FanHouse: USF Beats Rutgers for 100th Victory in Program's 14-Year History

[USFishin]

South Florida Beats Rutgers for 100th Victory in Program's 14-Year History

11/04/2010 8:45 AM ET By Brett McMurphy

TAMPA, Fla. – On Saturday, it will be 141 years to the date since Rutgers played its first football game. That also just happens to be the first college football game.

The date was Nov. 6, 1869: Rutgers 6, Princeton 4. The game was televised on ESPN-BC (Before Corso) and, I believe, Joe Paterno was a Rutgers graduate assistant that year.

On Wednesday night, the University of South Florida – in only the program's 14th year – won its 100th game in program history, defeating Rutgers 28-27. The nation's youngest BCS program defeated the nation's oldest program.

What USF has accomplished since its smashing 80-3 debut against Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 6, 1997, is staggering. In its 14th season, USF has gone from playing its inaugural game as a Division I-AA independent to Division I-A independent to members of Conference USA and now the Big East.

"Our success is easy to take for granted," USF coach Skip Holtz told FanHouse. "It's good and bad. It's bad because we still have some growing pains we have to go through as a young program.

"At the same time, look at the success we've had. There are no limits in this program and what it can achieve."

To put it in perspective, the Bulls are only 299 victories behind Paterno, who picked up No. 399 on Saturday. The Bulls managed to get No. 100 in their first attempt, but it wasn't easy and it certainly wasn't pretty.

The Bulls won despite allowing a Rutgers touchdown on, what Holtz called, "the craziest punt return I've ever seen." USF then scored its final nine points of the night on a safety when defensive tackle Keith McCaskill tackled Rutgers running back Kordell Smith, who caught a screen pass, in the end zone, and a touchdown when offensive tackle Jacob Smith recovered a fumble in the end zone.

"It wasn't a perfect game by any means," Holtz said.

But, it's another milestone for a program that has gone through numerous ups and downs -- both on and off the field.

Here's the Cliff Notes version of the history of USF's program: the trailers, no kicking tee in the opener, a headless Rocky at Army, penalties, "Eat your heart out, Alabama," Voodoo Five, Gramaticas, Grothe to Hester in overtime at Auburn, West Virginia's New York Yankees caps, penalties, head-butting helmets, No. 2 BCS ranking and second-half slides. And then the ultimate buzzkill: James Leavitt vs. University of South Florida, coming to a courtroom sometime in-the-not-so-immediate future.

Leavitt, of course, built the program and rang up 95 victories before he was fired last season for hitting a player, lying about the incident and then tampering with the school's investigation. Leavitt still deserves a great deal of credit for getting the program to this point, Holtz said.

"I had the opportunity to come in here on the back end of it and all of sudden there's 95 wins and I've won the fifth one," Holtz said. "I'm humbled to be here. It's a milestone. It shows the huge steps and strides this program has made in its infant stages in the last eight years of Division I football.

"To win 100 games speaks volumes to the players and coaches that have been through here in building this program.''

USF senior running back Mo Plancher has been at USF for nearly half of the program's existence. It seems like he's been around for 94 of the 100 victories. Because of a multitude of injuries in his career – a torn ACL, a dislocated elbow plus shoulder surgery – Plancher received a sixth-year of eligibility.

"It definitely felt great to see the clock run down and we were up by 1," said Plancher, who rushed for a career-high 135 yards. "I believe people do take it (USF's success) for granted. A lot of people, when we lose, they're not supporting us anymore.

"We have been successful, but we always want more. I think Skip will take us there."

Fifth-year senior tight end Andrew Ketchel reflected on the significance of win No. 100.

"It's a blessing to have been here five years and seen the milestone wins we've had as a team," Ketchel said. "At Auburn (in 2007), at Florida State (in 2009), West Virginia at home (in 2006) our first sellout crowd, our first bowl win (in 2007).

