If USF holds you to 55 yards rushing

[___ Eats It]

Smith was still running the ball at around 6 min left in the 3rd quarter.

O'Leary was smart to yank him after that, since we were making him our beeyotch all day.  Gotta protect his numbers (and him... we may have broken his legs if things kept up the way they were going).

Kevin Smith:  57 yards rushing in 2 games against USF.  And suspended for a third because he "missed curfew".

[BrahmanBulliever]

Maybe I missed something, but I don't remember South Florida being ranked this week in the AP, USA Today or Harris polls.

Discrediting the BCS as not being ranked is weak, please don't latch on to such a thin argument if you're trying to actually speak reasonably.

[MikeG]

Maybe I missed something, but I don't remember South Florida being ranked this week in the AP, USA Today or Harris polls.

Discrediting the BCS as not being ranked is weak, please don't latch on to such a thin argument if you're trying to actually speak reasonably.

I stopped reading after tehy said they would win 7 or 8 games with our schedule. Hey Koolaid!

[RespectaBULL]

UCF would have a losing season with our schedule.  They suck, and they pretend like they don't because they are receiving votes in some of the polls.  Guess what UCF, you will always lose to us.  NO MATTER WHAT.  If grothe went down tomorrow  and we had to play UCF in a bowl game, we would still kick the **** out of them  .  UCF sucks cacknballs and I'm tired of listening to their crap.  Get a life UCF and start following your Crew team.  Maybe they can bring you some excitement.

[MikeG]

good lord man--- don't junx us with those statements--- Grothe going down-- having to play UCF in a bowl game

yuck

if that happened--- I might actually utter the word "disappointment" when describing the season

[DouBULL]

All of the obvious criticisms aside, smith can certainly run.  Having said that if I am drafting for a pro organization I manuever for Rice 400 times and then go after Slayton befor I even consider Smith.

Just my 2 cents.

[TheTrumpetBeast]

i could put up better numbers then smith in that weak conference. By the way brahmanbulliever it's grOthe not grOEthe

[Knight_Light]

Smith was still running the ball at around 6 min left in the 3rd quarter.

Smith had 2 carries in the 2nd half...and sat for the rest.

GOL played plenty of back-ups after the game was out of hand in the 3rd Q. (believe WR Watters had his first catches for the season in the 2nd half too).

[Orlando Bull]

Smith was held to a season low in YPC as well, sorry, your "he didn't play in the second half" argument is no good here.

As for how he will do in the NFL? I don't know, he may be OK, he may not. I am hoping that Andre Hall gets the start on Sunday. I don't see Smith being in any better shape. He may be a great running back, but he isn't that big, he comes from a no-name program, and has done all of his damage against weak opponents. He could turn into a great NFL running back, but he isn't going to be a high pick with a shot to immediately challenge for a starting spot.

That is the way the NFL works.

If in 2-3 years, Ford has 75% of his numbers, scouts will be drooling over a 6'2" 225# running back out of a top-25 program.

No knights to answer my question about how you feel about GOL?

[ToeJam]

C-USA is so weak!! Put Smith against some real teams with some real Defenses (Texas does not count, they are highly overrated and terrible!)

Yet they rank 12th nationall against the Run, USF ranks 20th nationally, I guess is overratated and terrible.

  Have you seen Texas play this year besides ucf??? Im not pointing at specific parts of their game, but they are vastly overrated!

And yet they are ranked and USF is not.  Please enough of the Texas stuff, show me one team outside Auburn that any Big East has beaten from another conference that is currently ranked. 

Also, please stop with the Ford stuff comparing to Smith.  While Ford has averaged 4.9 carries over 116 carries, Smiith has averaged 5.9 yards per carry over 330.  Also, before you start throwing out the CUSA defense crap, realize that Ford has only TWO 100 yard games, both coming against Big East teams.  Those teams, Cuse and Louisville, Cuse's rushing defense is ranked #109, only one CUSA team behind them.  And UL, their total defense is ranked #81with a rushing defense ranked #72.

I don't know if anyone was comparing current Ford to current Smith. But, I think Ford will be a better all-around back. Ford has 3 games with over 15 carries, two of them were for 100+, one was against Auburn where he had 72 I think.

Honestly, I don't see how you can be a UCF fan and use the argument that Texas is ranked higher than us, so they must be better. Maybe UCF hasn't gotten to the point yet where their lack of tradition vs the big name programs has held them back.

No USF running back will ever have Smith's numbers. USF fans need to get used to that. Of course, even Andre Hall averaged 8 less carries per game, and was playing better competition, but thats beside the point. O'Leary will ride Smith until he breaks (or leaves for the NFL after this season), then can the rest of the UCF team win games without him? I don't know one way or the other because honestly other than Smith, Israel, and Greco, (Rocky something?) I can't name one UCF player. Thats not a slam, but the truth, and I live in Orlando.

Let me ask a serious question, as a football fan, not a USF fan/UCF hater... Does the avid UCF fan think that George O'Leary can advance the program to where you want to get?

My answer as a football fan (I am sure there is some USF bias in here thoug)... He has done a great job of building some excitement, and getting into a new staduim. However, 0-11 in year 1. Solid season the next year. Losing record last year, and possibly a conference championship this year. The concern though is this. What is he building? Is the defense any better than it was when he got there (don't look at stats, you have watched the games, your competition is down this year, is the D REALLY better?). Is the QB situation any better? Do you have young receivers that you feel will be playmakers? My feeling is that if Kevin Smith were to get hurt in practice tomorrow, UCF may not win another game this year. If he leaves, I could see another losing season next year. Honestly, I don't know much about your young players, but I don't see the athletiscm that could develop.

Example: No one would have said Mike Jenkins or Trae Williams were great their freshman year, but you could see that they were going to be. We see the same thing with Ford, Grothe, Mitchell, Bogan, Hester, Selvie, Robinson, Murphy, Allen, etc.

Maybe UCF fans are seeing the talent getting better, maybe those key young players are there, just working into the mix, I don't know.

UCF fans will say we were in the same boat with Hall, but we had Ricky Ponton backing him up who looked great in limited duty. Also, Julmiste wasn't a great QB, but we had Carlton Hill ready to take over. Neither player worked out, but we could still see that the future wasn't bleek without Hall.

Anyway, this is a long post, but I wanted to get some honest feedback about where UCF fans think their program is, and where it is going under GOL.

As a football fan, I can say, I do think O'Leary can build a program that will be a consistant winner.  Lets be real here, if not for the BCS tag, where would USF be.  Even with the BCS tag, Leavitt has to use hardship tranfers to fill the wholes of his team.  Where do you really think USF would be without their eight hardship tranfers.  Don't you think by now Coach Leavitt should be able to compete with the other big east teams without hardships?

What O'Leary has done is build a solid offensive running game at UCF.  Now he is building a solid defensive team.  What I do know is, as a football fan, both teams could or should be ranked in the top 25 by end of the year.  USF is more exciting, UCF is more consistant in the way both teams win games.  They are different coaching styles no doubt, but what I have learned from watching football for so long is, better to have a solid ground game then to have the all out style of offense.  I also know that defense is the most important part of any team and USF has definately built a very good one.  The true question will be, can USF replace what will be the biggest loss of talent in the programs history.