Preliminary stats

[Buller64]

Not a good perfromance by the Bulls today

Total yards

USF 337

Cuse 344

Running Yards

USF 129 (Ford 13 for 68)

Cuse 79 (Carter 13 for 43)

Passing

USF 208 (12 of 20)

Cuse 269 (25 of 46)

Third down

USF 4-11

Cuse 9-13

Fourth Down

USF 2-2

Cuse 0-1

Penalties

USF 5-66

Cuse 4-44

Turnovers

USF 3 (3 fumbles)

Cuse 7 (2 fumbles, 5 ints)

Conclusion, the Bulls won because of TO not because they played better.

[RHBullsFan]

Turnovers jump out.....and Mike Williams' yards per carry. When will coaches wake up and use this kid more???

[gobulls83]

Conclusion, the Bulls won because of TO not because they played better.

Wait ... who was it that forced those seven turnovers if it wasn't the USF defense?

[Buller64]

While the Bulls did force many of those TO's it was still a poor performance. TO's only make up a part of that, giving up 4.6 yards per play is not good defense.

[The Great 8]

It wasn't a great defensive day. Syracuse had a similar gameplan as Kansas did last year and it worked pretty effectively.

I'm nervous about Cincy. Paulus/Williams was able to tear us up single handedly, I'm not dying to face Pike/Gilyard.

I was disappointed Selvie didn't get a sack today. It seems like he's destined to have a year statistically similar to last year.

[Jamie]

While the Bulls did force many of those TO's it was still a poor performance. TO's only make up a part of that, giving up 4.6 yards per play is not good defense.

Actually that's pretty decent. They ran 75 plays and only got 344 yards. Especially when they threw the ball almost every play in the fourth quarter.

[gobulls83]

While the Bulls did force many of those TO's it was still a poor performance. TO's only make up a part of that, giving up 4.6 yards per play is not good defense.

I'd be hard-pressed to say a team that turned the ball over seven times played better than the team it just lost to, but it's exactly what you're saying here. And it's silly.

Yes USF's passing defense had some issues, but the Bulls won. It was a conference game on the road, just because the score wasn't 70-3 doesn't mean it was a terrible performance. I'll take +5 turnover margin and approximately the same total yardage as the opponent every single game.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

Conclusion, the Bulls won because of TO not because they played better.

so forcing turnovers and capitalizing on the short field does not constitute "playing better" ?

well if winning by 14 points and going 5-0 is "not playing better," then i think i'll take that any day.

BTW - speaking of total yardage and short fields--- ever consider that our yardage was less because we had a short field ALL GAME as a result of the FORCED TURNOVERS ?

our defense could have tightened up, but we bent and didn't break, and scored more points than the opponent.

5-0 is good enough for me.  i'm not disappointed in this performance.

[DELdaBull]

Conclusion, the Bulls won because of TO not because they played better.

so forcing turnovers and capitalizing on the short field does not constitute "playing better" ?

well if winning by 14 points and going 5-0 is "not playing better," then i think i'll take that any day.

BTW - speaking of total yardage and short fields--- ever consider that our yardage was less because we had a short field ALL GAME as a result of the FORCED TURNOVERS ?

our defense could have tightened up, but we bent and didn't break, and scored more points than the opponent.

5-0 is good enough for me.  i'm not disappointed in this performance.

^^ this

Bring on those Bearcats!

[Apis Bull]

The only stat I really care about is USF 34 - Cuse 20