USFPDiddy

Not surprising sadly enough. One reason among many that so many superstars are flamboyant egomaniacs is that having that trait allows you to put up with attention. It doesn't matter if its good attention or bad attention. If you're chad johnson, for exampe, you like it either way. I'm also the kind of person that likes being on others minds almost despite the reason, but that doesn't justify how some fans tear these people apart. You don't do that to anyone else (hopefully), so don't do it to our players. Sure, a player might not be great at his position, and it's ok to say that and why. There is, however, no reason to bring up things that aren't bad or wrong and implicity degrade someone because of them. In relation to that post, Ben Moffet is a good player overall, and is not as slow as some imply. He missed multiple assignments against KU, but also made some plays. If you want to blame anything, blame the offense for failing to produce even 14 points!

One man's opinion...shoo! They DID bend over a bit when we played them ...

Defense living to their billing? News flash: Most college teams that hold their opponent to 13 points WIN these days. How long do you want our defense to hold up to that "billing"? A drive? 50 drives? No mistake about it, weak offensive execution (although KU's D isn't bad) is what costed us this game. Dropsies and lack of a running game in particular. It doesnt really matter how a team does it, but being able to run the ball consistenly is a must for any top team. Even steve spurrier and his fun n gun had a good back that could run it when UF won the NC.

First of all, I am pretty sure moffet has enough speed that he can play effectively at this level. He probably missed reads, or reacted too slowly. Speed can make up for some mistakes, sometimes. In the end though, the guy that got burned was usually beat because he guessed wrong or was playing out of position. I saw him running stride for stride with the TE on the play he pass interfered him...all he had to do was make the tackle . As for the deep ball being our weakness, this is true. Without Josh Julmiste and a more consistent pass rush, the deep routes have time to get open. Coverage can only do so much. We blitz out of the zone alot. This can be extremely effective - Oklahoma does it too. However, if you send that heat and don't get pressure, it's very hard for the secondary to do anything about it. It's not like the QB's are just lobbing it up and watching the receivers get it. They're getting a lot of time, so whoever is pass rushing/blitzing needs to defeat more blocks.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that you can not block below the waist unless you're in the box (of course, lots of things go on in there...). Doing so in space gets called a lot. That block was to the outside.

How much football did you guys play? When I was in practice, the OC did a hell of a lot more than just call plays. I know some posters on this board have legitly played for USF. This being the case, perhaps you can enlighten us. Whoever is responsible for mass offensive penalties, needs a serious look at being canned. Whoever is responsible for poor execution of the offensive players, be it in blocking, audibles, or blown assignments over an extended period of time also needs a look at being canned. In my high school system, this was almost always the OC, along with individual position coaches. Nevertheless, the bulk of criticism, play adaption, and so forth in practice originated from Rod's position. If it's different in college, then and only then will I lay off Rod. Rod hasn't CALLED many bad games this year, but let's not forget offensive execution is most likely on him as well. Our offense has been pretty subpar, scoring 21, 24, and 10 points vs 1-a defenses that for the most part have NOT looked up to snuff themselves. That was ok back in the wishbone days, but then again so were a lot of things. There has been ONE constant since ROD SMITH has been our OC: Our offense has NEVER, EVER been good/great. It's always something, and if you fish around on here you can always find someone finding him excuses somehow.

I'm glad they tried hard. Seriously. But where were the field goal kicks? The game should have been TIED at the end of the game. When you have a top notch defense and a one dimensional offense, you KICK THE FIELD GOAL. Also, USF badly needs a running back. Our running game is weak as can be right now, outside our QB. Running only the QB on scrambles/options and throwing a lot is a recipe for success for Madden/Ncaa noobs that don't know how to play (note how these players also don't kick field goals...). However, it doesn't work in real life. This team will just barely make a bowl if we can't find something better on the ground.

i put a hex on him DID THE GUY WHO TOOK NAME DO SOMETHING WRONG? VIOLATE ANY BOARD POLICIES? WHAT A BIG TO DO ABOUT NOTHING EATS ME CAN MODIFY HIS HANDLE OR MAKE SURE HE HAS ALL HANDLES IN WANTS YOU GUYS MAKE FUN OF SHOOP FOR HIS PERSISTENCE ON USF USUNG PROPER COLORS! You also know hexing rituals? So which one did you pick to use on Kansas? I currently have their stamina and kicker hexed. Hexing a kicker is extremely easy for most kickers, but teamwide things are much more difficult. Do me a favor and hex their QB?

Is ohio a bigtime win superior to USF these days? Or were you thinking RU working on Illinois or a 1-2 UNC team makes them a strong team? It's way too early to make a call like that. Neither USF nor Rutgers has proven ANYTHING.

