Greg Auman

actually, FAMU snuck in for one sack, but to hold opponents to one in two games speaks well for the line, especially this early in the season ... last year was similar, as USF gave up one sack in each of its first two games ... greg

i was thinking i had to get to 100 to make the scout team, but now i see i'm already there. where's my motivation now? greg

ucf sent out a release Friday saying it had sold out its allotment of 3,400 tickets. as part of its contract, UCF gets 3,000 tickets to sell on consignment and 400 comped tickets. UCF has requested more tickets from USF, but it sounds like USF is directing all fans to the regular avenues -- ticketmaster.com and 1-800-GOBULLS -- to purchase tickets. ucf told me the 3400 didn't include several large groups, including a request for 300 tickets from UCF's student government, so it seems likely the knights will bring a lot more than 3,400 to tampa ... greg

hey. i got my copy of the men's soccer media guide today, and for what it's worth, the bio on freddy hall says "A tall, athletic goalkeeper who will compete with Brenner this season." so chances are the text was changed after brenner established himself as the consensus starter going into the season ... greg

you guys do this EVERY time somebody posts a non-south florida USF headline joke. if it upsets you that it wastes your time, don't add a post saying that, which keeps it at the top of the board so everybody keeps clicking on it. (i realize i'm totally ignoring my own advice here) just let it drift down to the second page and go away ... greg

hey guys. we had some fun with this discussion in our season preview section last week. it's tough to find online, but here it is ... GREG AUMAN, St. Petersburg Times Copyright Times Publishing Co. Sep 1, 2005 It takes time to build traditions. USF is proud of its relative youth, enough to boast it doesn't follow tradition, it creates it. But now that the Bulls have moved into the Big East, a conference whose football roots date to the early 1990s, it's time to find the quirky, nuanced stuff that make college football fun. The Gators have had Mr. Two-Bits in his yellow shirt, the Seminoles - barring another NCAA reversal - have Chief Osceola riding out on Renegade and throwing his spear. The Bulls? The "Traditions" link on USF's Web site simply has the words to the alma mater and fight song. True to form, they include words that only exist in college alma maters, with mystical rhymes such as, "We hold our standard upright and free/Our beacon lighted and noble to see." For the Big East's overall newness, many of USF's new rivals are historic universities that played football during the 19th century, programs whose media guides are peppered with grainy black-and- white photos of leather-helmeted heroes. The Bulls have to cheat a little to make up for missing out on that, and we're here to help. Find a rivalry trophy and give it a cool name The long-awaited rivalry with Central Florida - just by its sheer geography - looks to be the Bulls' best. This year marks the first meeting, but nothing projects the illusion of history like some rusty pail or seemingly ancient chalice to trade back and forth. You could open a flea market booth with all the traditional trophies in, say, the Big Ten, which has the Little Brown Jug (Michigan-Minnesota), Old Brass Spitoon (Indiana-Michigan State), Old Oaken Bucket (Purdue-Indiana) and more. What typifies the rivalry between the Bulls and Knights? Perhaps the ever-widening interstate that joins Tampa and Orlando. Like I-4 traffic, it has taken a long time to get UCF-USF on the schedule. Maybe the I-4 Construction Helmet? The orange-and-white beacon of glory that is Old Bob's Barricade? Who wouldn't leave everything on the field to take home the Fines Double When Workers Present Tureen? Generations from now, as caravans of fans grind to a halt somewhere around Kissimmee, going east or west, they can tell their kids about the time UCF first won the Congestion Ahead Kettle. Honor a fallen teammate Many Big East schools are old enough to have lost players in World Wars, with older fields named not for financial companies, but memorable players whose grandchildren step onto the field and proudly wave at halftime. At its final home game last season, USF honored Patrick Payton, who died after a motorcycle accident in 2001. Payton never played a game for the Bulls, but to remember him with the classmates he came to USF with was a proud and proper tribute. His story could be passed on to each player assigned No. 29, the uniform Payton never got to wear. Give fans a chance to welcome the team to the stadium Lots of Big East schools have a historic campus walk, with a cheering throng of fans lined on both sides as players march to the field. Granted, Raymond James Stadium isn't ripe with leaf-covered, oak-canopied walks, but maybe USF can spray paint a swath of green pavement, say at venerable Entry Ramp D. It can sell bricks to donors. Let them put their name on a piece of history and give the Glazers a little extra Man-U money. Instead of driving the team bus into the stadium, let the players walk the last 50 feet flanked by their fans. Plant a permanent Bull at Ray-Jay It really would be okay to rip off the minor-league Durham Bulls, whose "Hit Bull Win Steak" wooden billboard over the rightfield wall was a genius gimmick long before Bull Durham made it famous. Sure, it's the Bucs' stadium, but Jon Gruden isn't going to be threatened by a modest, little, snorting mechanical bovine atop the end zone. With all those 7 p.m. starts, it would be impressive to see his eyes light up all red, smoke pluming out of his nose. The bull, not Gruden.

