Stier Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 1,387 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 1 Joined: 07/10/2008 Share Posted March 26, 2010 It's the one question that hangs over South Florida football. New coach Skip Holtz says that, by far, it's the most-asked question he's gotten since taking the job. Why do the Bulls always start off so strong and then fade once Big East play starts in October? "Right now, I don't know," Holtz said. "I'm trying to learn how we did things, go through it every step of the way." There is probably not one easy answer, or else the previous staff would have found it. However, I thought something defensive coordinator Mark Snyder told me was pretty interesting. In discussing his side of the ball, Snyder noted how his players were fast but undersized, a characteristic of Jim Leavitt's defenses. That's great for stopping spread teams, but not bulky, run-oriented offenses. "Some of the teams in this conference play big," Snyder said, "and that's where we had some of our struggles. Against teams that spread us out and let us run, we've done pretty well." Just look at the results. The three Big East teams you'd most associate with big lines and run-first mentalities are UConn, Pitt and Rutgers. All three beat the Bulls in 2009, averaging 33 points in those games. Rutgers has beaten South Florida three straight times, while Pitt and UConn are 2-1 against the Bulls in the last three years. Conversely, South Florida has had success against West Virginia, a team that loves to spread the field, by winning three of the last four against the Mountaineers. The outlier here is Cincinnati, which has won four straight against South Florida despite playing a spread offense. Then again, the Bearcats have beaten a lot of teams the past few years. Snyder, a who cut his teeth as a Big Ten assistant at Minnesota and Ohio State, said he would like to recruit bigger players for the D-line going forward. He says the defense has to get better fundamentally against the run going forward. And maybe that would help the Bulls avert their midseason slides.http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/8704/a-possible-reason-for-usfs-midseason-slides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobull.Bulls Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 5,241 Reputation: 60 Days Won: 0 Joined: 07/02/2007 Share Posted March 26, 2010 That is definitley part of it. Our Defense looked HORRENDOUS against Pitt last year. I think Cincy just had a great coach who could develop any player into a stud and new the x's and o's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 116 Reputation: 1 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/02/2005 Share Posted March 26, 2010 At least we have identified the potential problem, and can work towards a solution. It's great to get new blood into this program.Unlike past years, were it was the repeated year after year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great 8 Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 3,802 Reputation: 372 Days Won: 3 Joined: 09/21/2009 Share Posted March 26, 2010 You mean our DT's that are built like DE's aren't big enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mama_Bull Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 18,470 Reputation: 899 Days Won: 44 Joined: 10/14/2003 Share Posted March 26, 2010 At least we have identified the potential problem, and can work towards a solution. It's great to get new blood into this program.Unlike past years, were it was the repeated year after year.So, you think the previous staff didn't recognize the problem and didn't TRY to fix it?Every school is looking at the SAME players, because it is probably the most difficult spot to fill. We've gone after quite a few of them with mixed results:Defensive Tackles2007 63 Terrell McClain(Pensacola HS)Pensacola, FL 6-3/290 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida 68 Kyle Dampier(Merritt Island Senior HS)Merritt Island, FL 6-3/275/5.00 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida JC Kevin Dixon(Garden City)Garden City, KS 6-3/295 None Yes Committed to Nebraska (He originally gave a verbal to USF but his teammate Barfield (below) convinced him to switch to Neb) JC Shukree Barfield(Garden City)Garden City, KS 6-4/310 None Yes Committed to Nebraska 83 Jeremiah Warren(Bay Senior HS)Panama City, FL 6-3/290 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida 84 Corian Garrison(Bradford HS)Starke, FL 6-4/290 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida (but did not qualify.)http://southflorida.scout.com/a.z?s=359&p=9&c=4&pid=22&yr=2007200866 Cory Grissom(Troup County HS)LaGrange, GA 6-2/275 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida PG Jatavious Jackson(Glades Central HS)Belle Glade, FL 6-4/280 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida2009 20 Arthur Jeffery(Booker HS)Sarasota, FL 6-4/285/4.90 None Yes Committed to Tennessee (Gave a verbal to USF then switched to Tenn when Kiffin was hired) JC Leslie Stirrups(East Mississippi)Scooba, MS 6-3/280/4.90 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida PG Anthony Hill(Pensacola HS)Pensacola, FL 6-4/290/5.10 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida (originally an FSU signee who switched to USF) PG Kyrhi Thornton(Hargrave Military Academy)Chatham, VA 6-3/300 Verbal Yes Committed to South Florida (supposedly qualified under NCAA rules, but didn't get by our academic committee.) http://southflorida.scout.com/a.z?s=359&p=9&c=4&pid=22&yr=2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stier Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 1,387 Reputation: 4 Days Won: 1 Joined: 07/10/2008 Author Share Posted March 26, 2010 20 Arthur Jeffery(Booker HS)Sarasota, FL 6-4/285/4.90 None Yes Committed to Tennessee (Gave a verbal to USF then switched to Tenn when Kiffin was hired) Karma! ;D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smazza Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 66,091 Reputation: 2,434 Days Won: 172 Joined: 01/01/2001 Share Posted March 26, 2010 usf had terrible coaching in the pastit is now a brand new ball gameprior coaching staff had the same problems for 10 yearsthey may have recognized it or not but in any event they certainly didnt fix ityou are what your record says you are Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_Hairy_Bull Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 827 Reputation: 15 Days Won: 0 Joined: 09/25/2002 Share Posted March 26, 2010 usf had terrible coaching in the pastit is now a brand new ball gameprior coaching staff had the same problems for 10 yearsthey may have recognized it or not but in any event they certainly didnt fix ityou are what your record says you areYep. USC sucked last year. Their record says they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E.T. Posted March 26, 2010 Group: TBP Subscriber III Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 37,675 Reputation: 2,367 Days Won: 29 Joined: 12/24/2001 Share Posted March 26, 2010 ... you are what your record says you are 0-0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Who'sYourData? Posted March 26, 2010 Group: Member Topic Count: 0 Content Count: 19,525 Reputation: 992 Days Won: 24 Joined: 09/01/2006 Share Posted March 26, 2010 Didn't we know that already? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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