Deep Thoughts, By Greg Gregory

[Orlando Bull]

This guy needs to go. Seriously, the game was 2 weeks ago, the season is over, stop blaming your QB. Even if it was his fault. This is disgusting to me. I am sure most of you will agree with him, but this isn't the way to make a point. Leavitt should put the gag order back on the assistants if this is the insight we're going to get...

Postgame comments: Greg Gregory

USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, while praising quarterback Matt Grothe for his stellar play in the Bulls' 41-14 win in Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl, reiterated that the throws Grothe made against Memphis were throws he hasn't been able to make in recent losses.

"Without me just flat out ripping him, he knows the last ballgame we had touchdown passes we didn't hit. He knows that," Gregory said. "He takes that stuff personally. I think he knows in his mind, you never take full responsibility for a loss, but three or four touchdown passes were there and we just didn't hit. We've had that -- we had two against Louisville we need to hit, we had three against West Virginia we needed to hit. Not that you hit every one of those, but you've got to hit some of them. I thought he came out and really responded and played well. ... He was just on."

USF's 41 points was more than the previous three games combined, and matched the second-highest total against a I-A opponent this season. The 496 yards of total offense was USF's most since a late September win against N.C. State.

"I told our guys today we were going to play the way we played the first half of the year," Gregory said. "Is that because Memphis isn't maybe as good as some of the teams we played at the end of the year? I don't know. I know we played better. I don't ever think really about who we play. It's about how we play. We made plays today. We hit passes that were there. We've had them in other games and we haven't hit them. Bottom line, we hit them today."

Grothe said the key to his success was playing more relaxed and not stressing over the pressure to win a game, which became a factor in the second half of the season.

"We know if we executed well today, it would work. We were going to come out slingin', and it did just that. It worked out for us," Grothe said.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2008/12/postgame-comm-1.html

[Bulls Are We]

Sadly, I think Gregory scored enough points yesterday to keep his job for another year. 

I would like to see CJL make a move @ OC, but guessing he will retain Gregory if he is not offered the Army job. 

[The Sheriff]

I was at the WVU game... haven't really commented on the game though. Honestly, Gregory called a decent passing game that day. Grothe had an off day... but I wasn't going to throw Grothe under the bus because weather conditions were brutal. The slant in the end zone that got picked... he throws it two feet to the right, it's six points for the Bulls. I was Gregory would ride one or two backs more... not five backs, no matter how deserving they may be. One of the five must undoubtably stand out. Unfortunately, spreading the wealth will never allow one back to get in a consistent groove.

[Held_AccountaBull]

this guy is a complete bozo. looking at the guy makes me cringe. he is out of his league coaching in college. the comments he made about grothe shows how lousy of a coach he is by throwing his best player under the bus publicly. if he cared at all about the team he would resign. plant high school has a more complicated and efficient offense

[Orlando Bull]

I was at the WVU game... haven't really commented on the game though. Honestly, Gregory called a decent passing game that day. Grothe had an off day... but I wasn't going to throw Grothe under the bus because weather conditions were brutal. The slant in the end zone that got picked... he throws it two feet to the right, it's six points for the Bulls. I was Gregory would ride one or two backs more... not five backs, no matter how deserving they may be. One of the five must undoubtably stand out. Unfortunately, spreading the wealth will never allow one back to get in a consistent groove.

I agree it wasn't one of Matt's best games. You would be better to answer this question for me, but how much does a snow covered field slow people down? I was wondering if the overthrows on deep balls in that game had something to do with receivers being a step or two slower than they have practiced for the whole season?

On the slant, bad pass all the way around. Same bad pass vs UConn the game before. Same bad pass vs WVU last year. If my QB has shown that he struggles to make a certain pass, I try to find something else in my playbook to call in that situation. I wouldn't keep calling the same play, but, that's just me.

Agree on the backs, overall I think Gregory does a pretty good job. I wasn't impressed in the last 5 minutes vs UCF or Kansas, and that to me is where an OC needs to earn their money. Also, liked that we used 2 trick plays against a joke of a team, but didn't pull anything out in the season when we are trying to win a conference game. Gregory is very inconsistent IMHO.

[jstewholymoly]

Any law enforcement/landlord bulls care to send a notice of eviction GG's way?

[The Sheriff]

It really depends on how well the field is maintained. I played in about eight inches of snow in Ohio when playing at Wittenberg and it was the worst playing conditions ever. I couldn't make any cuts whatsoever. The WVU field looked pretty well maintained (as you would expect), but it does slow the receiver down a bit. At the same time, the DB's can't break as well either when the receiver makes a cut on his route. I played back-up QB in high school in some crappy Virginia weather. The biggest thing was not the receiver routes for me... it was holding onto the ball do to the wetness coupled with the coldness of your hands (regardless if you're playing all game). That could easily change a pass enough to make the QB less effective. I'm about an inch taller than Matt and most likely have larger hands... either way, the playing conditions were less than ideal and could making releasing the ball a bear. I despise playing in cold weather and snow. Regardless, I still think the WVU game was the best effort I've seen from our guys all season. They really wanted that game, but a couple plays didn't go our way. It really is a game of inches. The second INT that Grothe threw... the DB pushed our receiver, yet the interference call went against us... that one was probably the worst call of the game... although everyone says the last play of the game was robbery as well. Oh well... Nine months to speculate!

[Brad]

This guy needs to go. Seriously, the game was 2 weeks ago, the season is over, stop blaming your QB. Even if it was his fault. This is disgusting to me. I am sure most of you will agree with him, but this isn't the way to make a point. Leavitt should put the gag order back on the assistants if this is the insight we're going to get...

