Bulls ready for action in Big East

[Papa_Bull]

Friday, July 15, 2005  Ã¢â‚¬â€ Time: 7:43:20 AM EST  

South Florida Bulls ready for action in Big East conference

By JIM BUTTA

TAMPA, Fla.-There is no denying that West Virginia University head football coach Rich Rodriguez likes to take his Mountaineers to the Sunshine State to play every year.

But, when Miami elected to join the Atlantic Coast Conference-along with Virginia Tech and Boston College-and the University of Central Florida decided to end its series with the Mountaineers, it appeared as if those opportunities would no longer be possible.

Enter the University of South Florida who, along with Louisville and Cincinnati, elected to jump ship from Conference-USA to the Big East returning the possibility of WVU making a trek to the Sunshine State at least every other year.

That will be the case in 2005 as the Mountaineers travel to Tampa to take on the Bulls for the first time on the gridiron. WVU is coming off an 8-4 season, which culminated in an appearance in the Toyota Gator Bowl, while USF struggled to a 4-7 mark-3-5 in C-USA.

But before anyone begins to compare the Bulls to perennial Big East cellar-dweller Temple, think about this-USF finished 21st in the country in rushing offense in 2004, averaging 187.8 yards per game on the ground.

More importantly to Mountaineer defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel is that all C-USA running back Andre Hall, who rushed for 1,357 yards and scored 11 touchdowns, returns. In fact Hall's numbers make him the top returning rusher in the Big East.

But, that's not all that is back for the Bulls.

Also returning to the backfield will be junior-to-be quarterback Pat Julmiste. As a sophomore he passed for 1,570 yards and seven touchdowns and also rushed for 193 yards and scored 9 TDs.

Julmiste will get plenty of push, however, as Auburn transfer Courtney Denson and a pair of highly touted freshmen, Carlton Hill and Matt Grothe, will challenge for playing time.

The passing attack appears to be strong with the return of the entire pass catching corp from 2004-junior S.J. Green and sophomores Jackie Chambers and Johnny Peyton. Green and Peyton each caught 22 passes with Chambers latching onto 18. Peyton led the way with 469 yards.

Up front starting guards Frank Davis and Chris Carothers return, but Leavitt and his assistants will have to find replacements at center and both tackles.

Defensively, eight of 11 starters are back, led by senior Terrence Royal and junior Tavarious Robinson at the ends. Royal finished with 38 tackles, 13 for loss, and four sacks.

At middle linebacker junior Ben Moffit is back as is strong-side linebacker Stephen Nicholas, who registered 98 tackles in 2004.

The secondary returns a great deal of experience as well as sophomores Trae Williams (left cornerback) and Danny Verpaele (free safety) are back. Verpaele finished with 55 tackles and two sacks while Williams contributed 21 stops and also picked off one pass.

Special teams could pose a problem, however, as senior punter Brandon Baker is the only returning starter coming back after averaging 41.8 yards per kick in 2004. Freshman Kyle Broson appears to have captured the placekicking duties after spring drills.

Hall and Nicholas have already made an impact on the Big East before ever playing a game as the duo were selected to the preseason all-Big East first unit by Street & Smith's College Football 2005 Yearbook.

All bull aside USF's Leavitt has led the Bulls to at least seven victories in six of the eight years the school has had a team and believes his team can make in immediate impact on the Big East.

It already has on many Mountaineer fans as they have already begun making travel plans to be in Tampa on Oct. 22.

http://www.newsandsentinel.com/sports/story/0715202005_spt03matchup071505.asp

[Papa_Bull]

There is a thread on the WVU board about the game in Tampa in case anybody wants to respond to them:

http://mb25.scout.com/fwestvirginia18066frm2.showMessage?topicID=59645.topic

[beastiebull]

If special teams are our biggest problem then we're in good shape.

[BULLfreak]

Isn't Mofit playing weak side linebacker?

[Rabbi Bull]

i had no clue Julmiste passed for that many yards, i would have thought it would be much less, by the way we played last year

[bulls-n-beer]

The problem wasn't the yards...

It was the interceptions!!!

[Cubanbull]

Actually he only had 8 int,one for every 30 passes,it was the 48% completion which hurt drives that hurt the offense the most.

But i still say that it was our lack of defense that killed us

[Rabbi Bull]

like the old saying goes "defense wins championships", but it doesn't hurt to have a quarterback and a reciever core that can throw and catch the ball.  the offense has to do something to help out the defense.

[Guest S.  Bien]

Isn't Mofit playing weak side linebacker?

starting middle backer, and he really shined at it this off-season.  Coach Burnham is very excited and believes he's a natural there.

[bulls96go]

we will go as far as the defense takes us!