Bull94

uconn is down to their 3rd string freshman qb and they lost to cinci. i'll take rutgers.

The scary notion is if our coaches honestly believe that. I for one hope they think that the team will rise or fall on the legs of Andre Hall.

No offense Jake but these are nothing but excuses. We have the talent to win now. I thought JL redshirted some guys on defense last year just to gear up for this season. I'm not talking about tough losses to PSU or UM. I'm talking about a very beatable Pitt team. Ohio beat them!! Excuses are nothing more than a reason to lose. I bet R Smith gives these same excuses when blaming these losses on a 20 yr old kid. "I can't run my beloved spread offense without the proper qb." No kidding. how about adapting to the talent you have and run out of a power formation with a top ten RB in the country. Way to logical. The coaches are who worries me not the players. They don't adapt to the players strengths. It's not so much the loss that bothers me as how it is we lost. If I felt the coaches (who get paid very well to do what they do) had a proper gameplan in place and did their best to have our current players execute it and we still lost then I would feel like we gave it our best shot. They have known for 3 years that PJs strength isn't to throw the ball 37 times a game and yet this is the best they come up with? How about we use that RB who is a potential NFLer and run the heck out of the ball. He did average more yards per carry against Pitt then he did against UofL. As for this being a rebuilding year, I bet the seniors would disagree. I'm sure they don't go out there thinking "oh well, it's only a rebuilding year". By the way all college teams can be considered young. I understand that the recruits will eventually come but I believe you are selling our current players way short. We've had the same problems for the last 3 years concerning this stupid spread offense. I'm not saying it won't work but it is obvious to me that we don't have the right personell. Are we supposed to stand around and use this as an excuse for losing or should we adapt an offense that utilizes our current players strengths? I think the later would put us in a much better position to succeed and win or lose that is all I am asking.

Its funny that they call us a one dimensional offense and our passing game is ranked higher than theirs.

twilly, I would love to have a drop back gunslinger but we don't. the coaches have to realize this. they are trying to force a square peg in a round hole. We all know Pat's weaknesses. I assume the coaches do as well. Why do they expect him to throw the touch passes?Why do we throw the ball 37 times against Pitt? That's about a smart as letting an option QB throw the ball from his own 8 yard line!! (oh yeah that's right the coaches tried that twice) We were in that game until about 5 mins to go. Even then they expected him to throw these dinky touch passes for 5 yards instead of letting him use his obvious arm strength and putting the ball downfield. All teams have weaknesses. It is the coaches responsibility to play towards their stengths. Imagine how horrible Nebraska would have been if Tom Osbourne expected Tommy Frazier to drop back and throw the ball 37 times a game. Would the fans run around saying "man I wish we had a decent QB who could throw the ball?" or would they say "what in the hell are the coaches doing expecting an option QB to sling it 37 times?" I just hope they don't scrap this offense, recruit a pro style dropback QB and then make him run the option!!

So I guess all we need is a near NFL quality QB and then we can have a successful team? I bet R Smith uses that same lame excuse for his inept offense's results. Blames it on a 20yr old kid doing the best with his abilities. Maybe they should wait to run the spread when we do have that level of talent.  How about we use the NFL quality talent we have in the backfield and line up and run the freakin ball instead of asking an option style QB to win it with his arm. Funny how WVU doesn't need to have an NFL quality QB in order to be 6-1. At least they know how to adapt the system to their strengths.

Great post. I agree totally. I hope the coaches are looking in the mirror and realize it is their responsibility to put the players in a position to succeed. Asking PJ to run a pass happy offense is like asking Roger Clemens to play 3rd base. Use him to the best of his abilities. Line up in the I . Smash mouth 2 TE sets. Make use of Hall, Ponton and Simson. Sweeps. Let them get the edge. Then use some play action. Let our 6'5" receivers go up and battle for the ball 30 yards down the field. PJ is not known for his touch, why insist on having him throw little dink passes. Let him use his strong arm with downfield passes. Quit asking him to do stuff that does not come naturally to him. Put him in a position to succeed.