"Obviously our 100th win is a special deal, but it's more special beating Rutgers. In the past four years, I had never beat them. It's definitely a special moment and something you'll cherish as a team and a program. Coach Leavitt set the groundwork and there's no doubt about it – he was a big part of it and Coach Holtz has worked hard to get us to five wins. We're on a roll and making an impact."

Anthony Henry and Marshall Smith made an impact at USF. On Sept. 6, 1996, about 75 players participated in USF's first practice. Only 14 of those players, including Henry and Smith, made it through all five years. They called themselves the "OGs" or "Original Gangstas."

Before Wednesday night's kickoff, Henry and Smith were talking on the Bulls' sideline. Henry, a fourth-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2001 who spent nine seasons in the NFL, used his cell phone to videotape the Bulls running onto the field.

Henry said "everything" has changed at USF since he first arrived in 1996.

"The talent level – (other NFL players) Kawika Mitchell, Mike Jenkins, George Selvie – those guys have been phenomenal," Henry said. "We've had first-round (draft picks) and have been ranked No. 2 in the nation. We've come so far and I'm proud to be a part of it."

Smith, 33, said he wanted a win over Rutgers in the worst way.

"They've beaten us four years in a row," he said. "I want to be nice about this: but they have the roughest fans I've ever seen. I really dislike that team."

Despite getting a 127-year head start, Rutgers finally has been caught – and passed – by the newcomers from Tampa.

"Look at our team with no football and then in 11 years we went to No. 2 in the country and went to bowl games," Smith said. "It's pretty amazing. We have such high expectations. We want to keep it going."

Ketchel said that's exactly what the Bulls plan to do.

"Look how fast we ascended through Division I-AA and Division I into a BCS conference," Ketchel said. "It really is an amazing thing how quickly it's happened.

"You look back at Rutgers and they played the first documented game. It's amazing the things we have done. The most amazing thing is the high ceiling on this program. You can't even see the top of the building because it's so high: Big East championships, national championships. That's what everyone is so excited about."

Wednesday night also just happened to be Anthony Henry's 34th birthday. He got the ultimate birthday present: a 28-27 victory against Rutgers.

So Happy 34th, Anthony. And, oh yeah, Happy 100th, USF.

Brett McMurphy is a national college football writer for FanHouse. As a former USF beat writer for The Tampa Tribune, he personally covered 80 of the Bulls' 100 victories – and 43 of their 60 losses. Contact him at brettmcmurphy@gmail.com or please follow at Twitter.com/BrettmcmurphY

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[South_Florida_Flip]

All that to get another shot in at Leavitt while not checking to see we scored our last 8 points off of those 2 plays, not 9.

[tau.reanb]

In retrospect, I wonder if McMurphy didn't have a legitimate bone to pick with Leavitt.  He obviously had a distaste for that coach and not our program.  I actually really liked this piece about our hundredth win.  He even let slip a quote slamming the Rutgers fanbase in the column. 

Having our 100th win against Rutgers, a team that played the first real football game, couldn't have been more symbolic. 

[Jihme]

All that to get another shot in at Leavitt while not checking to see we scored our last 8 points off of those 2 plays, not 9.

haha i was going to say that exact thing, flip.  this guy is garbage.

[South_Florida_Flip]

In retrospect, I wonder if McMurphy didn't have a legitimate bone to pick with Leavitt.

I am not saying he didn't have a bone to pick with Coach Leavitt, but he'd need to look in the mirror to see who started it.

[Guest nybullsfan]

It couldn't have been written without mentioning CJL, and I think Brett did it quite fairly here. OK, he flubbed the scoring details, so sue him.

Back in the day, there was a time when we all loved Brett and he loved us. Obviously his feud with CJL affected his writing, but that's over now. Move on.

Thanks Brett! Nice article.

[Triple B]

It couldn't have been written without mentioning CJL,

True

Brett did it quite fairly here.

False

OK, he flubbed the scoring details, so sue him.

If only ...

Back in the day, there was a time when we all loved Brett and he loved us.

Maybe one or two years tops ...

Obviously his feud with CJL affected his writing, but that's over now. Move on.

It's still affecting his writing ....