No. Butch Davis' name is being thrown around, but it's hard to see Richt making the move. LSU took a share of the national title pretty recently, so why can't georgia? Answer: they can. And they're a lot closer at this point than the canes.

if i were a directional florida school in conference-USA, errr, the big East, a win against a Big 12 school with a national name like Kansas should be considered marquee. You guys aren't UF, FSU, or UM. Remember?? The university of miami just got their pants pulled down...By a school in the...um...Big East. I'm not sure I'd want to be them this year anyway. And that tight win by FSU over troy? Impressive. We're closing the gap, but mostly because those schools are falling. Right now, the big xii is barely better than the BE, if at all. They're pretty much the same top to bottom, but with 4 extra schools (about the same at each tier - top, middle, and cellar). USF is just as marquee in football as Kansas. Not very. Noticable, at least. We did make bowls after all. If USF wins, it's not a marquee win. If Kansas wins, that's not a marquee win either. Neither of us are ranked, and neither of us have have played impressive, blow-a-good-team out football this season. Mighty snooty to consider yourselves any different in the sport in question.

I get very tired of soccer fans saying football is a weak sport. Vice versa also isn't great. But seriously, football players HAVE to wear pads because of they way they take hits in certain situations. If soccer allowed that kind of hitting, they'd wear pads too. And, I'd play soccer.

If nothing else, this is just more proof of how far the mighty canes have fallen. If they play us like they did fsu and UL, I'd pick us...although the over/under would be something like 11 points.

Also turns out Miami didn't pass interfere in 2002. Nevertheless, replay system helps more than it hurts (its not like the replay system changed it from good to bad, just didnt catch bad). Replay system is fine, people running it are still people however, and people make mistakes. Then, they get fired and more competent people come in...hopefully.

Smiths minor problem has always been playcalling. But his biggest problem has ALWAYS been the execution of his offense...a very important aspect for an OC. Outside some ponderous reverse calls and what have you (*cough* uconn) the things that bothered me the most were 1. QB development (did he really develop grothe? we'll see!) and 2. Offensive discipline. I'm not sold on him yet, but its better than before.

Isn't that term usually reserved for favored teams? I also think this will fall to a pick 'em, but I doubt ANYBODY is overlooking kansas. A road game against a favorite? How exactly does one overlook that?!

The teams rutgers have beaten, overall, have not looked that good against other competition this season. Rutgers therefore must also be careful about coming to Raymond James with their head in the clouds. No doubt they're a good team, but double digit dogs for us? No way. They didn't blow out Miami or Texas, they blew out Ron Zook and the Illini. They had a close game with a UNC team that had a close win over a 1-aa. Remember everyone, the season is still young. I, for one, am thankful we're 3-0 at this point. Ugly as we looked, some teams notably considered to be better preseason have done worse - LOST those game. Our team does need to come together for what should be an even harder road game coming up.

I was inclined to agree, until I realized that Miami is going to be 1-2, with a currently embarassing loss to UL. Mighty Troy nearly taking out FSU brings questions up as well. It's not that USF and UCF caught up as much as wtf happened to the "big 3". They're big nothing. The only Florida team with a single impressive victory right now is Florida, and I hate UF.

You can say that about anyone! How many losing teams have good turnover margins?

Rollout pass/run has been a consistent problem in the college game since ncaa 2003 or earlier (2003 was the first year I played on the then new-gen ps2) 8-). Scrambling QB's are kinda a problem in real life, too. I have found a couple ways that severely hamper it: First of all, anytime they're not a running threat up the middle (and many of those cliche' scrambling garbage players NEVER are), use the right analog stick to fan the defensive line out on a QB contain pass rush. 1. Send a corner. No, you can't do this every play (unless your opponent sucks and can't read the D), but when they snap the ball they can't see the corner coming right away. If he tries to roll out, he'll be sacked almost instantly...no way out of it. Decent chance of a fumble too. 2. Run a heavy man blitz (preferably one to the outside) and control a linebacker to run after the quarterback. Faster LB's are on par with most scrambling quarterbacks, and even if he's 5 speed slower, it will be very hard to throw a good pass with someone bearing down on him (it's nice that DB's actually try for the ball and jump this year). Yet another thing you can't call every time. 3. This is the simplest way, but the least consistent: Call a zone that stops their tendency. Most people that roll out will a) scramble or throw a route to the outside...which is almost always a flag route. It is very hard to run on a cover 2 with a corner in the flat. If he tries, you should be controlling the end on the side he was rolling out to. If he tries to juke inside on the corner, you should be there with your DE. If he's getting pass happy, use the pinkish/purplish zone assignment, which covers the flag. In fact, that zone assignment is designed specifically to cover the hole in typical cover 2, where flags and outside WR streaks can beat it. There is also a version of cover 3 that covers the flat with a safety on one side, as well as the flag routes. It leaves the middle somewhat open (still a MLB in zone there as well as a FS behind him), but QB's that roll out won't be able to take advantage of that (it's throwing back across his body). Flip the play so the safety is covering the flats on the side he's rolling out to, and control/switch to your DE like I said. This will box in Scrambling QB's fairly well. Also, a safety jumping the flats can be confusing to a lot of players. If he's thinking corner blitz and throws to the flats because of that, you can run a pick back on him. Finally, the spy can screw him up too. Especially if he's trying to roll out and throw drags or in routes. Often when people look downfield, they forget to account for the spy. Passes thrown near the spy have a VERY high pick rate. Also prevents the QB scramble. Use it if you have strong man coverage and/or pass rushing DE's that can get pressure. If you add in the occasional corner blitz and man blitz as well, the constant scrambling QB can become very error prone (a major reason i've put many hours into pocket passing well). Also, safeties play the pitch man correctly on options now, so using a spy and the right defensive calls will beat the option too. No, ncaa 2007 isn't perfect, but it is a LOT better.

