USF at midseason: Are the Bulls good or bad?

[Sunil]

Enjoy....

http://www.examiner.com/x-873-South-Florida-Bulls-Examiner~y2008m10d8-USF-at-midseason--are-the-Bulls-good-or-bad

USF at midseason: Are the Bulls good or bad?

October 8, 11:32 AM

by Tom Edrington, South Florida Bulls Examiner

    The USF bye week came at the right time.  The Bulls need to take a hard look at themselves and figure out what direction they are going.

Are they good?  Or, are they bad?

If you look at the Pitt performance, or lack thereof, the answer is obvious.  This USF team is NOT very good.

It is certainly not as good as last year's team. 

Defensively, it is painfully obvious that the Bulls cannot stop the run.  Pitt sophomore tailback LeSean McCoy (142 yards, 2 TDs) proved that as he left his cleat marks all over the Bulls.  He was smooth, elusive and the Bulls simply didn't tackle him very well.

On the same note, Pitt proved that USF cannot cover the passing game.  Two names account for that fact -- Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams.  That duo was a USF strength last year.  Jenkins was a first-round draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys and is logging nice playing time for the 'Boys this year.  Williams was drafted by Jacksonville but ended up on the Philadelphia Eagles practice squad.  Both are sorely missed and have not been adequately replaced.

Let's see, two major weaknesses -- stopping the run and stopping the pass.

With those two minor issues up for correction in the bye week, the offense has its problems.

QB Matt Grothe is USF's leading rusher with 244 yards on 66 carries while Mike Ford has 225 yards on 55 carries.

Not good.  Pitt's McCoy has 553 yards on 117 attempts in five games, one less than USF.

USF wide receivers have not distinguished themselves.  They were not present against Pitt.  Perhpas it was because Grothe had no time to find them.

Again, another USF weakness unmasked by the Pitt defense.

There is much work to be done over the next 10 days.  The defense must find some way to regain its swagger.  The offense needs spark.  It needs a running game to set up the passing game.

The answer may come in the form of Syracuse.  The Orange are in turmoil.  This will be Greg Robinson's last call as head coach.  Names are already being bantered around as possible replacements.  Alumni headed by former Orange fullback Rob Konrad, are calling for Robinson's immediate replacement.

Fact is, Syracuse just isn't that good.

Fact is, the 'Cuse just might be the cure for what ails the Bulls.

Next:  Running the table or running on empty?

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

we beat a ranked Kansas team that hasn't lost any games other than ours.

we also beat an NCState team that knocked off ECU.

our loss comes to a 4-1 Pitt team was predicted by some to challenge for the BEast, that beat Iowa and has one of the best backs in the country.

we are 5-1.

i don't think we can be considered a bad team by any stretch.

that said, we certainly have our problems:

our defense is undisciplined and soft against the pass and our offense lacks adequate coaching and gameplanning.

as a result, we are clearly NOT a better team than last season...  last year at this time we were 6-0 and ranked #2 with two wins over ranked teams [AU and WVU].  this year we are 5-1 and ranked #19 with one win over a ranked team.

it's not a secret.

but while we may not be as good as last year, neither are some of the teams on our schedule... WVU has similar coaching and defense problems that we do, only magnified.

we have the talent to run the table despite our flaws, but players and coaches need to get it together and learn how to "finish strong."

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

I think we're a good team.

Not great, not even VERY good.

Just good.

Good enough to probably finish in the top 25 at the end of the year, but barely.

[MaltLiquorBull]

I wouldn't say we are a BAD team.

I would agree that we aren't as good as last year.

If I had to evaluate the team so far, I'd say that we are a slightly better than average Big East team (Translation:  we are a 4-3 Big East team--note that the Big East is weaker this year than last year)...unless we (coaching staff) learn to make some adjustments.

[Guest USF08]

awesome for an 11 year old college football program, DI for less than that. Just laying the foundation.

[GarySJ]

Are we good or bad? We're 5-1. On my planet that's fairly good.

[BJ]

So all we have to do is improve our running defense, passing defense, passing offense, running offense, offensive line, and special teams?

No Sweat

[BULLS2002]

5 - 1  = good

[thebouncer1898]

Potentially we could be great....

Currently, were pretty average...

The game planning and preperation is pretty **** average too...

[JoNaLaN]

i would say good and bad.  when we are on we are ON FIRE and then when we do not show up to play some serious football we have to fight to even try and stay alive or even lose..  our deff was not at the pitt game. SELVIE does NOT make a whole offense but when he was in the Defense had pass rush coverage. and then he was out pitt made big plays. you can never tell what teams shows up to the game anymore. the one that wants to win or the one that thinks they are going to win.