www.FireJimLeavitt.com

[Bullpride08]

It's asinine that this topic is even on this message board.

The problems with this team can be summed up real easy.  

On defense, we're too small at the backer positions, from LB to safety.  It isn't the coaches fault, they've been trying their asses off to find combinations or some players capable of making plays, but with LB's that weigh only in the 220lbs range, and two safeties in the 185lbs range, its no wonder that Carlton Jones broke all those tackles.   Those spots are very young, and we've just got to wait for these guys to develop.  Youth, and inexperience has finally caught up with USF on defense.

Sadly, something that was largely unforeseen by fans was our diminutive size at the backer positions.  To compensate it was assumed that the DL would help carry the load and eliminate the pressure on the linebackers to roam free and use their speed, however that hasn't been the case Battle has completely underperformed, and seems to be a shell of the player from the previous two years where he was developing nicely, Terrence Royal at DE is now officially a bust (my suggestion to the staff is move him back to OLB where he was a demon when he arrived at USF, at least it would give us size at the backer position), Searcy after having a bang-up spring has absolutely disappeared (I think he's hanging out with Ramon McCollough another DT disappointment).  Kobel at DE well lets just say Craig's talented but limited, he's strictly a pass rushing specialist, Simmons will never be a upper level 1-A DE, Tavarious Robinson has been up, and he's been down this year.   To sum it up our DL has been decent run stoppers, but to average to compensate for the size, and inexperience issues in the defensive backfield.  We needed this experienced DL to step up, and outside of LRS Jr., and Kobel they've been disappointing.  

Four losses hurt this team in the off-season more than we could imagine.  Johnny Jones, Tim Jones, Feldman, and Jason Allen.  Allen had a season ending injury, he had the size to drop back to LB, and help out at speed rusher to give us some size and experience at the backer spot.  JJ, well lets just say Danny Verpaele versus 6-2 220lbs JJ is a big difference at this point.  I said at the beginning of the season if JJ played this defense would be good, without him all bets were off.  Well, the difference is massive and what's more disappointing is back-ups like Antonio Warren, Jeremy Burnett, and Drametrice Smith let little bitty Danny Verpaele beat them out.   Tim Jones hurt because he was the model of consistency and intensity on the DL the past two years.  The guy was a solid DE, and could move into DT on passing downs.  Feldman's loss hurts because we don't have a big enough TE to really be effective along the OL.  Ruegger is more in that H-Back size, and Ruegger's gotten knocked back a ton blocking along the OL- it wouldn't have happened with Feldman who's a very solid blocker- it's been his forte and the reason he was starting as a freshman.

That sums it up too small and inexperienced on defense to be effective.  Nothing the coaches can do to change that because ultimately it's a gap in talent, and until we can fill those gaps with talented athletes we're going to take some lumps and even the best coaches in the world can't compensate for that.   The best the coaches can do is continue to coach perfect technique, continue to push and motivate the players, and hopefully they will start responding and will improve for later years when our team will be physically ready.

On a positive note help is on the way.  Johnny Jones will be ready to play next year, and I watch Carlton Williams sitting on the sideline in street clothes and the guy absolutely towers over Camon at nearly 6-3.  The LB'ers are all young, and they'll get bigger, and stronger.  This is all just going to take time to fully develop this talent.

As for offense, well it can be summed up best in the game against Army.   Coach Hobbie, and if you're going to criticize him for the bad then you must give him credit for the good, did a fantastic job game planning for Army.  Afraid to have another debacle like USM where PJ's arm almost beat us exclusively, he gets this team completely into a ground pounding unit, running amazingly well.  We actually ran for 372 yards!!!  We almost had three runners over 100 yards!!!!  Yet in the end, it was still four plays in the passing game that were our demise- PJ's INT on the two yard line- and for you criticizing the call it was a sure TD, it was automatic, if PJ put any type of decent pass on the ball he had Ruegger wide open without anyone within 5 yards of him.  You call those plays to prevent teams from stacking.  The second was the drop by Peyton, and the third was Joe Bain's drop in the second quarter.  The fourth was the sack on PJ in the third quarter, and actually the one in the second quarter.  The coach can't win with those types of breakdowns.  Those don't occur and USF breaks Army's back going up 24-7 in the first half.  That's the problem with this offense, we're overcompensating for a noticable weakness.  

[Bobcat99]

Here's why we lost.

We have great athletes on this team. But they're not smart. And occasionally, smart players who are overmatched physically are going to be able to beat better teams who can't adjust.

Army is smaller and slower than most D-I teams, but they have some of the most intelligent players you'll find at any level. They figured out how to take advantage of us, pure and simple.

