I noticed a few things:

[OhioBull]

1.  The coaching staff played very vanilla in the first half but really opened it up in the 2nd half.  Had the game been called like that the whole game we would have rolled over UCF.

2.  The team played under control today.  I don't know what the penalty count and yards were but it couldn't have been real high.  The PF penalty was a terrible call.  I saw the replay on CSTV and he was in bounds when he was hit and the player just drove through him and planted him in the turf out of bounds.  I didn't see anything illegal about that, just a great hit.  We need to keep up this kind of discipline.

3.  The defense is not playing up to potential but will show when they need to.  You could see at the end of the 3rd quarter and the 4th quarter that they got fired up and stuffed UCF.  Yes, the last drive was long but there was a long, lucky scramble and a prayer of a throw by the QB that kept that drive alive.  Other than that, UCF did NOTHING in the second half.  Look for more of this.

4.  Grothe is the QB for now and for the future.  Don't take a chance on getting him hurt by running him so much.  Yes, run him.  But not that much.  His arm is his greatest weapon, not his legs.

5.  We have one heck of a great WR group.  Wow!  Yes, we had a couple of drive-stalling drops in the first half but they made some nice plays all day.  And Grothe spread the ball around wonderfully.  Something like 11 different receivers.  We are going to be hard to contain with stats like that.

6.  This team is only going to get better as the year goes on.

7.  We miss Ricky Ponton.  Get back soon and keep your head on straight.

8.  Get a punter for goodness sakes!

[Guest]

Playcalling was so-so today.  Too many designed QB runs.  Our RB's are completely ineffective.

The WR pass was set up very well with a couple of end around and a reverse.  The runs did not go very far or work very well, but because they ran three or four times before the throw, the WR was wide open.

Our cornerbacks still play too soft and the safeties don't help on deep routes.  I am not sure why our defense plays so much man-to-man and why the safeties cheat up so gosh darn much.  That last drive was a lot of "prevent" (keep it in front of you and in bounds)... but those down and outs were there all day.

Jim Leavitt needs to work on the long snapper and punter issues.  Yes, Alvarado should have just fell on the ball - but this seems to be a continual problem.

Trae Williams had two interceptions tonight... that's four on the season.

USF only had 5 penalties for 48 yards, glad to see the coaches worked on discipline.

Matt Grothe accounted for 86.6% of USF's production tonight, and was sacked three times tonight.

Attendance was 46,708 - more than attended last year's game in Tampa.

[South_Florida_Flip]

Until Ricky gets back, MG is our best runner. I would love to see him run less, but he makes plays. Our running game certainly improved later in the game, but we have to be effective from the outset. I'd like to see Dorsey in there more.

Special teams is still a concern. That has to improve, and QUICKLY!!!

Very nice to see there were less penalties. Good discipline in a tight game  is key.

The D will be fine once we can plug the holes that are getting opened up. Teams can't run on us outside, so the DL needs to get a bit better.