-pursuing, missing tackles, or simply getting run over. All of that you can't blame him for, and are to be expected from a 6-1 180lbs TRUE FRESHMAN. In a year, after proper strength training, and experience we'll be looking at a 6-1 200lb or more kid and suddenly the light bulb will start to go off. That's when the magic happens.

It was my understanding that this was far more delicate than this. Mechan wants to do a nationwide search, Foley doesn't want it to go that route, and Spurrier might balk. Foley and Spurrier are not the best of pals. Spurrier would take a paycut from his NFL days, he already drives whatever he wants, he has a few homes in FL. I don't know, but from my understanding the Spurrier to UF situation was far from a done deal, and was a delicate matter that could explode.

YEAH DUDE, you paid to see some kick ass 1-A games. Someone call up USCalifornia, when are they trecking to USF.

Maybe he can grab Peruzzo, no how about Morris, or Bernard.... RMC isn't going to take a big man just for the sake of having a big man sit on the bench- ala Seth (that's right all you Seth ass kissers because that's exactly what he did, who in the world could watch Peruzzo and think he had skill, what a waste of space and a scholarhship)....get a grip, let me guess you just want a big man to say we have a big man, then walk around wailing everytime that big baffoon sits in the middle and only manages to pick up 4 rebounds, 2 pts, and no block shots- reminiscent of the stats of many of USF's previous centers under Seth.  The best team's Seth had were when his center position was manned by a guy UNDER 6-10!  RMC will grab a center, but he's actually a four year guy, i.e. he makes a four year commitment to a player and he expects the same in return.  Unlike Seth, RMC doesn't want to take a wasted space, project (like the one Seth made him inherit in Diarra) center just to have him sit the bench for four years.  He would rather grab a solid wing forward that can score, and shoot lights out.  Because, DUH that's what wins the college game.  Look at the NCAA Final Four- Does OK ST ring a bell, or how about Uconn with Okafor at a whole 6ft 9inches....that's right you can do it without having complete height.  Actually UL destroyed us without having one man over 6-10 on their roster, and they seemed to destroy Morris. Besides, after further review of the roster we have Diarra, Leather, Jones all 6-10 or taller, and Brigman at 6-8 240lbs.  I wouldn't say we are void of size inside! So if you're going to rip on RMC then at least be original about it.

Jim, That big problem with criticizing CJL is in your first sentence. If CJL screws up games over and over again, Some of you are claiming that Jim Leavitt "screwed up" or in some way lost games, which is entirely erroneous and not the case. Most of the problems are personnel issues, some in coaching, most in players, that need to be addressed, and to Leavitt's credit he's doing that right now. Look at the starting line-up on defense tonight: DE- Simmons, Robinson DT- Searcy, Chance SLB- Moffitt MLB- St. Louis WLB- Nicholas CB- Williams, Djuan Brown S- Camon, and Verpaele. On a positive, that entire line-up will return next year. Another interesting point to note- none of the DL were starters against Tennessee Tech. Also, this is Moffitt's first start, a brilliant idea, at 6-2 235lbs Moffitt is definitely the largest LB we have, and he looks it with those broad shoulders, wide hips, and thick thighs-- unlike Davis and Nicholas that look like they struggle to keep on 215lbs, Moffitt looks every bit of 230lbs or more- he's also played great all season on special teams, he has that intangible where three year's later we'll look back on this day as a special one- the day Moffitt made his first start. They've added much more size at DT, and... well anyway the youth movement is apparent, and that's with Brown starting ahead of an injured Jenkins. Just looking at that roster can help us identify the mistakes. It should be noted that after the UL game the team was practicing on both Saturday, and Sunday, and took an extra-day of practice that the coaches normally would have granted a day-off under these circumstances. Basically the point I am making is Leavitt isn't "screwing up" games. The issues he's dealing with are an extremely youthful team, already riddled with injuries, some older players not stepping up to play like seniors (Camon, Battle, and Kobel), a QB that refuses to make that next step in development, and some offensive staff coaching issues. That about sums up why we're 2-4, and the reason Jim Leavitt's name and the word 'firing' should not even be breathed in the same sentence. Most of the controllable issues that Jim can deal with will be dealt with in the off-season. If we faulter again next year, and CJL failed to rattle the offensive coaching staff's cages, then it's time to bark. By next year we'll be staring at an extremely talented, experienced, and cagy defense- with Johnny Jones back 100% healthy, ditto for Tim Jones, who knows maybe LRS Jr. will be granted a 7th year of eligibility (just kidding of course). Next season, if little changes are made, and the QB position looks horrific, after finally having quality back-ups, four years with PJ, and loads of athletes, then the word 'fired' could be brought into play. At this juncture most of the issues with this team are simply going to take time, and experience to improve.

