Football Oracle: Third game was not the charm

[Brad]

Third game was not the charm

 

Turnovers continue to plague Bulls in third straight loss

 

 

By Mike Mallory, ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

Published: Monday, September 16, 2013

Updated: Monday, September 16, 2013 02:09

 

Three games into the Willie Taggart era, the USF offense has scored a grand total of 37 points.

 

They’ve also scored 35 for the opposition through fumbles and interceptions.

 

Embarking upon a bye week, Taggart said he’d prefer to have his team not play this weekend. 

 

“I want these two weeks to regroup. To get our guys back together and try to find a way to get our offense going. The only thing hurting us right now is our offense.” Taggart said.

 

With two more turnovers returned for touchdowns in the Bulls’ 28-10 loss to Florida Atlantic on Saturday night, Taggart said the Bulls (0-3) are a bad team right now because they can’t take care of the football.

 

For three consecutive games, the team has been singing the same tune: “Turnovers,” Marcus Shaw, senior running back, said. “We keep turning the ball over.”

 

McNeese State, Michigan State and now FAU have combined for five defensive touchdowns at the expense of the Bulls, either by a fumble recovery or interception.

 

Three USF quarterbacks have scored touchdowns for the other team.

 

After two offensive possessions with senior quarterback Bobby Eveld running the show against FAU, the second ending in an Owl defensive touchdown when Eveld ran into Shaw and caused a fumble, Taggart had seen enough.

 

In came the player that Taggart lured from Penn State following the spring semester.

 

USF sophomore Steven Bench, Taggart’s first offensive recruit to see action, stepped under center for the second game in a row and led USF to a field goal, to make it 7-3.

 

But this time Bench didn’t leave the game, aside from one play, in which he lost his helmet.

 

The outlook was bright for USF when senior linebacker DeDe Lattimore intercepted Owl quarterback Jaquez Johnson, giving Bench his second drive and the offense just 27 yards to the end zone.

 

Bench then found senior fullback Ryan Eppes wide open near the right hash mark for a 25-yard touchdown pass. 

 

The first USF career touchdown for both players made it 10-7 in USF’s favor, bringing cheers and a sigh of relief to the Raymond James Stadium crowd.

 

The next USF drive was even more impressive, 11 plays for 69 yards, until Shaw was stopped on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line in what Taggart called a “huge swing in momentum.”

 

USF wouldn’t catch sight of the end zone for the rest of the night.

 

Two FAU possessions later, the Owls scored a touchdown on a nine-play, 80-yard drive with 35 seconds remaining in the first half to take a 14-10 lead.

 

A Bench fumble and interception resulted in two more Owl touchdowns in the second half, and the Bulls were suddenly defeated by a team that scored fewer points than the Bulls did in their first game.

 

If there was ever a time for Taggart to get his first win, this was it, but the first-year coach admitted he never saw the losses to McNeese State and FAU coming.

“Never in a million years,” he said. “I’ve never been a part of anything like this. An offense that turns the ball over for points like this.”

 

Rest of Story

 

[Brad]

Taggart, deer in headlights?

 

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this."

 

Poor guy.  Keep working coach.  It's a tough job at a tough place.  Good luck,

[Gismo]

You can make that 37 points given to opponents by our offense if you count the punt that was snapped through the endzone for a safety against McNeese.

USF's offense has given opponents 37 and only scored 37 themselves. Pathetic. An absolutely pathetic offense.

If our offense was clicking and not committing these horrendous turnovers this team could be 3-0.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Gismo

[Gismo]

Taggart, deer in headlights?

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this."

Poor guy. Keep working coach. It's a tough job at a tough place. Good luck,

I think the offense will get straightened out, but its going to take work from everyone, the players and the coaches.

[El_Toro_86]

Does anyone remember the comment CWT made before the opener about the honeymoon being over? It's been all peaches and cream so far and he's expecting to get tough criticism going forward. This was said before the first game was played. At the time, I thought this was odd thing for a coach to say before he coached his first game.

In hindsight, he knew the talent that was on hand and he knew this season could turn ugly quickly. Guess he was right.

One thing he didn't expect was for the offense to give up 5 touchdowns to the defense 3 games in. That's got to be some NCAA record.

This is a very deep hole and will be a long climb out of it. Not for the faint of heart.

[Bull94]

You can make that 37 points given to opponents by our offense if you count the punt that was snapped through the endzone for a safety against McNeese.

USF's offense has given opponents 37 and only scored 37 themselves. Pathetic. An absolutely pathetic offense.

If our offense was clicking and not committing these horrendous turnovers this team could be 3-0.

not to mention 2 more inside our 20 and another inside our 40. we're just giving pints away and we don't have the type of offense that can come back from that.

[Brad]

Does anyone remember the comment CWT made before the opener about the honeymoon being over? It's been all peaches and cream so far and he's expecting to get tough criticism going forward. This was said before the first game was played. At the time, I thought this was odd thing for a coach to say before he coached his first game.

In hindsight, he knew the talent that was on hand and he knew this season could turn ugly quickly. Guess he was right.

 

 

I was thinking about that the other day too.  It's like he was warning us.  I'm hoping he saw much of the problem ahead of time and felt that comment appropriate for that reason.  If he knew there was a very tough road ahead, that's great.  It's an indication he knows his stuff.  Just don't smile at me and tell me it's the humidity. 

[raptorcj]

Does anyone remember the comment CWT made before the opener about the honeymoon being over? It's been all peaches and cream so far and he's expecting to get tough criticism going forward. This was said before the first game was played. At the time, I thought this was odd thing for a coach to say before he coached his first game.

In hindsight, he knew the talent that was on hand and he knew this season could turn ugly quickly. Guess he was right.

One thing he didn't expect was for the offense to give up 5 touchdowns to the defense 3 games in. That's got to be some NCAA record.

This is a very deep hole and will be a long climb out of it. Not for the faint of heart.

I remember that too, he knew his offense wasn't going to be producing a ton of points until they got comfortable (lots of comments about comfort level with the O out of camp), but he didn't see the sloppy turnovers coming. In fact, he was sure we'd win the turnover battles. I remember comments about the D looking great on t/o's. Turns out, it was just that our O was proficient in giving it up...

Edited September 16, 2013 by raptorcj