USF looks strong, falls to Penn State-Sun-Sentine

[MatRatUSF]

This is a pretty good article, nice to see they recognize us down there

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/sfl-statefoot04sep04,0,4684189.story?coll=sfla-sports-headlines

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. · As the South Florida football team exited Beaver Stadium, the Penn State fans applauded.

An unusual reaction to an opponent, considering Penn State beat the Bulls 23-13. But even Nittany Lions fans realized if not for a dominating defense and the Bulls' failure to convert some opportunities, the outcome could have been scarier.

"Lot of ifs," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said, "but they had more points than us at the end of the game."

Even though South Florida forced three turnovers, including one on the fifth play of the game, it was not enough to overcome the cushy 17-0 start that was provided mostly by Penn State's defense.

The Nittany Lions returned a fumble for a touchdown and had an interception in the first quarter, which led to 14 points and ensured South Florida's inaugural Big East campaign did not get off to a rousing start.

Quarterback Courtney Denson fumbled under pressure, and cornerback Alan Zemaitis scooped up the ball and returned it 16 yards for a TD.

Later that quarter, Penn State's Chris Harrell grabbed a Pat Julmiste pass and ran 16 yards, which placed Penn State's offense on the Bulls' 13-yard line. Three players later, tailback Tony Hunt dove over the goal-line pile for a 1-yard score.

"Penn State is building their team off their defense and you saw it today," Leavitt said. "They got two big turnovers and kept us in check."

South Florida's offense had sporadic success against the Nittany Lions. The Bulls gained 297 yards but were held to 11 yards in the first quarter. .

Denson, an inexperienced transfer from Auburn, was shaky before being replaced by Miramar's Julmiste late in the first quarter.

Julmiste, who completed 21 of 35 passes for 200 yards, threw two fades to Johnny Peyton for touchdowns.

[smazza]

forcing 3 fumbles and not doing anything with them means little

our offense is as bad as it was last year

and to call a run with less than60 seconds inside defs ten yardline is stupid and unforgivEBLE

DEFense look good but offense is so bad i see no hope

[___ Eats It]

our offense is as bad as it was last year

Gotta disagree with this, at least for now.  PJ came in and tossed for 200+, which he'd only done 3 times before, and did it against a Top 10 passing defense.

Could be a sign that we've turned the corner.

[Velcro]

we converted one of the turnovers into a touch down, and Baker muffed the hold on a fg try off of another one of the turnovers.

That right there should have been 2 out of 3 conversions off of turnovers against the mighty penn st defense.

I'd say that is much better than last year.

[LW]

This story was actually written by a staff writer of the Orlando Sentinel. It appears in today's Sentinel on page three of the Gameday section. Of course, the Orlando Sentinel and South Florida Sun-Sentinel share content.

Either way, it's nice to see that the Orlando Sentinel thought the USF-Penn State game was important enough to cover.

[beastiebull]

We make that field goal and Denson doesn't cough it up for an easy 7 and we WIN that game in front of 100000 people against a top 10 defense.  What isn't improved about that?