Mike, where are you hearing this? I've never known you to be so adament about a certain point. e-mail me, or message me to discuss. I know there's still some bad blood between Spurrier and Foley, and Machen wants to open it up, and feels that he needs to talk to more than just Spurrier- which Steve also doesn't appreciate. Have they gotten over all this? P.S. Steve's system can work in the pros, it's a pro system (he took it from pro coaches), the problem is Steve was never much with adminstrative, and he learned the hard way about some personnel moves. THe NFL has the slimmest margin of error so each player must be able to maximize potential, and that position.

Usually your assessments and opinions are just "Plain Stupid," but we still let you post. The way I see it similar situations.

I would agree too, but Hobbie has been calling easier games for PJ. In the UL game his first few pass players were easy slants. To many PJ just doesn't do it well. Two things that Hobbie should do more, and do it early is screen passes to the RB's, and roll out PJ. I noticed that PJ's a better passer rolling around then sitting in the pocket. He's also a streaky passer, he seems to just go on streaks. He can have a series where he's 5-6, then have a long stretch of 1-6. SO, PJ needs confidence, and he needs it early. Use a series of well thought out screens- double screens, bubble screens, inside screens- 1 or 2 to start off the game would get PJ a completion or two, and some confidence. Second, roll him out on the second series, move the pocket. PJ seems to throw better moving then sitting in the pocket. MY problem is with Smith. A QB coach recognizes these nuances about his QB and convey's them to Hobbie. Instead, what I'm reading and hearing is Smith sees these guys in practice- where everyone is comfortable- and when they're gameplanning for next week he doesn't tell Hobbie the appropriate information like- "We need to build PJ's confidence, short stuff, screens, out patterns, maybe one roll out pass---that's his strong suit." No instead Smith keeps saying, 'well they look better in practice, we just need to get that type of effort into the game'. No Smith you need to get them better, you need to determine how to get that output into the games.

Jim, That's been my point about this season. They say football is a game of inches, and for USF those inches have seemed like miles. USF has been just a passing game away from having a good team. Granted our defense still has a lot of work ahead of it, however this side of the ball would have been greatly enhanced if our offense could have had any consistency. A young defense, that's smallish like ours needed opportunities to rest and learn. Our offense has been off primarily in the passing game, and much of it has been by a few inches, but those inches have made WR's look bad, been the cause of about six INT's, and generally sputtered the offense. Last Friday, I witnessed WR's running crossing routes, wide open, PJ saw them, but he was continually off by just a little, even on easy throws. You cited the Chambers one, Chambers is a young stud WR, this kid could end up being the best of the three -Peyton, and Edwards. Great speed, great hands, but he should have been tossed a swing pass. PJ threw a dart. How many times were the guys wide open, PJ hits half of those throws, or 55% of the ones he missed (he could have because the players were open), and suddenly the offense starts to move. The defense drops 9 out of the box then suddenly Hall goes OFF! It's just a few inches, but those few inches effect the entire team.

I get ya. If Dawsey's WR corp could get a good QB, and QB coach we would see a ton more big plays. I've probably counted at least a half dozen times where PJ just absolutely miss fired on a wide open WR streaking across the middle on a crossing pattern- twice against UL- those WR's get their hands on those balls and make the catch and they run a LONG WAY!

Bulldoug, Listen, I am going to fight you or anyone on any turn when it comes to Dawsey. Those drops in the UL game were primarily centered around Bain, and frankly last year we had drop problems as bad or worse then this year. For those that actually watch the WR's, seriously watch their play, they can tell that suddenly for the first time in forever, well since Pajic has had full reign, these WR's are breaking off the line, causing separation, running crisper routes, and most of all their down field blocking is exceptional. The drops will be corrected, and part of it is a problem with such a major inconsistency at QB that also leads to tendency and uncertainty at WR- these guys don't know when, or if, or at what angle a pass is going to come to them at. However, once the QB position gets rectified, and Dawsey gets guys on the field that will catch the ball you'll see things take off rather quickly. The route running has been just superb- at least compared to anything ever experienced at USF before- the past few years looked like a bunch of freelanced, unchoreographed crap. Also, we never blocked worth a darn, and our receivers timing usually sucked because they couldn't learn proper technique to escape DB hand checking. Dawsey has made this WR'ing crew into a true 1-A bunch. There's still a ton of work to be done, but with guys like Chambers, Peyton, Edwards, Garris, and Green the nucleus is there to take this group to unimaginable levels.