Bearcat Site Calls USF "Doormat" & "Punching Bag"

[USFMikeB]

The writer has been changing the wording on it because everyone is hammering him on their message boards, so it's different than it was before.

http://cincinnati.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=597237

Dantonio Not Taking USF Lightly

Chris Crawford

BearcatLair.com Staff Writer

University of Cincinnati head football coach Mark Dantonio knows that their upcoming game against South Florida is a big one. Not just because it's on national television (ESPN) or because a win would put his team two wins away from bowl eligibility.

"They've (USF) got great defense, great corners, great skills guys, an outstanding safety, two outstanding corners, and all three linebackers are back," Dantonio said about the Bulls defense.

While the USF defense is giving up 17 points per game, they do have players putting up big numbers this season. Junior defensive back Tre Williams leads the Big East in interceptions with five. Classmate Allen Cray is tied for second in the conference with four solo sacks this year. The Bulls also feature four players in the top-15 in the Big East in tackles.

South Florida also has a duel threat at quarterback who will test the Dantonio's stout defense in redshirt freshman Matt Grothe who is second in the conference in passing throwing for nearly 200 yards a game and also rushes for 65.7 ypg. Grothe also leads the Big East in total offense leading the Bulls with a combined 264 ypg.

"Offensively, they've got a quarterback that makes things go. He's a runner and thrower," Dantonio said.

Dantonio has great respect for the former conference punching bags that are the South Florida Bulls.

"They are a very well-coached team. Jim Leavitt does an outstanding job. They beat North Carolina last week. They are a 5-2 football team. As I've said every week, they will be a challenge for us, and we'll need to play well," Dantonio said of the upcoming opponent.

The head coach is also concerned about his team having a let down after having played such a tough schedule thus far. Dantonio is concerned that the Bearcats may suffer from a hang over after nearly defeating the No. 7 ranked team in Louisville.

"The biggest thing for us is to get past the Louisville thing and move on. We'll be doing that today (in practice)," Dantonio said on Tuesday.

The Bearcats do have some recent history with letdowns against normally lesser teams having only beaten a bad Akron team by six after an emotional win over rival Miami (OH).

However, Dantonio seems determined not to let this happen to his team this time. "It's a huge game for us. We're 3-4 right now, and we need to get to 4-4 before we can talk about anything else. USF comes in here, it's an ESPN nationally televised game, and it's on our home field. We should play well on our home field," Dantonio said.

The Bearcats will square off with USF on Sunday at 8 p.m. as part of ESPN's Sunday Night Showdown at Nippert Stadium.

[South_Florida_Flip]

Is Cincy the speed bag then?

If memory serves me correctly we finished ahead of them in league play in 2 of the 3 seasons we have been in the same league.

[Supersurch]

I would place a copy of this article in each and everyone of the players' seat on the plane ride to Cincinnati.   ;D

[Kizarvexis]

Is Cincy the speed bag then?

If memory serves me correctly we finished ahead of them in league play in 2 of the 3 seasons we have been in the same league.

Yep.

2003 USF 5-3 in conf, Cincy 2-6

2004 USF 3-5 in conf, Cincy 5-3

2005 USF 4-3 in conf, Cincy 2-5

2006 USF 1-1 in conf, Cincy 0-1

So, USF was 8-8 in C-USA and Cincy was 7-9 while USF was in C-USA.

USF is 5-4 in the BE and Cincy is 2-6.

Combining both conference records, USF is 13-12 and Cincy is 9-15.

So who is the punching bag, Bearcats? Better look in the mirror.

Kizarvexis

[bulls96go]

"lessor teams"

we better win this one big!

[smazza]

this should be called "punching bag game"

loser gets punching bag for a year

[MikeG]

They must have plagiarized this from something a Louisville writer put together from last week.

[Matt]

the cincy must be a douche bag

[Guest wildrover]

Whats with the "normally lesser teams" comment.  That maybe true for them but I'm not sure referring (or in thi case implying) that USF is normally lesser than Cincy is all that accurate