The View from the End Zone

[Jim Johnson]

Don't get me wrong, coming from behind is exciting.  But these kind of games are more fun.

1. The stadium held its breath when Grothe went down.  People were yelling "We want Grothe!"  Well great, but the boy was hurt, let him walk it off first.  Thank god Grothe only tweaked his ankle.

2. It was nice to see a running back actually lead the team in rushing tonight. Ben Williams did well and the coaching staff stuck with the running game to prove a point.  Well, that and U Conn seems to have a weakness there.

3. Grothe is great.  These next 6 games and three years will be a lot of fun.  He's outstaning. Enough said. (Yes, FlipFlop, he's won me over BIG time.)

4. We need to find a punter.  I saw this at Rutgers and U Conn, the line on the punt block team was very heavily weighted to their left (USF's right) because of the rugby style step Teachey takes.  One of these times, he will be blocked.  Heck, the rush caused a 32 yard kick, giving them the ball at USF's 38 yard line.

5. Mike Jenkins needs to learn how to tackle, and not commit pass interference. The first call might have been a big bogus, but there was one PI call where the receiver was practically wearing Jenkins' jersey.  We saw it from the stands.  Also, on U Conn's first TD - he tried a bump tackle and didn't wrap his arms.  If he used his arms, the receiver doesn't score.  Finally, on the INT, Jenkins could have given a block that would have given the return guy a TD -- but he totally passed on that.  The man seems to lollygag a little too much for me.

6. Why why why why why do our cornerbacks play so soft?  My grandma could throw the down and out against this coverage.  I understand about keeping the guy in front of you -- but why give them 7-10 yards every time?  If not for inaccurate passes and dropped balls, the game could have been a little closer.  Two words Coach Leavitt: "Cover Two".

7. Whoever is in charge of the stadium experience sucks monkey nuts.  First, why can't we get replays when a play is being challenged?  Second, why can't you follow what's going on on the field?  Several times they were running "commercials" over the referee explaining what was going on the field.  No one mentioned what stopped play in the first quarter (the ref had to explain things to both sides).  On the "Big East Stadings" they misspelled "Cincinnatti" (two t's guys? wrong.)  

8. Was I the only one who noticed that at half time, with all the little cheerleaders on the field -- they played a Gary Glitter song?  That's worse than if they had the little ones dancing to the ***** Cat Dolls' "Don' Cha"

9. There were a couple of idiot TPD officers.  With less than 3 minutes left, one of Shoop's boys was standing in his seat in the front row - facing backwards and leaning against the wall.  Not hurting anyone. Not endangering anyone, including himself.  Standing and talking.  Along came TWO TPD officers to escort him out of the stadium.  No warning.  Just "come with us, we're kicking you out."  When the rest of the party started asking why, the cops told them "Take your seat."  Someone too dumb to get into college feels like a big man now!!

10. Note to Shoop, Big East Beasts, et al: When you throw people up after a score, the higher the score the lighter the person going up.  Good thing there were some kids around for the 35 and 38 throws.  Where's Jenn Sterger when you need her??

Great night for football!  Looking forward to North Carolina!!  ROAD TRIP!!

[E.T.]

9. The Tampa Police Department are a bunch of idiots.  With less than 3 minutes left, one of Shoop's boys was standing in his seat in the front row - facing backwards and leaning against the wall.  Not hurting anyone. Not endangering anyone, including himself.  Standing and talking.  Along came TWO TPD officers to escort him out of the stadium.  No warning.  Just "come with us, we're kicking you out."  When the rest of the party started asking why, the cops told them "Take your seat."  Someone too dumb to get into college feels like a big man now!!

This seems to be a serious problem and USF should have a discussion.

I like this feature Jim.

Carry on !  8-)

[Brad]

A noticeable and repeating trend indeed, dating back for some time.  Someone needs to have a sit-down with these rogue officer/security types.

[Economics_Nerd82]

I saw a guy taking out of the student section within 5 minutes of the game starting. I don't know why he was taken out, but 4-5 cops showed him the door.

[BigShoop]

9. The Tampa Police Department are a bunch of idiots.  With less than 3 minutes left, one of Shoop's boys was standing in his seat in the front row - facing backwards and leaning against the wall.  Not hurting anyone. Not endangering anyone, including himself.  Standing and talking.  Along came TWO TPD officers to escort him out of the stadium.  No warning.  Just "come with us, we're kicking you out."  When the rest of the party started asking why, the cops told them "Take your seat."  Someone too dumb to get into college feels like a big man now!!

