The Ledger: Special Teams Come Up Big for Bulls

[Jim Johnson]

Special Teams Come Up Big for Bulls

By Tom Zebold

THE LEDGER

Published: Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 11:10 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, August 31, 2008 at 11:10 p.m.

South Florida Theo Wilson celebrates after scoring on a fourth quarter punt return against Tennessee Martin during an NCAA college football game Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008, in Tampa, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Explosive is the kind of word to describe South Florida's first quarter against Tennessee-Martin on Saturday night.

The Bulls marched into the end zone on their first four drives of the game with little trouble against an outmatched Skyhawks defense.

Quarterback Matt Grothe (Lake Gibson) started off the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jessie Hester, and things went into overdrive for the Bulls from there. By the time Ben Williams (Lake Wales) was done running into the end zone with less than a minute to go in the first quarter, the scoreboard read 28-0 USF.

The start was historic for South Florida. It was the most points USF has ever scored in a first quarter in school history, surpassing the 21 points it put up against Rutgers in 2005 and Austin Peay in 2000.

Many would instantly give the bulk of the credit to an offense that didn't hesitate or a tough USF defense that stopped the Skyhawks in their tracks. The same amount of praise, however, could go to the player who put the Bulls in the ideal positions to score - Marcus Edwards.

After Tennessee-Martin's first offensive drive stalled, the senior returned his first punt of the night for 39 yards, which was longer than any Bull had taken one last season.

He wasn't finished there.

Edwards averaged almost 17 yards on his next three punt returns, which set the Bulls' offense up near midfield or better each time.

He finished with seven punts returns for 124 yards in the 56-7 victory and set a single-game school yardage record in the process. Not that he was thinking about it during the game.

"I didn't know it until one of you guys came up to me after the game," Edwards admitted to reporters. "The guys up front did a great job. They left huge running lanes.

"I had the easy part," he added. "I just ran."

It was the kind of production that head coach Jim Leavitt was happy to see out of his special teams unit in the opener.

"Last year against Elon, we didn't play real well on special teams. We really wanted to focus on those types of things," said Leavitt after the game. "I thought our punt returners and our return game were pretty good tonight."

The Road Ahead

South Florida will travel to Orlando to face the Knights on Saturday in a battle of unbeaten teams. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start and will be televised on ESPN2.

UCF opened its season with a 17-0 home victory over South Carolina State on Saturday night.

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