Trib: South Florida's football team unite at right time

[USFishin]

South Florida's football team unite at right time

By ADAM ADKINS | The Tampa Tribune

Patrick Hampton is in his fourth year in the program, and the University of South Florida redshirt junior defensive lineman is noticing a glaring difference this season.

"I think we've been closer than usual," Hampton said. "It's just so much like a family-oriented team right now."

The Bulls believe that camaraderie has been a main source of power during their late-season push.

USF has managed to end a notable streak in three consecutive games. The Bulls' 24-21 overtime win at Louisville was the program's first road win against the Cardinals. That followed ending four-game losing streaks against Cincinnati and Rutgers in consecutive games.

The Bulls have a season-high three-game winning streak at a time in the season that has been synonymous with disappointment in previous years, and Skip Holtz's squad is gearing up for a crucial Big East Conference clash with Pittsburgh, which sits atop the league standings.

USF hosts Pitt on Saturday at Raymond James Stadium.

"Everybody's feeding off each other, and that's Skip's plan," defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said. "It's just really starting to come together, I think, and that love is a very strong emotion. And when you get a bunch of love among a group of men who believe, you've got a chance to do some pretty good things."

"Everybody's got each other's back," Hampton said. "We just know that if you fall down, we'll be right there to pick you up."

That mentality was evident at the end of their latest win over Louisville.

After watching a lead disappear late and a chance to win at the end of regulation go to waste, it would have been easy for the Bulls to point fingers in any number of directions as they headed to overtime against the Cardinals. But that didn't happen.

The Bulls regrouped, picked each other up and found a way to walk out of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium with their heads held high.

"It was amazing to see how our team came together during the overtime period. Nobody was sitting around, blaming, pointing fingers, nothing, the whole time," Bulls sophomore running back Demetris Murray said. "I really just sat back and I thought about the Vero Beach time and how coach said this was going to make our team come together and have the chemistry we needed to have to win championships.

"I felt like the chemistry was there (Saturday), and we have a team that can win a championship."

[urlhttp://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/nov/14/142205/bulls-uniteat-right-time/sports/]Link

[DELdaBull]

Vero Beach had a serious impact on these young men.

Genious strategy