Lakeland Ledger: Leavitt's Warning Is Real

[Brad]

Leavitt's Warning Is Real

By Patrick Zier

 

South Florida's Jim Leavitt has issued dire warnings before, and as is the case with most coaches, the tendency is to shrug them off.

But this time, with Central Florida on the horizon, when Leavitt says the wolf is at the door, believe him.

After watching his team do just about everything wrong it could do wrong and still manage to beat Florida International on Saturday, Leavitt said if the Bulls don't make dramatic improvement, they won't win another game this year.

For a change, this is not coachspeak. The Bulls weren't bad in this game, they were pathetic, and they won't win another game this year if they don't get better in every phase of the game, even on defense, which is their strong suit.

One thing Leavitt did after his team had escaped with its life was put things in perspective.

For three years now, South Florida has been searching for a quarterback, a guy who can stand in there and make plays when they have to be made and lead the offense.

And after the opener against McNeese State, virtually everyone thought the Bulls had found their man in Matt Grothe, the calm, cool, collected Lake Gibson product.

Immediately, although his college career consisted of just over a half of football, he was annointed as South Florida's savior.

Saturday, reality set in. While Grothe has the potential to fill that role and may well become the face of South Florida football before he's through, against Florida International, he was what he really is -- an unproven, inexperienced freshman.

Yes, he made the game-winning throw. But he wouldn't have had to make that play if he hadn't thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown and put the Bulls in a hole to start with.

This is not meant as criticism of Grothe. He is an intelligent guy and may develop very quickly because his positives far outweigh his negatives.

He knows what happened against FIU.

"I think they saw a young quarterback out there and decided to blitz, and I got caught up in that," Grothe said.

"I need to quit thinking so much and just play, make the right reads and concentrate on what I'm supposed to do, not worry about the rest."

Grothe will become an aboveaverage quarterback because he has three qualities you can't teach: leadership, poise under pressure and the ability to make big plays.

That's why, despite the fact Grothe struggled much of the game, Leavitt didn't go to Pat Julmiste.

But Grothe still has much to learn and maybe the only two people who truly understand that are Grothe and Leavitt.

For Grothe and the Bulls, the future is now. But there will be no future if they don't take Leavitt's warning to heart.

Ledger correspondent Patrick Zier covers USF football. He can be reached at sports@theledger.com.

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[smazza]

how can this happening?

why is wolf at the door?

we slaughtered this team last year?

they are non bcs us fhas been bcs for 2 years now

why does usf regress to the point of the ftu/ou/.oc wolf being at the door?

funny i would have thought we would be beating ftu/ou/oc more than last year! ;D

the talent discrepancy between both schools should have grwon not shrunk since last year

there is a major problem with the program if usf cannot  dispatch ftu/ou/oc easily

[Brad]

You did watch our last two games, right smazza?  We did not play well.  We continue on that path and we can be beaten by less than average teams (as we almost were).  

I think that is the point.  It's more of a micro than a macro commentary counselor.  We need to pick it up a bit.  

[USFPDiddy]

It's true that the team needs improvement, but I don't see how you can pin ANYTHING on our D.  The only time FIU got any points off the D was when we had 30 yards in penalties on the punt return team wipe away a 4th and forever.

Mcneese scored all of 3 points on our d.  FAMU put up points on Miami and Tory on FSU...nobody is harping at those D's.

Just about everything else though...special teams coverage, field goal kicking, offensive balance, offensive consistency, and penalties...needs lots of work.

[USF03]

Hopefully our team wakes up this week and trys to stand up.

[RandyGator]

Agreed;

The D has performed fairly well during both games.

The O is what is still lacking.  Hopefully it will gel enough for UCF and then continue to get better.

MG is growing in front of our eyes, lets just hope our vision doesn't get blurry!!!!!

[snarling Bull]

It's true that the team needs improvement, but I don't see how you can pin ANYTHING on our D.  The only time FIU got any points off the D was when we had 30 yards in penalties on the punt return team wipe away a 4th and forever.

Mcneese scored all of 3 points on our d.  FAMU put up points on Miami and Tory on FSU...nobody is harping at those D's.

Just about everything else though...special teams coverage, field goal kicking, offensive balance, offensive consistency, and penalties...needs lots of work.

The D gave up very little.

Lets look at penalties and coaching.

[BullsFanInTX]

Agreed;

The D has performed fairly well during both games.

The O is what is still lacking.  Hopefully it will gel enough for UCF and then continue to get better.

MG is growing in front of our eyes, lets just hope our vision doesn't get blurry!!!!!

The O really hasn't been lacking.  We've averaged close to 400 yards a game.  It's the turnovers, miscues and especially untimely penalties that have absolutely killed us.

Can you imagine for a second if all 3 of Ean's returns would have stood (no penalties), and we didn't commit 30 yards of penalties on their late 1st half TD.  We would have won by 3 TD's plus, and all this talk would be moot.  It has been the PENALTIES that have absolutely killed us and taken away points and given the opposition points.  correct that, along with the special teams and we will be fine.

[bulls96go]

offensive penalties

are offensive

penalties will cost us several games this year

[amie_abull]

IMO, penalties are what have been killing us for the past 9 years on the field.  :'(