For USF to go Bowling

[Guest S.  Bien]

PJ was a soph as well, plus PJ played as a freshman... so it may be that PJ and Patterson as about equal in terms of QB skills... Hall is better than Rhodes, but probably not by enough to put the game on his shoulders... which means that it comes down to defenses... I don't think that, on paper, Syracuse is that much better than USF on defense...

Like I said earlier... the game is basically a "pick 'em"... either side could win at this point... since the game is late in the season - it's really hard to predict... will CD or CH takeover for PJ at QB??  Will there be a rash of injuries for either team?? Will our defense improve?? etc...

Damien Rhodes is 6-0 220lbs, and an NCAA track athlete.  Hall's a very good to great running back, mostly crafty but he certainly doesn't have the gamebreaking ability that Rhodes possesses.

Patterson went 19 for 28 for 211 yards passing 1 TD, and 1 INT against FSU.   Call me when you think PJ could have accomplished that against FSU last year.  PJ was a RS- Soph last year, but Patterson was a TRUE SOPH.  Definitely a difference.  Last year Patterson, as a TRUE SOPH, was 168 for 287 for 1851 passing yards, he rushed for over 340 yards NET.  If PJ threw for that type of completion percentage and had that much positive yardage USF would have won more than 4 games last year.

I would say right now that Syracuse has a better defense, BUT presume it's a push as our defenses are equal.  Right now they're coming in with some proven firepower, at QB, and RB.  The home field advantage makes Syracuse a solid favorite.  You can't tell me a team that was one play away from beating FSU at home last year and only lost 6 seniors is going to struggle against us at home.

[JoeB]

When you break down each QB and their stats, they are very similar.  Patterson threw for about 280 more yards for the entire season, but they had an extra game (bowl game).  Julmiste actually ran for 50 more yards so its basically a wash.

Syracuse will definitely be favored going in, unless the Bulls have a serious turnaround.  Most likely somewhere in the 10-12 point range.  But favorites sometime lose when they shouldn't ala USF versus Army last year or Syracuse versus Temple.

[Guest]

Damien Rhodes is 6-0 220lbs, and an NCAA track athlete.  Hall's a very good to great running back, mostly crafty but he certainly doesn't have the gamebreaking ability that Rhodes possesses.

Patterson went 19 for 28 for 211 yards passing 1 TD, and 1 INT against FSU.   Call me when you think PJ could have accomplished that against FSU last year.  PJ was a RS- Soph last year, but Patterson was a TRUE SOPH.  Definitely a difference.  Last year Patterson, as a TRUE SOPH, was 168 for 287 for 1851 passing yards, he rushed for over 340 yards NET.  If PJ threw for that type of completion percentage and had that much positive yardage USF would have won more than 4 games last year.

I would say right now that Syracuse has a better defense, BUT presume it's a push as our defenses are equal.  Right now they're coming in with some proven firepower, at QB, and RB.  The home field advantage makes Syracuse a solid favorite.  You can't tell me a team that was one play away from beating FSU at home last year and only lost 6 seniors is going to struggle against us at home.

First, the FSU game was a defensive game... I would say that PJ would have had similar numbers, but that would be because FSU would have pulled their first string defense early in the 3rd quarter... it would have been a 41-14 game...

But let's compare Patterson to PJ realistically... by comparing them against common opponents last year: Cincinnati & Pittsburgh.

Patterson: 25 of 44 (56.8%), 2 TDs  3 INTs  3 sacks

Julmiste: 26 of 53 (49.1%), 1 TD  2 INTs  5 sacks

With that, I'll grant you that Patterson is slightly better than Julmistes, but you will have to admit that Hall is about the same amount better than Rhodes.  Let's look at the same games:

Rhodes: 34 att 185 yds (5.4 avg)

Hall: 31 att 240 yds (7.7 avg)

Hall has 6 100+ yard games in 1 year, Rhodes has 4 in 2+ years (he was hurt in 2004)... Hall has 2 200+ yard games, Rhodes has 1... Rhodes has 326 att for 1562 yards... Hall has 210 att for 1357 yards...

---

Offensively its a wash as well...

The Carrier Dome "might" be the real factor... it is, after all, Homecoming for the Orange.

I still say USF ekes out a victory...

[Guest S.  Bien]

Jim,

I am with ya, I do believe Patterson has more upside but he wasn't massively better than PJ.

Hall is as good or maybe slightly better than RHodes.  Hall will never have the pure speed and size of Rhodes, but Rhodes doesn't have that mack truck, with great balance and vision of Hall.  Definitely a wash as both backs will get their yards this year.

The intangible to me is the Carrier Dome, it's just an awful place to play for an opponent.

I think my point is if this team walks out of Syracuse with a win, then we should be favored at Uconn.  Syracuse is much more talented than Uconn, so if we can beat Da Cuse in the Carrier Dome then i like our chances against Rutgers, and Uconn who's talent is evenly matched with ours.  

If this team beats Syracuse in the Dome then I expect we would get seven wins- WVU, FAMU, UCF, Cuse, Rutgers, Cinci, and Uconn.  That team would go bowling.  I am not expecting it, nor am I predicting it, but if someone told me this team would get seven wins and beat the aforementioned teams and go bowling- I'd tell them to "Lock it up," because that's probably as good as it'll get in 05'- but I'd be real happy.

[smazza]

never happen

[BULLfreak]

PSU - Loss

FAMU - Win

UCF - Win

UL - Loss

UM - Loss

Pitt - Loss

WVU - Win

RU - Win

Cuse - Win

Cincy - Win

UConn - Win

7-4 for the season I’m being optimistic