This isn't Leavitt's fault, per se. He made a commitment to a certain style of player he wanted to recruit. Sometimes that backfires. It did Saturday night.

We're not done for, kids. Just a stumbling block.

[USFGriff]

embarrassing loss.

You are the only embarrassment here.

GO BULLS

[Bullpride08]

Bob,

You're half right, but it has nothing to do with intelligence.  Our young defensive backers are just not big enough, and experienced enough to sustain a run game against an Army team that one thing can be said about them is they are technically sound ball players.

We had chances early on to put the game away and force Army to win by throwing the ball, but unfortunately we didn't capitalize and they were allowed to stick to their gameplan.

[E.T.]

FireFickleFans.com

I second that.

[Jim Johnson]

As for offense, well it can be summed up best in the game against Army.   Coach Hobbie, and if you're going to criticize him for the bad then you must give him credit for the good, did a fantastic job game planning for Army.  Afraid to have another debacle like USM where PJ's arm almost beat us exclusively, he gets this team completely into a ground pounding unit, running amazingly well.  We actually ran for 372 yards!!!  We almost had three runners over 100 yards!!!!  Yet in the end, it was still four plays in the passing game that were our demise- PJ's INT on the two yard line- and for you criticizing the call it was a sure TD, it was automatic, if PJ put any type of decent pass on the ball he had Ruegger wide open without anyone within 5 yards of him.  You call those plays to prevent teams from stacking.  The second was the drop by Peyton, and the third was Joe Bain's drop in the second quarter.  The fourth was the sack on PJ in the third quarter, and actually the one in the second quarter.  The coach can't win with those types of breakdowns.  Those don't occur and USF breaks Army's back going up 24-7 in the first half.  That's the problem with this offense, we're overcompensating for a noticable weakness.  

Bien,

Your post was a good analysis -- and I agree that the defense's youth, inexperience, and size are a significant challenge.  However, with the exception of the South Carolina game, the Bulls were in a position to overcome this weakness - only to fail due to inconsistent play calling.

Now, to say he "did a fantastic job game planning for Army" is a stretch.  They are the worst defense in I-A football... Hillsborough High School could have put up 300 yards on the ground against Army.  The only thing I will say is that Hobbie didn't call a 3rd-and-2-let's-throw-it-40-yards plays against Army.  

The call on the INT in the first quarter -- there were TWO wide open receviers.  That isn't the issue.  On just about every pass play the receivers were open.  The problem is this: First, USF can not rely on PJ's arm to get the job done.  Second, USF was running the ball at will against Army.  Put those two facts together and it is painfully obvious that - after a drive containing ALL runs - one more running play would have given us the TD, but NO - Hobbie calls for a pass play that needs a simple touch pass, but we all know that PJ hasn't learned the art of the touch pass.

I have found ABSOLUTELY NOTHING redeeming about Mike Hobbie's offense.  Heck, news reports said that it was CJL that altered the game plan at halftime, which is why we took the 2nd half kickoff and ran the ball down the field to a TD (note: no passes on the entire drive and we scored!).

MILLER, Austin kickoff 65 yards to the USF0, touchback.

U 1-10 U20   SOUTH FLORIDA drive start at 15:00 (3rd).

U 1-10 U20   HALL,  Andre rush for 6 yards to the USF26 (LANDRY, Trey).

U 2-4  U26   HALL,  Andre rush for 4 yards to the USF30, 1ST DOWN USF (SULLIVAN, Will).

U 1-10 U30   HALL,  Andre rush for 16 yards to the USF46, 1ST DOWN USF (TARVER, Dhyan).

U 1-10 U46   HALL,  Andre rush for 5 yards to the ARMY49 (SULLIVAN, Will;WASHINGTON, Gre).

U 2-5  A49   CROSSLEY, C. rush for 6 yards to the ARMY43, 1ST DOWN USF (RYAN, Tommy).

U 1-10 A43   GARRIS, J.B. rush for 1 yard to the ARMY42 (EVANS, Dan).

U 2-9  A42   JULMISTE, Pat rush for 6 yards to the ARMY36 (WASHINGTON, Gre).

U 3-3  A36   JULMISTE, Pat rush for 6 yards to the ARMY30, 1ST DOWN USF (WASHINGTON, Gre).

U 1-10 A30   CROSSLEY, C. rush for 13 yards to the ARMY17, 1ST DOWN USF (MAIMONE, Matt).

U 1-10 A17   CROSSLEY, C. rush for 5 yards to the ARMY12 (WASHINGTON, Gre).

