Lakeland Ledger: Leavitt Stands by Grothe as His M

[TyBull]

Leavitt Stands by Grothe as His Man

By Patrick Zier

Ledger Correspondent

TAMPA -- South Florida coach Jim Leavitt put himself firmly in Matt Grothe's corner Tuesday after the freshman quarterback's Jeckyll-and-Hyde performance Saturday against Rutgers.

Despite two interceptions that led to nine Rutgers points and a fumble that killed a late South Florida drive, Leavitt said he would make no attempt to rein in Grothe.

"Matt's a competitor," Leavitt said of the former Lake Gibson star. "He tries to do the best he can.

"I don't think this will slow him down and I don't want it to slow him down."

Actually, South Florida made enough mistakes in the 22-20 loss to Rutgers to last a season, and they weren't only by Grothe.

The kicking game, in terms of field goals and punting, was terrible. It failed to put points on the board and set Rutgers up to score points, and if it doesn't get better, the Bulls have a huge problem.

There were critical penalties at critical times, and defensively, the Bulls were whipped at the line of scrimmage, allowing Rutgers to run the ball at will.

Despite all that, once again the Bulls had an opportunity to win at the end of the game when Grothe led them to a touchdown, only to see a chance for a tie slip away when Amp Hill let a pass for a two-point conversion slip away in the end zone.

This season Grothe has been responsible for 1,438 of the 1,881 yards gained by the Bulls, or 76 percent of the offense.

And he remains unflapable despite two straight losses in winable games.

"You look at it and go on," Grothe said of the losses at Kansas and to Rutgers. "You can't change it.

"I just overthew one pass and the other was a bad read. I just have to get better."

"I'm proud of this football team," Leavitt said. "We've battled and fought and never given up.

"Were it not for a play here and there, we would have won the (Rutgers) football game.

"We just need to keep plugging away at it.

"Things have built to a higher level here, and that's the way it should be," Leavitt said.

"The expectations are that you should beat a nationally ranked team at home, and when you don't it's disappointing. That's OK," Leavitt said.

Rutgers was ranked 23rd in the nation when it played South Florida. Connecticut, which meets South Florida here Saturday, is just 2-2 but at this point, certainly not a team the Bulls can take lightly.

[BullDoug]

Very happy to have Matt but the second half TO's prolly cost our fav team a victory.  Both were on nice drives too.  IMO one INT and the fumble are frosh m'takes so all are correctable.  The overthrown INT...well as much is USF is throwing one or two overthrows a game in expected.

[Lakelandkid]

That's true it probably did cost a victory for the Bulls but I am much happier with a QB who MAKES plays and then a few mistakes as opposed to a QB who can't make plays and still makes mistakes.

[E.T.]

Hope The Ledger keeps up the pace with covering USF !

Go BULLS !!!

[smazza]

what alternative does laevitt  have?

[smazza]

usf better hope grothe stands by leavitt! ;D

grothe is the man at usf

[SplitT]

At this point, I think if he didn't stand by Grothe....Leavitt would be burned in effigy.

[bulls96go]

lets hope and pray grothe stays healthy

or you can write off the season