Coach Leavitt's quotes after the game

October 15, 2006

South Florida Head [highlight]Coach Jim Leavitt[/highlight]

Opening Statement:

"I was disappointed in a number of things. One is dropping a punt, that was disappointing and Amarri [Jackson] knows that he can't do that. Missing an extra point field goal- you can't do that. It really really hurts us. I thought after we went up and scored in the third quarter, for our defense to allow them to drive all the way down and score was disappointing. I thought the real key to the game was- because Carolina was right back in it- our offense using ten minutes on the clock and going down and putting us in field goal position and Delbert Alvarado hitting it. I thought at that point we had a chance to win because it was three scores separation. You allow a team with a little bit of energy and some momentum and they get going- you can't sometimes stop it, not a thing you can do about it, so that was my biggest concern."

On being in control for most of the game:

"In the third quarter, we scored the first two times we had the ball in play and that was real big. We talked a lot about the second half today. We really felt like the second half today was going to be pivotal and we really felt like we needed to get out and really play. I thought the guys responded pretty well. I'm frustrated with not getting more sacks and not getting more pressure on the quarterback. Their quarterback runs extremely well and has very nice feet and he's hard to get down."

On getting Ricky Ponton back:

"You can see there's some energy there. You see he's a pretty good running back and really helped us I thought. I think it will be real big for those guys because usually the biggest difference is between your first and second game that you improve. You've got to remember these guys haven't played in six weeks. It's hard to come back in your first game, so I didn't have high expectations for any of them. Hopefully they'll play a lot better next week because we're going to need them because Cincinnati is an awfully good football team."

On the importance of the 2 interceptions:

"Big. You can't turn it over- just like when Matt [Grothe] fumbled. That was rough. The fact that our defense held them out twice to getting a touchdown was huge because that was right before the second half. It still secures some momentum- that's the thing."

On the positives of the win:

"I'm looking at our offense, we got some guys back. Richard Clebert played today, another D-tackle. We haven't had Richard since the third game and that helped our front. We were able to play with more guys because we needed them the second stretch. It's a long season. The win's always good- the momentum."

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their coach on USF:

John Bunting quotes after 37-20 loss to South Florida

"Well, it's a beautiful day until the game started. The fans were great, It's great to see them there-and we continue to do not enough things to win and a lot of things to help us lose. It's nice to see us run the ball for some nice yardage in the first half, but to be down 20-10 is disappointing because of the field positions and not doing well enough stopping some of their perimeter game. They out-athleted us a little bit outside. South Florida is a pretty good team and right now we are not. We're struggling, tried to do some things to stir things up. Our quarterback is young, still trying to get better. He works hard and is competitive. We've got to come up with some other things for him to do to make some more plays. Receivers, coaches, everybody. We can't keep turning the ball over and playing on our short field. We're not good enough defensively to do that." Ã‚Â