USF BULLS & Boston Red Sox

[E.T.]

Published Saturday, October 30, 2004

South Florida Needs To Use Red Sox Saga As Model for Season

TAMPA

The USF Bulls get a chance to make a Boston Red Sox-like comeback Wednesday when they travel to Birmingham, Ala., to play Alabama-Birmingham.

South Florida struck out on national TV last Friday, getting crushed by nationally ranked Louisville, 41-9, the team's third straight loss and the first time since the school moved to Division 1-A in 2001 that it has lost three in a row.

"We went up against a pretty good football team," Bulls Coach Jim Leavitt said of Louisville. "We're just not there right now."

That begs the question: Just where are the Bulls?

Clearly, this is a team in transition, and to some extent, it is a team building for the future.

Sometimes because of necessity and sometimes by choice, Leavitt is playing a tremendous number of underclassmen, including freshmen.

While this may bode well for entry into the Big East in 2005, it is also contributing to the fact that the Bulls are staring at their first losing season since 1997, the school's first year of football.

With four losses already, the Bulls must win four of their final five to finish above .500, a daunting task when they will likely be favored in only one of those five games: East Carolina at home.

Leavitt says it is what it is. "It's where we're at," he commented. "I'd like to be in a better position, but I'm not discouraged."

Leavitt admits that Louisville and South Carolina, another team which trounced the Bulls, are simply much better than USF at this point.

But the seven-point loss to Southern Mississippi, also nationally ranked, was a game the Bulls could have won and the loss to Army was one they let get away.

If thare's one game that galls Leavitt, it's the Army contest. The Bulls had a 28-20 lead at the end of the third quarter and allowed the Black Knights 22 points in the final period.

"The second half of the Army game really discouraged me, I can't explain it," Leavitt said.

Like the Red Sox, the Bulls have fallen over the cliff and are hanging on by their fingernails. The Red Sox pulled themselves back up, but it remains to be seen if South Florida can do that.

UAB is one of the better teams in Conference USA but it is beatable, as Tulane, which had won only once all year prior to playing the Blazers, proved last Saturday.

The Bulls do not appear to have given up on the season, and Leavitt insists they will not.

If there was anything positive about the Bulls' play at Louisville it was that the team did not quit, being outscored 14-6 in the second half after getting bombarded in the first.

And if the team continues to play hard, and if it can eliminate mistakes, Leavitt thinks that will eventually pay off.

"I'm real excited about this team," he insisted. "I'm encouraged. The biggest thing we need is to get guys healthy . . . we'll be resilient.

"What we need to do is win a football game, and we have to put ourselves in position to do that."

Definitely. And soon.

[GarySJ]

This comparison is so off-base. The Bulls are young and undisciplined, not perennial big-game chokers like the Red Sox were.

[Velcro]

not perennial big-game chokers like the Red Sox were.

That honor now goes to the Spankees  ;D

[bullpen1]

The Red Sox have choked a million more times than any other sports team of any kind.  26-1 isn't as good as 26-0, but it still counts as domination in anyones book.  They just scored one late and avoided the shutout.  The Babe got tired, throwing zeros up there for 86 years would tire anyone out.  I think he's got another streak to throw at the idiots starting real soon.  

Comparing the Bulls to the idiots is rediculous.  

[Velcro]

LOL... 4 years of choking straight for the spankees.  

And its 26 - 6 not 26-1.  

Its ok, you can vent all you want... the curse of A-Rod has begun

[S p e n c e]

We are no Boston Red Sox....The Red Sox played as a team, something we have yet to do this season.

[smazza]

no comparison

most people think of the boston red sox as losers

it will take 100 world series wins to change that

[Velcro]

Funny man smazz... you are still in denial

[bulls96go]

where is our 86 years of fustration?

this guy is an asswipe just blowing hot smelly air

total dingbat

[bullpen1]

I am not in denial of anything.  It is 26-1 since the curse was brought into play.  Smazza is right, the sawx will have to win many more championships before everyone in the country thinks of them as perennial winners.  Try winning a division once in a while.  In the last 86 years they still haven't won as many WS as the Marlins, Twins, Reds, A's, Cardinals, Giants, Blue Jays, Orioles, Indians, Tigers, Mets, Braves, Pirates, Dodgers and the Yankees.  Every dog has its day, this year it just happened to be a dirty, hairy, less than intelligent dog.  But, Sox fans should enjoy it, it was a great run.  History is history and you can't deny that.