Football Bulls Defense Ready to Bring It Saturday Night

[Brad]

Love the sound of that.

 

 

 

Bulls Defense Ready to Bring It Saturday Night

 

By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

 

TAMPA – The season opener can’t get here fast enough for the USF defense that finally gets to do something for real after months of training with the new staff.

“I’m excited to see where we’re at and I’m excited these guys get to go out and display what they’ve worked so hard for from when we got here in December and January,” defensive coordinator Chuck Bresnahan said before practice Wednesday.

 

USF’s first test begins 7 p.m. Saturday and the Bulls know extending their season opener win streak to 12 at Raymond James Stadium certainly won’t be easy. McNeese State has posted eight straight winning seasons and much of its recent success can be attributed to an offense that can attack a team in a number of different ways.

 

It all starts with senior quarterback Cody Stroud, a third-year starter, who ranks sixth in the school history books in passing yards (4,697) and touchdown passes (31). Stroud threw 19 TD passes last season and only five interceptions in 278 attempts while the McNeese State offense racked up 413 yards per game on the way to a 7-4 finish.

 

“The quarterback makes excellent decisions in the passing game. He also controls the run game really well, so we’ve got our hands full,” Bresnahan said.

 

Another strength for McNeese State is at running back with three of the team’s top four rushers back in the mix after helping the Cowboys rank 18^th nationally with 209.5 rushing yards per game last season. Seniors Marcus Wiltz and Javaris Murray combined for 1,155 yards and nine touchdowns while the Cowboys went 6-0 when rushing for more than 200 yards in a game.

 

“They have very good, skilled position players and we’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game,” Bresnahan said.

 

 

More to Tom's report

[Breedwell]

This season just feels totally different than last season. Totally different feel in the air.