Why do we play differently on the Road?

[Who'sYourData?]

The upper classmen that have been transferring or leaving are largely players that wouldn't have gotten offers from the likes of Louisville or WVU because they were higher risk guys.  Each year the quality of student-athletes we recruit goes up.  More and more will stick around longer.  This is a process, a long one, and you can't shortcut it.  We've done amazingly well.  Next year we'll have almost the entire team back, and we have UL and WVU at home.  If the players develop and we get a couple of recruits that can step in right away, we could be looking at 8 or 9 wins and maybe breaking into the rankings.

[E.T.]

[smiley=smiley_up.gif]  [smiley=smiley_up.gif]  [smiley=smiley_up.gif]

Agree !

And you never know about "suprises" ...

GrothE

Randolph

Selvie

Robinson

and not as much as a suprise, but the production of Johnson.

[dabull80]

This team needs a chip on its shoulder when we go on the road.  As was said earlier, it will come with time and experience for this young group, although I think Grothe already has that chip.

[PitBull]

Each year the quality of student-athletes we recruit goes up.  More and more will stick around longer.

not sure about that one.  i remember seeing the rankings of our recruiting class this past year, and it was pretty dismal.  i just remember seeing a bunch of 2 and 3 star recruits.  in fact, i think pitt's class had the best recruiting class this past yr.

granted, i think there's  such a fine line between a good and a bad recruit, i truly believe that it's more about coaching.

[E.T.]

I don't remember Leavitt's staff looking at these rankings when evaluating talent  

I trust this staff for USF talent more than anyone else.

Look at the STARS we have and have played Great for USF ... how were they ranked?

Coaching of course has lots to do with it also. But this staff has been pretty much intact and the upper classmen have been pushed down the depth chart recently.

Go BULLS !!!

[BigShoop]

Ever go on a business trip?  At home, you sleep in your own bed in familiar surroundings.  You are in a familiar stadium, and the routine is under your control.  On the road, you have to deal with a few hours of a flight.  Potentially you are sleeping in a hotel room in a city you rarely or have never visited.  The stadium is new to you, as are the locker rooms.  And the crowd is against you.

USF is a young team.  Many of these players have never visited Louisville.  Over the next year or two, the team should start doing much better on the road.

Well, that, and we need to find receivers that want to catch the ball.

Sooo...how do you explain the other yearly "bad road losses"? Because it happens every-single-year.

[Who'sYourData?]

Sooo...how do you explain the other yearly "bad road losses"? Because it happens every-single-year.

What is it with the people on this board that think you can take a team from DII to National Championship overnight?  Get a grip.  The USF program has done phenomenally well.  And these are the same people that bash smazza for being negative.  I don't get it.

[smazza]

I think the game was a true measure of where we are against the better competition.  Learning to win against top competition is a learning process.  Right now, no one on this team has been involved in a winning effort in a big game against a top team.  Sure, we caught UL by surprise last year.  This year they were prepared for us.  Sometime soon we will get over the hump, win a game in a meaningful situation and the players  will understand the mental preparation and the full 60 minute, all out effort it takes to not only compete against a top ten team like this, but to win.  I think we have the talent level to compete, but it's also about mental prepearation and a full 60 minute, all out effort.  It's an experience factor.

That's why you see us not come back against KU and RU.  Randolph short arms the pass in the KU game and AMP Hill drops the ball against RU (lack of the win at all costs for 60 minutes attitude you see from the best teams).   That's why you see ND win in the last minute a few weeks ago in the last few seconds.  Why you see LSU come back to win vs Ole Miss in the last minute and why you see the Gators beat S Carolina last week.  It's not a fluke that the top teams win the majority of the important games .  They understand that to be the best you go all out and do whatever it takes to win for every second of the game until the gun goes off.  It's an attititude and it's what they mean by saying you have to learn how to win.  The guys that played the year we won 3 2bl OT games understood that.  Learning to win at the highest level is definitely a learned process.  Be patient.  It's coming soon.

and this is why usf needs to schedule much tougher opponents than fiu,1aa school and kansas.

i will digress  a bit.i once coached 8-9 year olds and we had a great team and were 8-0 about halfway into the season.there was a week break at which time i schedule two exhibition games with #2 and #3 teAMS.MY PARENTS SCREAMED AT ME for over doing it.we one one game and lost one game but i thought that by playing the best it would prepare us for the second half.

we ran the table and won 7 straight for a perfect 15-0 season

smazza's motto:to be the best you got to play the best

i also dont think our teams are being prepared properly for these road games

[RMF5630]

We better get used to playing in bad conditions or find another conference.  Maybe the Sun Belt where it is always warm.  Look at where we have to go:

Pitt

Storrs

Morgantown

Newark

Cinn

Louisville

The only decent conditions is Syracuse.  We will continue to lose late season games if we do not learn to play in the cold.