It's true that the team needs improvement, but I don't see how you can pin ANYTHING on our D. The only time FIU got any points off the D was when we had 30 yards in penalties on the punt return team wipe away a 4th and forever. Mcneese scored all of 3 points on our d. FAMU put up points on Miami and Tory on FSU...nobody is harping at those D's. Just about everything else though...special teams coverage, field goal kicking, offensive balance, offensive consistency, and penalties...needs lots of work.

Cool, thx. That makes sense. In that regard it certainly pays to schedule a I-AA. True, unless you're colorado, northwestern, or duke.

Recommendation as a ranked player in every NCAA since 2005, and as a ranked player in each of the past 2 maddens (working on the newest one atm): NCAA 2006 sucks. Horribly. It's a joke. No, seriously, don't get it. If you do, however, USF WILL be in the BE. Also, you can run the ball every single play and if you're halfway decent, win every game on the hardest setting offline that way. If you run the option or the direct snap, it's even easier. Online games in 2006 among top players were among the most retarded things ever...50+point for each side scoring sprees where the person that won did so off a lucky fumble, a very skillful 1 on 1 user pick, or their opponent accidently doing something retarded. I recall calling an outside linebacker blitz as USC, with safeties in man (the strong safety manned on the halfback), and watching vince young run for 20 yards without ever having to pitch it. Annoyingly, the safety went after the QB, only after young crossed the line, and didnt play the pitch man...not that it mattered. Next, I tried a spy...that held them to 15 yards after the pitch. Finally, I attempted a 4-4 double spy. You guessed it, successful vince young option run for 8+ yards no pitch. What's even more horrible than that is, I WON that game. He couldnt stop the reggie bush direct snap-pick-which-way-you-run a thon, and he sure as hell couldn't stop the 90+% success rate USER CATCH. At some point, he tried to pitch it too late and fumbled. The game ended with me having about 70 points ish and him high 60ish. We were both top 1000 players at the time. Any school with a scrambling QB (favorites being Texas, Va Tech, and Penn State of course) can abuse the option, and any team with an impact halfback can abuse the direct snap, and then once 1 on 1 coverage is forced bomb it, which almost always works with user catch. DB's will NOT jump for it under normal circumstances (you can try to make them, but the game doesnt call offensive interference, and you'll be in a major fight with the bigger wideout to be in even remotely decent position) Of course, I still haven't mentioned the glitch where a guy can snap it straight from his center to a slot wide receiver, while he's about 5 yards from the sideline. Instant ball teleportation screen? Try defending THAT! That glitch in particular was so bad that if used it would remove any semblance of football from the game whatsoever. Literally NO way to stop ball teleportation. 2005 and 2007 both have much more balanced offense-defense relationships, such that if you call the correct defense, it will beat the offense and vice versa. 2007 on 360, that is. 2007 360 madden is probably the best overall gameplay engine yet (ncaa 2007 on 360 being second)...Although i DO miss 2005 where I was #38 on the PS2 ladder as USFPDiddy. I play as Turb0USF on Madden 2007 now. And yes, all 4 of those losses are disconnects where I was leading at the time. Disconnect abuse is a problem that will be addressed elsewhere... In short, NCAA 2006 is probably the worst version I ever played. If it isn't, it's by far the worst one to ever make it to online play.

The rankings are almost as powerful as the time I spent an entire day throwing darts into a board to determine the order of the top 25 preseason. Funny how 5 different spaces were for USF. Note: it is very difficult to form a top 25 with USf at both #17 and #9.

So says: Colorado vs Colorado St Ole Miss vs Memphis Tennessee vs Memphis Kentucky vs Louisville (UL was a CUSA Team till last year) Notre Dame vs Army Notre Dame vs Navy Point is...Jemele Hill...a mostly basketball writer from Detoit...doesn't know much about college football. If she did...she would realize that not many schools BRAG about scheduling teams like Kansas, UNC, Indiana, etc.... KL 1. You're actually missing some rivalries. 2. When I read the topic, I briefly wondered if it was about me. 3. The last thing I care about is what some UCF chick puts in that paper. 4. USF doesn't NEED to play UCF, and as of now it is not a rivalry in football. From an attendance standpoint it makes sense, but theres no reason BOTH schools shouldn't keep their eyes open for better options...Hell, every other school does that.