Couldn't agree more. Smith needs to nut up and get a quote in the paper taking responsibility for this loss. It's a shame that PJ feels he has to take it on himself when it was obvious the gameplan and the execution by the coaches was absolutely attrocious.

Not true at all. I bet Nebraska threw about 10 passes in the decade of the 90's but nobody could stop their run. Teams should not try and force opponenents to defend their weakness. Make them stop your strength. Sweeps, 2 TE sets, pound the ball. I bet Baltimore would have never won a Super Bowl if they had to rely on Dilfer's passing to set up the run. Andre averaged over 4 ypc. 4 x 3 > 10. keep feeding him the ball. Run would eventually setup the deep play action pass. I think PJ can throw a decent deep ball every now and again. His weakness' are these dink and dunk passes. Yet this is what we use to try and loosen a D!!! Those stupid passes do not stretch a defense they actually bring the safeties and corners up.

Why is everyone giving UCONN all of this respect? Didn't they just lose to Cinci? Aren't they down to their 3rd string freshman QB as a starter? They will be lucky to win another game this year.

How about the wing T option? PJ played this in high school. We have the talent in the backfield. Time to adjust the system to the players strengths. Pound the freakin ball. PJ had 9 pass attempts in the UofL game. Seemed we were pretty successful then. How come we throw it 37 times against Pitt?? Andre's yards per carry was higher in the Pitt game and yet we give up on the run. Why not feed him the rock? Pitt Game 37 pass attempts 47 rushing attempts UofL Game 10 pass attempts 48 rushing attempts Unless PJ is the one calling the plays then the blame lies elsewhere.

Time to get off of PJs back. He should never be expected to carry this team. If the coaches didn't know this then that is where the problem lies. WVU is 6-1. They run the same offense. Here is the stat lines comparing PJ and WVU QBs for last weeks games. PJ 18 - 35 222yds 1 TD 0 int WVU 13 - 27 109yds 1 TD 0 int Notice PJ had a better completion percentage, more yards per attempt, more total yards and an equal td-int ratio. Maybe we shouldn't give up on the run so quickly. Their freshman RB had 31 carries compared to our senior top ten in the country RB who had 19. They were getting it handed to them while we were never out of it early. Somehow they stuck to the run and we decided that it was time for desperation passes way to early. If they can win with QB play below ours, a comparable D and an inexperienced RB then why can't we. Simple. It is the coaches calling the plays. They give up on our strength which is running the ball and expect PJ to do something that everyone knows he can't!! Stupid.

Why do you guys blame this on PJ? We've known for sometime that he can't and shouldn't be expected to carry this team. How come our coaches don't know this? They are the ones to blame.We have a top ten RB in the nation who averaged over 4.0 yards per carry in this game. Why did the coaches panic and throw the ball 37 times? We weren't out of this game when they decided to start slinging it. Look at WV. They run the same offense and were getting it handed to them by UofL. They seemed to be in much more dire straights and yet they still stuck to their strength (running the ball). Did they panic? No. They continued to run the ball and got right back in it. Lay off of PJ. He would do fine if the coaches realized our strength is in running the **** ball. Enough of the "we need a heisman QB in order to be successful" crap. A power running game and a stout D is all you need. Don't start the desperation passing unless we are down by 4 TDs with 6 minutes to play!! Whose fault?? PJ 35 pass attempts AHall 19 carries WV QB 27 pass attempts WV RB 31 carries By the way their RB is a freshman. NOT A TOP TEN RB IN THE COUNTRY and yet their coaches have a clue who needs to touch the ball!! And their QBs had a lower completion percentage, less yards and the same amount of TDs and INTs as Pat and yet they still won and are now 6-1. Our coaches need to get a clue.

Agreed. 37 pass attempts way to many. Horrible play calling. we need to throw as little as possible.  15 times per game max. We had plenty of time to get back into this game without feeling like we have to pass all day. Julmiste passes+carries = 55 Hall/Ponton receptions + carries = 29 Hall and Ponton need to have more total touches then PJ. I feel sorry for PJ that the coaches can't put him in a better situation to suceed within his abilities. He can't be expected to carry this team. Horrible gameplan.

