Title or bust for USF

[Brad]

Title or bust for USF

Experienced roster gives Bulls hope

BY CRAIG HANDEL • CHANDEL@NEWS-PRESS.COM • AUGUST 31, 2009

TAMPA — Pick up three preseason college football publications and you’re likely to find three different Big East Conference favorites.

It’s no wonder South Florida thinks it has as good of a chance as anybody to win its first league title.

“It’s our No. 1 goal,” said senior tailback Moise Plancher, a Barron Collier High graduate. “We’re not settling for less.”

Senior George Selvie, an All-America candidate at defensive end, added, “We have everything we need to be a championship team. We just need to go on the field and prove it.”

Even USF coach Jim Leavitt — when asked about 2009’s expectations — quickly answered, “To win the Big East.”

The Bulls certainly are capable. For the third year in a row, they have one of the conference’s elite rosters.

They have two of the best-known players in the Big East — Selvie and senior quarterback Matt Grothe. Senior safety Nate Allen, a Cape Coral High graduate, had an All-American-type season two years ago.

However, they must learn to finish what they’ve started.

Two years ago, USF upset Auburn and West Virginia on the way to being 6-0 and ranked No. 2 in the country. The Bulls proceeded to go 3-4 the rest of the way.  Last season, they opened 5-0 and were ranked No. 10 only to lose all three Big East road games and end up 8-5.

Leavitt said depth caught up with his team when it had some key injuries.

This year, he thinks that can be overcome with the best recruiting class in school history.

“Some guys were not ready to play, and we as coaches didn’t do a good enough job of preparing the back-up guys,” he said.

Since the beginning of the summer, Allen and his teammates have talked about maintaining intensity.

“These past couple of years, we’d get to the seventh, eighth game and we’d get in a slump and lose focus,” he said. “We have to stay focused on how we got here and treat every game like it’s the BCS championship.”

Allen thinks some teammates weren’t prepared to handle all the attention they received.

“When you have the media coming at you, when you have ESPN at your facilities, that’s a lot,” he said. “It can break your heart if you lose focus on what your role is.”

Allen was part of a defense that gave up 14 points or less seven times but 24 points or more five times. New defensive coordinator Joe Tresey — who gave USF fits when he held the same position at Cincinnati — wants a bunch of nasty pets.

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