hey all. to be accurate, just because a quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage doesn't mean you have a sack. once a quarterback establishes his intent is to run and not to pass -- as denson had on the play in which he fumbled -- a tackle no longer counts as a sack, even if the quarterback is dropped for a loss. you'll see it a lot with option teams, where the QB is dropped for a loss eight times, but none of them are counted as sacks. either way, i believe denson was credited for a carry for no gain on the fumble play, so wouldn't be a sack if he weren't trying to run upfield ... greg

hey. not to discount the honor, but it's all-county, not all-country. i know we didn't write anything about scott during the recruiting process, so not sure what his options were, but leavitt seemed pleased with what he saw of williams on monday. he'll redshirt, but he's at a position where there isn't too much depth, and one where he could easily contribute on special teams down the road ... greg

hey everybody. both papers had their special college fotoball sections out today -- we don't have our stories on each college's individual pages, so they're easy to miss that way, but you can find them all here ... www.sptimes.com/2005/webspecials05/footballcollege/

usf's football media guides are out and should be available for sale. they had a link up on the main page at gousfbulls.com, but it's been replaced with a tout for Leavitt's radio show. if you call 813-974-2125, you should be able to get an answer on that ...

jackson's a sophomore -- spent two years at HCC, but didn't play football, so it leaves him three years of eligibility at usf ... greg

http://www.sptimes.com/2005/08/30/Columns/God_s_game_plan.shtml

that's a good point. hadn't thought about that, but if he's everything people think he'll be this year, he could be three and done for louisville ... greg

thanks brad. i appreciate the link -- we'll have a link to the blog in the paper at the end of my weekly USF notebooks when they start up on wednesday, but i'd think a decent chunk of my early traffic has come from posts and discussion on these boards. twice since i've started the blog, i've thought i've found something new to discuss, only to find out later that you guys had a thread on here long before i found it. and the voting on the espn poll was insane. i'm actually just stealthily padding my posts, trying to see if i can get to 100 before saturday's opener. i'm like the tortoise to smazza's hare. you blink, and wow, i hit three in one day. greg p.s. "suferfelously" might be my new favorite word. glad somebody else referenced it on here ...

carter has given up any thoughts of playing quarterback in college. he's going to louisville as a receiver -- likes the idea of catching passes from brohm, not trying to take his job ... greg

hello. i was at FAD, but don't know that it's the kind of event that usually gets much coverage after the fact, except maybe to say weather was great and turnout was strong, etc. tribune didn't really address it today either, except for the note on the strange JR Reed schedule magnet. both papers had notes from talking to players and coaches at FAD, and ran a few reminders of when and where in the days leading up. i think that's the best way to handle something like that. wish we could have gotten a photo from there though -- between Jon Simmons' puppy, the autograph booths and some of the adorable little kids running around, there was no shortage of fun images ... greg

the game's on ABC TV-28 here in tampa. it had been assumed for some time, and the Big East announced the local affiliates for ESPN Regional a little while back ... greg

if you go to 620wdae.com, there's a "listen live" link on the main page greg

what's crazy about the depth at WR for USF is that it's not going to go away: of the current receivers on roster, only travis lipp is a senior, and ean randolph has one year left after sitting out 2005, and only s.j. green and darren haliburton are juniors. so all these receivers: Peyton, Chambers, Jackson, Edwards, Johnson, Hester, Hill, Hanks and Grant ... are at USF through the 2007 season. that doesn't count anything carlton hill does at receiver, or pat carter, should he choose USF. greg

hi. on the medical redshirt question, i don't believe that's possible, though it's an interesting thought. hill played only three games and 15 total plays last season, and you can play in three games and still apply for a medical redshirt, but only if the injury takes place in the first 20 percent of the season (first three games for football) and the player doesn't play after that. hill played in LSU's fourth game (Mississippi State), the ninth game (Alabama) and 11th game (Arkansas), however, so i think that would scuttle any chance at a medical redshirt. he'll have two years to play for the bulls. greg

hey guys. not to rain on anybody's parade, but amp hill will only have two years of eligibility at USF. he was at lsu for two, sits one for the transfer, then plays in 2006 and 2007. i talked to him this afternoon, and he seems very excited. he'll arrive in tampa tomorrow night and could be practicing by wednesday or thursday. excited to get back with dawsey and said he even talked to michael clayton last week about coming to tampa. greg

you guys are carpet-bombing that poll. that's an insane amount of votes! but it just looks silly right now unless you attack this poll -- where USF is eighth -- with the same abandon: http://sports.espn.go.com/chat/sportsnation/listranker?id=306 greg

how strong is that? howie's posting links to stories before the links even exist. greg

this thread is all over the place, but on cedric hill -- he's impressed tight ends coach greg gregory a lot. gregory said he's gone from 207 when he got to USF to 223 pounds, gotten thicker -- he'll be the impact newcomer at tight end this season. with ruegger/carter/bleakley also back, plan is to redshirt busbee and mcelwain, barring injuries. greg

hey. running back Ricky Ponton had his left arm in a sling at practice today. Leavitt said it was just "a sore shoulder," nothing he thought would be longterm, but the sling seems a bit extreme for just soreness. Leavitt also said they'd gotten good news on Verpaele, said he might be out only a few weeks. both positions are pretty thin for the bulls ... greg