Why USF Won't Be Better Than WVU This Year

[Zonald]

Why South Florida Won't Be Better Than West Virginia This Year

It's mid-August, and most 2008 college football preseason rankings are out.  In the Big East, almost every single one has West Virginia winning the Big East and South Florida coming in a close second.  Why is this?

Their defenses are decent again, so let's go through some reasons while comparing the two teams' offenses.

Receivers

West Virginia might have lost Darius Reynaud, but they return Dorrell Jalloh, their No. 2 target, and big 6'8" Wes Lyons.  Sure, Jalloh only had 272 yards, but he also didn't have that many receptions due to Pat White's tendency to run instead of pass.

Bill Stewart's plan for White is to get him to pass more, and Jalloh and Lyons should have no trouble replacing Reynaud's stats.

South Florida, on the other hand has Jessie Hester Jr. and Carlton Mitchell, who each had four touchdowns last year, but both are inconsistent and are constantly beat out by defensive backs.

Quarterbacks

Although they are both great dual-threat quarterbacks, Pat White clearly has the edge, as he has more experience and is faster than Matt Grothe.  White is improving his passing every year while still having more rushing yards per season than Grothe.

Also, White has better decision making than Grothe, which is shown by their number of interceptions last season—White had only four interceptions to Grothe's 14.

Running Game

Or in South Florida's case, the lack of it.  West Virginia had Steve Slaton, a huge touchdown threat to compliment Pat White.  Teams were focused on not just stopping White but also stopping Slaton, and they risked getting burned.  When you focus on just the quarterback, a good running back will run all over you.

Although Slaton is gone, sophomore running back Noel Devine showed he could fill in for Slaton perfectly with 13 carries for 108 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-28 rout of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

When you put some of your focus on stopping the running back, the quarterback will find a way to score, and it will be very easy for him to do so.

In South Florida's situation, they are basically a one-man offense.  Grothe throws the ball, and Grothe runs the ball.  Although he is a threat at both, it is easy to just focus on him because South Florida running back Mike Ford isn't that big of a threat.

Although Ford was only a freshman last year, he did have 12 touchdowns on 138 carries.  He looks like he will improve, but it is never good when a team's quarterback has more rushing yards the previous season than a RETURNING STARTER at running back.

Teams still shouldn't expect much from Ford, and Grothe will still be one of the only playmakers in the backfield.  Their offense won't take off unless there is someone else to run the ball and take the pressure off Grothe to lead all of the offense in the USF backfield.

Unless the running game takes off and Grothe can make better decisions, the South Florida offense will not compare to West Virginia's.  Defense can't do everything.  Sorry, USF—maybe you can win the Big East next year.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/46531-why-south-florida-wont-be-better-than-west-virginia-this-year

Ok, this article is pretty slanted.  What about WVU's defense, they lost more starters than we did from last years squad.  What about the coaching change, that means nothing...NOTHING??  Devine HAS NOT shown that he can have 20 carries a game and produce like Slaton.  They have no Schmitt this year also. 

They have been winning by running, yet this year they want to pass???  If it aint broke, don't fix it!  You can't tell me they will be better (for a fact) from passing more. 

Our positives:  Defense only lost 3 starters, our receivers have a LOT of experience from last year and we should have some sort of running attack from Talyor and/or Ford. 

Sorry, maybe WVU can win next year....

[KingBull]

Should I post an article on the B/R stating "Why WVU will lose to USF for the 3rd staight time"?

Just because Soft White had success passing when he caught OU off gaurd in the bowl game doesn't prove that he can do it to teams that are expecting it.

[IncrediBULL]

based on the logic of that article, sounds like WVU beat us last year- but they didn't.  We had their number last year, adn this year too....

[BullyPulpit]

I love the way everyone is saying that Bill Stewart plans on having Pat White throw the ball more this year. Does that mean that those will be completions? Just because they are throwing it more doesn't mean that the offense will improve. In fact, I am thoroughly unimpressed with Pat White as a passer and hope they throw/run at about a 45/55 clip. That would mean that we will beat them by 10+ this year.

[USF-PMR]

Why South Florida Won't Be Better Than West Virginia This Year

It's mid-August, and most 2008 college football preseason rankings are out.  In the Big East, almost every single one has West Virginia winning the Big East and South Florida coming in a close second.  Why is this?

Their defenses are decent again, so let's go through some reasons while comparing the two teams' offenses.