Postgame comments: Greg Gregory

"Without me just flat out ripping him, he knows the last ballgame we had touchdown passes we didn't hit. He knows that," Gregory said.

At least two that I remember...Gregory, even if for the first time, is right on.

[BullsOnThaRize8]

This guy needs to go. Seriously, the game was 2 weeks ago, the season is over, stop blaming your QB. Even if it was his fault. This is disgusting to me. I am sure most of you will agree with him, but this isn't the way to make a point. Leavitt should put the gag order back on the assistants if this is the insight we're going to get...

Postgame comments: Greg Gregory

USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, while praising quarterback Matt Grothe for his stellar play in the Bulls' 41-14 win in Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl, reiterated that the throws Grothe made against Memphis were throws he hasn't been able to make in recent losses.

"Without me just flat out ripping him, he knows the last ballgame we had touchdown passes we didn't hit. He knows that," Gregory said. "He takes that stuff personally. I think he knows in his mind, you never take full responsibility for a loss, but three or four touchdown passes were there and we just didn't hit. We've had that -- we had two against Louisville we need to hit, we had three against West Virginia we needed to hit. Not that you hit every one of those, but you've got to hit some of them. I thought he came out and really responded and played well. ... He was just on."

USF's 41 points was more than the previous three games combined, and matched the second-highest total against a I-A opponent this season. The 496 yards of total offense was USF's most since a late September win against N.C. State.

"I told our guys today we were going to play the way we played the first half of the year," Gregory said. "Is that because Memphis isn't maybe as good as some of the teams we played at the end of the year? I don't know. I know we played better. I don't ever think really about who we play. It's about how we play. We made plays today. We hit passes that were there. We've had them in other games and we haven't hit them. Bottom line, we hit them today."

Grothe said the key to his success was playing more relaxed and not stressing over the pressure to win a game, which became a factor in the second half of the season.

"We know if we executed well today, it would work. We were going to come out slingin', and it did just that. It worked out for us," Grothe said.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2008/12/postgame-comm-1.html

First of all, I'm a critic of Gregory and would love a new O.C, but he said nothing wrong at all. Grothe missed tons of throws, makes gregory look bad. He has called better games the last two games. WVU he called a pretty good game for the conditions. He has made improvements. I think he is understanding that he must change things up to win.

The part I bolded, well GROTHE are you telling us you can't handle the pressure of the games you need to win in the big east? Well then let's skip the big east play and be all out of conference games for him. Then he would be alright. Look, for the first time he scanned the field and found wr's and hit his sideline checkdown's...I'm no genuis but if he did that most of the season and threw it away occaisionaly we win most games. When the guy throws a pick we lose, if he doesn't we win. It's as simple as that. The argument to bench him is because, he throws as many picks as td's so that's not good.

[slowdown]

This guy needs to go. Seriously, the game was 2 weeks ago, the season is over, stop blaming your QB. Even if it was his fault. This is disgusting to me. I am sure most of you will agree with him, but this isn't the way to make a point. Leavitt should put the gag order back on the assistants if this is the insight we're going to get...

Postgame comments: Greg Gregory

USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory, while praising quarterback Matt Grothe for his stellar play in the Bulls' 41-14 win in Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl, reiterated that the throws Grothe made against Memphis were throws he hasn't been able to make in recent losses.

"Without me just flat out ripping him, he knows the last ballgame we had touchdown passes we didn't hit. He knows that," Gregory said. "He takes that stuff personally. I think he knows in his mind, you never take full responsibility for a loss, but three or four touchdown passes were there and we just didn't hit. We've had that -- we had two against Louisville we need to hit, we had three against West Virginia we needed to hit. Not that you hit every one of those, but you've got to hit some of them. I thought he came out and really responded and played well. ... He was just on."

USF's 41 points was more than the previous three games combined, and matched the second-highest total against a I-A opponent this season. The 496 yards of total offense was USF's most since a late September win against N.C. State.

"I told our guys today we were going to play the way we played the first half of the year," Gregory said. "Is that because Memphis isn't maybe as good as some of the teams we played at the end of the year? I don't know. I know we played better. I don't ever think really about who we play. It's about how we play. We made plays today. We hit passes that were there. We've had them in other games and we haven't hit them. Bottom line, we hit them today."

Grothe said the key to his success was playing more relaxed and not stressing over the pressure to win a game, which became a factor in the second half of the season.

"We know if we executed well today, it would work. We were going to come out slingin', and it did just that. It worked out for us," Grothe said.

http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf/2008/12/postgame-comm-1.html

First of all, I'm a critic of Gregory and would love a new O.C, but he said nothing wrong at all. Grothe missed tons of throws, makes gregory look bad. He has called better games the last two games. WVU he called a pretty good game for the conditions. He has made improvements. I think he is understanding that he must change things up to win.

The part I bolded, well GROTHE are you telling us you can't handle the pressure of the games you need to win in the big east? Well then let's skip the big east play and be all out of conference games for him. Then he would be alright. Look, for the first time he scanned the field and found wr's and hit his sideline checkdown's...I'm no genuis but if he did that most of the season and threw it away occaisionaly we win most games. When the guy throws a pick we lose, if he doesn't we win. It's as simple as that. The argument to bench him is because, he throws as many picks as td's so that's not good.

I think the bad thing is that he is going back to October and pointing out specific mistakes.  Everyone knows Grothe missed some throws, it just seems like after a bowl win their would be nicer things to say.