I don't understand why you bring in an option quarterback deep in your own end and pass the ball 3 times. idiotic. I think Denson could be effective as an option QB with his speed. Put both Ponton and Hall back there and shove it down their throats. Play smash mouth. Enough of the spread until we get a QB who can pass consistently. It's time to fit the system to the players. It's obvious these players don't fit the system!!

I sometimes wonder if these guys who write these articles even follow the sport. UCONN's QB is out for the next 6 - 8 weeks after breaking his collarbone during the 'Cuse game. Don't they think this may have an impact on their season? They have to start a freshman now. We're going to earn their respect!! http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/8950299

It's definitely not a marketing ploy. ESPN is strong arming cable companies to pick up their new station. They have been horrible for most college coverage. Unless you are a national program. I remember when we had a good many basketball games on locally. In fact most of our home and away games were shown. That will never happen again because of ESPN. They don't want local games to compete with whatever national game they are showing. They buy all the rights to these games and then don't show them or force you to pay a premium for pay-per-view.

It's been done at the basketball games and it seems to sound louder than green/ gold chant. They should put it on big screen and get it going when we need a big defensive stop. something, anything to try and get the crowd into it.

I like the SOUTH FLORIDA chant. one side South, the other side Florida.

The line has come down from 9 1/2 to 8. That makes me nervous. Those sun sports guys are based in orlando. they have always been associated with UCF. natural bias pick.

Zoomer, I bet they bought blocks of 20 to help fill in the gaps like Eric said above. I sit in 135  and had quite a few around me. It's better to have them filled than empty.

I think the BE is actually a hinderance here. Alot of these guys who were on the bubble to go pro out of high school now realize how dangerous it is to play against real competition. I think he may be afraid that his game will be exposed and all of his weaknesses will show against top notch competition. I've read an article that says the new rule for the NBA with a 19 y.o. age limit will cause alot of these kids to go to prep schools so they can still dominate against lesser talent rather than play in college and have their weaknesses exposed..

Mike G, There are plenty of unknowns. There are plenty of knowns as well. 1) Dungy was to stubborn to admit that he could not oversee an offense and this cost him his job in Tampa. He hired guys who would run an offense his way. If he had swallowed his pride and let an experienced offensive mind  direct the offense then Tampa would have been much more successful under him. Successful head coaches delegate authority and realize their strengths and weaknesses. I hope CJL is a great offensive mind but if he's not then I hope he is willing to swallow his pride and bring an experienced guy in to do the job. I think Smith was hired to run CJLs offense the way CJL wants him to.No questions asked. 2)Knowns We know that Smith has exactly 1 year of  experience in running an offense and that was in 1997 at Franklin H.S. Hardly BCS college level experience. We don't know if he was to blame for Banks/Julmiste not progressing but somebody needs to take responsibility. Why not the QB Coach in charge of developing talent? He had no other job. Who was responsible for recruiting these guys? Leavitt? Hobbie? Smith? Didn't they have the foresight to realize it probably was a long shot to have a guy that threw 10 passes his senior year in high school run a spread offense successfully at the BCS college level? Sorry but responsibility for the QB failures start at the top(CJL). I'm willing to bet that CJL didn't hire a guy with no college experience to run a BCS offense without having full oversight himself. It would be wrong for him to run the offense because CJL is a defensive guy. Before being at USF, the last offensive experince he had was probably playing in high school. He is not trained to think offensively. He should concentrate on the defensive side and let someone who knows what they are doing run the offense. I'm behind the Bulls 100%. I continue to donate. I attend the games and cheer for our teams. Questioning what could be the most important hire in some time for our football team is not micro- managing every GD detail. Let's hope CJL got it right.

Sorry. I was talking about the O.C. hires and the hands-on way Dungy ran the offense in Tampa. My bad. I just hope CJL is not making the same mistake.

For 6 years? The head coach has no responsibility for the offense? Who was directing that offense?  the Glazers? Were they the ones calling 2 draws, 1 screen and punt for field position? Maybe I was wrong about Dungy's offensive conservative side all along.