Receivers

West Virginia might have lost Darius Reynaud, but they return Dorrell Jalloh, their No. 2 target, and big 6'8" Wes Lyons.  Sure, Jalloh only had 272 yards, but he also didn't have that many receptions due to Pat White's tendency to run instead of pass.

Bill Stewart's plan for White is to get him to pass more, and Jalloh and Lyons should have no trouble replacing Reynaud's stats.

South Florida, on the other hand has Jessie Hester Jr. and Carlton Mitchell, who each had four touchdowns last year, but both are inconsistent and are constantly beat out by defensive backs.

Quarterbacks

Although they are both great dual-threat quarterbacks, Pat White clearly has the edge, as he has more experience and is faster than Matt Grothe.  White is improving his passing every year while still having more rushing yards per season than Grothe.

Also, White has better decision making than Grothe, which is shown by their number of interceptions last season—White had only four interceptions to Grothe's 14.

Running Game

Or in South Florida's case, the lack of it.  West Virginia had Steve Slaton, a huge touchdown threat to compliment Pat White.  Teams were focused on not just stopping White but also stopping Slaton, and they risked getting burned.  When you focus on just the quarterback, a good running back will run all over you.

Although Slaton is gone, sophomore running back Noel Devine showed he could fill in for Slaton perfectly with 13 carries for 108 yards and two touchdowns in a 48-28 rout of Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

When you put some of your focus on stopping the running back, the quarterback will find a way to score, and it will be very easy for him to do so.

In South Florida's situation, they are basically a one-man offense.  Grothe throws the ball, and Grothe runs the ball.  Although he is a threat at both, it is easy to just focus on him because South Florida running back Mike Ford isn't that big of a threat.

Although Ford was only a freshman last year, he did have 12 touchdowns on 138 carries.  He looks like he will improve, but it is never good when a team's quarterback has more rushing yards the previous season than a RETURNING STARTER at running back.

Teams still shouldn't expect much from Ford, and Grothe will still be one of the only playmakers in the backfield.  Their offense won't take off unless there is someone else to run the ball and take the pressure off Grothe to lead all of the offense in the USF backfield.

Unless the running game takes off and Grothe can make better decisions, the South Florida offense will not compare to West Virginia's.  Defense can't do everything.  Sorry, USF—maybe you can win the Big East next year.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/46531-why-south-florida-wont-be-better-than-west-virginia-this-year

Ok, this article is pretty slanted.  What about WVU's defense, they lost more starters than we did from last years squad.  What about the coaching change, that means nothing...NOTHING??  Devine HAS NOT shown that he can have 20 carries a game and produce like Slaton.  They have no Schmitt this year also. 

They have been winning by running, yet this year they want to pass???  If it aint broke, don't fix it!  You can't tell me they will be better (for a fact) from passing more. 

Our positives:  Defense only lost 3 starters, our receivers have a LOT of experience from last year and we should have some sort of running attack from Talyor and/or Ford. 

Sorry, maybe WVU can win next year....

Bullieve it or not Schmidt was the reason WVA did so good last 2 seasons.  He freed up the QB and RB with his diversion's. You're right, Stewart has his hands full and no one has even identified the weakness in loosing Schmidt.  All thoughts are on the RB that is now gonsky.

[slowdown]

I love it.  Just cause their coach says they want to pass more doesn't mean that they have all the sudden become good at it. 

I also really don't see where our WR's were inconsistent.  We just spread it out a lot.  Why doesn't this article mention that we had 4 other WR's with numbers nearly identical to Jalloh?

[Held_AccountaBull]

whoever wrote this didnt do much research

[twillybull]

He forgot that blizzard they're all praying for in Morgantown.

I didn't know Ford was the starter last year, how many games did he start?

[IncrediBULL]

Funny thing is, when they talk about WVU beign good, it always start with Pat White xxxx...

The past two years we won and Pat white was there.  Two years ago, and again last year.  Two years ago, we didn't have as good of a team as we do now. 

In fact, WVU did better after the sissy, pat white, walked off the field last year.  They sucked until he left the game.  At least the backup moved the ball down the field some.  Pat White is a wuss and as long as he plays, USF will win the game.  Period.

Blizzard or no blizzard.

[nobull.Bulls]

I think WVU will have a pretty bad drop off this year. Devine will be good, but after that....bad news for mountaineers