U 2-5  A12   CROSSLEY, C. rush for 11 yards to the ARMY1, 1ST DOWN USF (WASHINGTON, Gre).

U 1-G  A01   JULMISTE, Pat rush for no gain to the ARMY1 (MAIMONE, Matt), PENALTY ARMY offside defense 0 yards to the ARMY1, NO PLAY.

U 1-G  A01   JULMISTE, Pat rush for 1 yard to the ARMY0, TOUCHDOWN, clock 09:34.

GRAMATICA, S. kick attempt good.

I remain convinced: Fire Mike Hobbie Now!

[bulls87]

Nothing is going to happen durring the middle of the season, JL may take more responsiblity for the play calling if he see's the need.  But I heard one thing that applies to FSU and UM, in spite of them both having QB problems they have enough talent at skill positions to overcome their QB problems.  We have more talent than most of the other schools in CUSA and soon to be BE.

But and it's a BIG BUT, is our talent as deep as we would like and is it where it truely needs to be?

The first part of the question is a definite NO, but as recruiting gets better which it should once we start playing in the BE it will get deeper.

The second part of the question is a YES, NO, MAYBE, I don't know, but something has to give.

The answer to both parts is coaching, and that is ALL of the coaches not just the head coach.  Now if Hobbie won't make adjustments then yes can him, if Jim won't tell Hobbie too make those adjustments then fire both.  Let's just see how they adjust to the problems at hand, but I do see improvement.

[Bullpride08]

Bien,

Your post was a good analysis -- and I agree that the defense's youth, inexperience, and size are a significant challenge.  However, with the exception of the South Carolina game, the Bulls were in a position to overcome this weakness - only to fail due to inconsistent play calling.

Now, to say he "did a fantastic job game planning for Army" is a stretch.  They are the worst defense in I-A football... Hillsborough High School could have put up 300 yards on the ground against Army.  The only thing I will say is that Hobbie didn't call a 3rd-and-2-let's-throw-it-40-yards plays against Army.  

The call on the INT in the first quarter -- there were TWO wide open receviers.  That isn't the issue.  On just about every pass play the receivers were open.  The problem is this: First, USF can not rely on PJ's arm to get the job done.  Second, USF was running the ball at will against Army.  Put those two facts together and it is painfully obvious that - after a drive containing ALL runs - one more running play would have given us the TD, but NO - Hobbie calls for a pass play that needs a simple touch pass, but we all know that PJ hasn't learned the art of the touch pass.

I have found ABSOLUTELY NOTHING redeeming about Mike Hobbie's offense.  Heck, news reports said that it was CJL that altered the game plan at halftime, which is why we took the 2nd half kickoff and ran the ball down the field to a TD (note: no passes on the entire drive and we scored!).

I remain convinced: Fire Mike Hobbie Now!

Yeah, right....Hobbie's not leaving in mid-season, and he's achieved enough this season to earn the right to stay until the end of the season.  What reports are you reading about CJL altering the gameplan?  We ran the ball almost the entire first half, just because they stuck it in on 1st and goal on the one doesn't suddenly make Leavitt the genius and Hobbie to boob.  

I am not defending Hobbie, but on the same token much of the sputtering this year has not been his fault.  Jesus Christ if Peyton catches the 44 yard TD bomb, and Gramatica makes that FG, our offense would have scored 45pts, and put up over 500 yards of offense on a major change in philosophies from the beginning of the season.   Hobbie should at least get some kudos that despite poor execution and dumb plays his offense has still made dramatic steps from last season and the TennTech game.  I am still wondering when people will start questioning Frey, and the lack of consistency from a very veteran OL, and Smith who continues to lay into PJ on the sidelines when its unnecessary and simply embarrasses the kid further.  If you asked me to fire two coaches today I would show Frey, and Smith the door, and probably keep Hobbie.  

On a positive Dawsey, and Franks have done an outstanding job.  It's easy to see how good of a coach Franks is by watching Clenton Crossley.  The last few years Crossley had a habit of putting his head down as he hit the hole, rushed to the hole, and basically used his size, and strength to bowl ahead for 4-5 yards.  OK stuff, but Crossley's better than that.  This season suddenly Crossley's keeping his head up, lowering his center of gravity, he's waiting for the holes to open up before accelerating through.  The results are Crossley is getting many more yards per carry, and he's had some big breakaway runs.  He looks great.

Dawsey, well he's still working on the dropsies, but we're better in that area than last year.  The area that's real impressive is the downfield blocking, and route running by our WR's.  I've never before seen our guys run such crisp routes, and consistently sustain blocks downfield.  Last year you couldn't get to two mississippi before the WR's would lose their blocks.  It resulted in minimal gains, and a less effective running game.