I am the LAST person that will ever get thrown out of a stadium, trust me. I respect the police and am usually the one who's settling down the rowdy ones. That being said, the situation you bring up was ridiculous.

The woman cop had her eye on us the WHOLE game. Even coming up to me, while I was eating my peanuts, and telling me that if ONE shell goes over the wall, I'm going to jail. I looked down, and saw ONE shell on the field, and my words to her were as follows: "Ok, and when you see me throw ONE shell onto the field, you let me know. I got 100 of em right here....AT-MY-FEET. Thanks."

She threw the big guy (Chris) out becuase he was sitting on the rail. Nevermind that the ENTIRE game, we lean over, bang on the wall, and all that kind of stuff. Chris then moved off the actual railing, and onto the wall. Apparently that is now illegal was well.

AND TO MAKE THINGS WORSE....

Steve, the guy sitting on the aisle, had to move to get out of the way of the cops. In doing so, he pressed his back agaisnt the wall, essentially doing was Chris was doing - leaning against the wall, back to the field - and they told Steve that he was next if he didnt move.

WTF!?!?!!!!

You know it's funny, when our normal cop, I believe his name is Cleveland, came over we had nothing but love for him and he shook all of our hands. Amazing what can happen when you show respect, you get it back.

[outrunner]

1. The stadium held its breath when Grothe went down.  People were yelling "We want Grothe!"  Well great, but the boy was hurt, let him walk it off first.  Thank god Grothe only tweaked his ankle.

You could just feel the energy drain out of the stadium when he left the game. That tells you how much he is the heart of this team. Also, we have some stupid fans. First, compaining and booing when Julmiste was put in. Then wanting Grothe back, even without knowing his injury.

9. The Tampa Police Department are a bunch of idiots.  With less than 3 minutes left, one of Shoop's boys was standing in his seat in the front row - facing backwards and leaning against the wall.  Not hurting anyone. Not endangering anyone, including himself.  Standing and talking.  Along came TWO TPD officers to escort him out of the stadium.  No warning.  Just "come with us, we're kicking you out."  When the rest of the party started asking why, the cops told them "Take your seat."  Someone too dumb to get into college feels like a big man now!!

I think this is an issue that came out from the Louisville game last year. This will continue to be a problem until it is addressed in full. It's a two way street, the law enforcement needs to show the fans some respect and trust and vica versa. I fear this will only get worse as we continue to get better and bigger games come to town.

[Economics_Nerd82]

You could just feel the energy drain out of the stadium when he left the game. That tells you how much he is the heart of this team.

None.... even when he came back into the game, the energy was gone.

[South_Florida_Flip]

6. Why why why why why do our cornerbacks play so soft?  My grandma could throw the down and out against this coverage.  I understand about keeping the guy in front of you -- but why give them 7-10 yards every time?  If not for inaccurate passes and dropped balls, the game could have been a little closer.  Two words Coach Leavitt: "Cover Two".

This is a big concern I have. There is no reason for playing so far off the line of scrimmage. Any team can then run a WR screen and pick up a good deal of yards. Jenkins is fast enough to be able to play up much closer than he does. The poor tacklong from this group is also a concern.

I thought ROberts had a very nice game. He could have had a couple of more picks, one that would have been an easy pick 6.

[windbane]

you'd think the kansas game would have cured them of soft coverage calls...

[USFPDiddy]

6. Why why why why why do our cornerbacks play so soft?  My grandma could throw the down and out against this coverage.  I understand about keeping the guy in front of you -- but why give them 7-10 yards every time?  If not for inaccurate passes and dropped balls, the game could have been a little closer.  Two words Coach Leavitt: "Cover Two".

This is a big concern I have. There is no reason for playing so far off the line of scrimmage. Any team can then run a WR screen and pick up a good deal of yards. Jenkins is fast enough to be able to play up much closer than he does. The poor tacklong from this group is also a concern.

I thought ROberts had a very nice game. He could have had a couple of more picks, one that would have been an easy pick 6.

Criticize all you want, but the only reason they moved the ball was penalties.  Jenkins didn't pass interfere because he was playing off.  I didn't see trae williams get called multiple times.

Playing corners off isnt too bad in this situation.  We were up against a bad QB who 1) might not make the short pass read or audible at all, 2) Might not put enough zip or place it well, and 3) needed a deep ball to catch up for a good portion of the game.

We had that game if we didn't give up big garbage TD catches.  UConn isn't a team that can sustain a drive.  I'll be worried if our corners ALWAYS play off vs brohm (once in a while is ok), but vs this guy there was no reason not to.  Take away the run, play off, and make the QB repeatedly make good reads.  He couldn't do it.  Game over for their O.