Five things I learned last night

[hm101]

1. These wins are good but they are only steps to building a program that commands respect. Yahoo sports called us an "obscure" opponent and espn is focusing on notre dame losing more than USF winning. The tables can turn but it takes time.

2. Murray is #1 RB so far but Scott is a good reliable back with much upside.

3. Daniels has indeed progressed, but our offense still isn't much of a threat.

4. Griffin is going to be a star this year, and Love might need a few games to get 100% comfortable.

5. Our fan base is amazing. I loved the stories, the tweets, the green and gold in the airport... If all the right pieces keep coming together, we have no ceiling.

[hm101]

On a smart phone can't edit orig post but wanted to ask what other people's "5 things" were

[Bull Dozer]

1. BJ has indeed taken some steps forward when it comes to efficiently running the offense and taking care of the football.  He also threw the ball pretty accurately

2. Sterling Griffin looks like hes ready to pick up right where he left off pre injury, hes going to be a problem for BE defenses

3. The starting offensive line is more solid than I thought they would be, especially in pass pro

4.  The defense will be a lot more opportunistic this season and all the off season work on creating turnovers has payed off

5.  Joel Miller throws some mean blocks

[litt2usf]

For me,

QB - Smart playing.  Got in situations where it could've been an abortion, but didn't give up any big plays.  I can still see him dual-threating... but I think it's better to use our weapons instead (see below)

RB - Darrell Scott is up and coming.  I was telling Dan he was the #1 RB in the country in HS in '08.  He got some wheels, but the Big East will know how to contain him.  I think he'll eventually wear some defenses out if he plays balls to the wall.  Demetris Murray and Lindsey Lamar were our go to guys last year and had a lot of breakout plays -- it's just how we use them that will determine our role in runningback.  Overall, we had times where our running game was non-existent (hence a lot of the 3 n outs), but a few shining moments

WR - AJ Love and Sterling Griffin (starters) are deadly when they want to be.  Both of them missed last year due to injury, but they picked up right where they left off -- those were the only ones that didn't drop their **** (unlike Miller and Welch).  Unfortunately for us, we didn't get in the secondary much, and when we did, they were uncatchable long bombs.  I don't know if that's BJ being conservative, play calling, or the interceptions that haunted him in the past.

OL - Did a decent job containing.  I didn't see BJ scramble as much, so they did their job as best as they could.  I didn't read into ND's D-line that much, but it's ND -- I'm sure they're all 6 foot 90 midwest cornfed athletes.

D-line - Back of our heels the entire time.  We were literally half a second behind every one of those plays -- for the most part, anything up the gut, we extinguished, but we may not be so lucky next time, especially when we get into powerhouse RB's of the Big East

Secondary - just awful.  Too many receptions.  The good news is, some of the damage was limited -- there wasn't enough coverage, but enough to stop them dead in their tracks to advance the ball forward.  And then, there were about 4 or 5 plays that were totally busted that resulted in 30-40 yard gains.

ST - 50/50 on punts.  Too early to tell.  FG's I'll take!  Lindsey Lamar and Terrence Mitchell will be outstanding kick returners if we make some great blocks and utilize their speed (they'll never be a Demps or a Rainey, but they will hold their own in the Big East)

Any thoughts are welcome  ;D

[lewdtenant]

1. Maikon Bonani is a beast.

2. Michael Floyd is a freak and I believe our secondary was in "bend but don't break" mode. Our defense will find its mojo in the next three games.

3. BJ is progressing - made a few good throws that were dropped - It will be interesting to see what our WR corps looks like when we line up against Pitt.

4. Skip has the team focused and disciplined and I feel that the team represented the University well on Saturday.

5. USF is a well-balanced team and to open up against ND on the road in South Bend, IN is a pretty tough challenge. We will improve as the season continues.

[mikemcp88]

1) Floyd is amazing and glad he is the best receiver we will face all season

2) ST - FG kicking is reliable. Brockhaus-Kann had some great punts that hung really high with the exception of his botched one. I nervous about their return game, but we did a great job at limiting the yardage.

3) BJ was smart and efficient for the most part. Still work to do there and he should only get better

4) More discipline in the past and did not make stupid penalties

5) Still needs to work on clock management.

[USF_Grouper]

1. These wins are good but they are only steps to building a program that commands respect. Yahoo sports called us an "obscure" opponent and espn is focusing on notre dame losing more than USF winning. The tables can turn but it takes time.

The key is putting an entire season together. If we go 3-4 in the Big East than everyone will (rightfully) assume ND just beat themselves. 

[BullsOnThaRize8]

Our Defense did a decent job sometimes. I learned we need to get more pressure and we also need to give less of a cushion to wr's. I understand that our team probably wont face a better group of wr's the rest of the year and it was the first game but I learned we need to play a little more physical on the outside.

[SQuinn17]

When speaking of BJ and the offense, I really don't think we took too many chances at all on O. We had a pretty vanilla O the entire game and never really put BJ in any situations to where he had to press in order to be successful. I thought the playcalling was solid in that aspect.

[BDYZR]

1. I learned that our defense played well enough to win.

2. I learned that our offense played well enough to win.

3. I learned that our special teams played well enough to win.

4. I learned that our coaching was good enough to win.

5. I, and I hope others, learned what great fans Notre Dame has.