Anyway, Hobbie has done a terrific job this year, and I didn't see it in him last season.  If you noticed our team was also using wrist bands now so PJ can call the plays to them instead of everyone staring at Smith for the play.  However a ton of ground had to be made up by Hobbie so it was easy to look good, and therefore he should be watched closely.

[Jim Johnson]

Yeah, right....Hobbie's not leaving in mid-season,

No... he won't leave now.  Coaching changes should be made after the season... but he should be told not to expect to come back, and to prepare his resume... maybe there's a high school out there that needs a JV coach.

... and he's achieved enough this season to earn the right to stay until the end of the season.

What has he done again?  I haven't seen anything to say he has "earned" anything.

What reports are you reading about CJL altering the gameplan?  We ran the ball almost the entire first half, just because they stuck it in on 1st and goal on the one doesn't suddenly make Leavitt the genius and Hobbie to boob.  

Here is the quote from Joe Henderson's column in the Trib:

"[Julmiste's] interception at the goal-line killed one drive, and most of the night he was off-target by either a little or a lot. At halftime he had hit just four of 10 for 37 yards, so Leavitt conceded the obvious and attacked on the ground to start the third quarter.

The Bulls ran 12 consecutive times on their opening drive of the second half, moving 80 yards for a touchdown. Not one to miss an opportunity, Leavitt had the Bulls stay mostly on the ground again for their second drive, this one a 72-yard plow that finished with a 19-yard scoring run by Julmiste, part of his total of 90 yards on the ground. "

Perhaps it doesn't directly say that CJL changed the plan -- but it certainly implies it.

I am not defending Hobbie, but on the same token much of the sputtering this year has not been his fault.

Now, on this statement I will agree.  He can't make PJ throw accurate passes.  He can't make receivers catch the ball... but he can call plays that stay away from such weaknesses.

Jesus Christ if Peyton catches the 44 yard TD bomb, and Gramatica makes that FG, our offense would have scored 45pts, and put up over 500 yards of offense on a major change in philosophies from the beginning of the season.   Hobbie should at least get some kudos that despite poor execution and dumb plays his offense has still made dramatic steps from last season and the TennTech game.

I am not so sure that I would say "dramatic" other than to say that he has at least realized that you can run the ball and be successful in college football.  He still runs a spread offense that has proven ineffective since Marquel Blackwell graduated.

I am still wondering when people will start questioning Frey, and the lack of consistency from a very veteran OL, and Smith who continues to lay into PJ on the sidelines when its unnecessary and simply embarrasses the kid further.  If you asked me to fire two coaches today I would show Frey, and Smith the door, and probably keep Hobbie.

 

You may have a point that Smith is as much of a problem as Hobbie -- he seems to be unable to teach a still-developing Julmiste.

Anyway, Hobbie has done a terrific job this year, and I didn't see it in him last season.  If you noticed our team was also using wrist bands now so PJ can call the plays to them instead of everyone staring at Smith for the play.  However a ton of ground had to be made up by Hobbie so it was easy to look good, and therefore he should be watched closely.

On the contrary... I have been told that PJ is using wristbands because he can't remember all the plays.  The wristbands are to help him figure out what the plays are - not for him to call plays.  Heck, I've heard that even during practce PJ can't seem to remember all the formations and pass routes that are called.  If the QB can't grasp the plays that are called, then we should reconsider either the QB or the scheme.

[GarySJ]

I'll jump in here...

I don't buy it that Julmiste's wristbands have plays on them, just because I don't there are wristbands large enough for all the crap we were trying last weekend. I mean, one possession we're in the run-and-shoot, the next we're in the option. No wonder he's confused.

I appreciate the coaching staff's efforts to try new thing offensively, but I think they were asking too much out of Julmiste. This isn't PlayStation where you can call any play you want and everybody runs it to perfection.

It was obvious to me watching the game on TV that Julmiste was a lot more comfortable, and confident, when he was under center and running the ball then when he was trying to do the four-WR offense. Even his passes out of the under-center formations looked a lot better than when he was in the shotgun.

I think the offensive staff just needs to simplify things for Pat, and tailor the offensive scheme to his skills. Where's Chico Canales when we need him?

And maybe everybody's forgotten, but USF had a nice gameplan going with "give #2 the ball and get out of his way." If USF's newly-discovered ground attack of Hall runs, Julmiste scrambles, and a little play-action passing, we might actually have a chance in Louisville if the defense shows up.