Bulls, Yankees, Phils and more

Craziness. That's all I can say about Friday night's sellout and historic win for USF over No. 5 West Virginia. There's a cool feeling when you're driving home from a game and think you might have covered the one game in college football that everyone is talking about. This was one of those games.

(I'll digress for a second to say I'm a Philadelphia native and cannot be happier about the Phils being a game up with two to play. Phils haven't made the playoffs since my freshman year in college, so it's just nice to think about.)

I'm capping myself at a half-hour so I can get some sleep, but lots to talk about ... (first, check out the Times' really cool video highlights of fans from the game. Really neat to see how proud Ben Moffitt is, celebrating after the game with his son Trevor.)

-- I think my follow story for Sunday is going to be on how USF's defense has beaten two ranked opponents largely on its ability to catch opposing passes, something they didn't do in the past. Seeing both of Ben Moffitt's interceptions, two sure-handed grabs, it's amazing he went his first three seasons without a pick.

-- As good as the defense has been, it'd be hard for an offense to do less with turnovers than USF has in its two wins against ranked teams. Against Auburn? Five turnovers forced, converted to zero points. Against West Virginia? Ben Moffitt took his interception to the end zone for a touchdown; the other five turnovers were converted to ... zero points. Can't even point to missed field goals: this was just three punts and two interceptions. In their five possessions after turnovers, USF totaled 37 yards.

-- Can't say enough about USF's opening drive of the second half. Up 14-3 but needing to get momentum, the Bulls went 74 yards in 13 plays. They went for it on fourth-and-inches from their own 35, converting on a Matt Grothe keeper. They converted a third-and-7 on another Grothe run, then got a huge 19-yard touchdown from Jamar Taylor, who had a big night with a team-high 58 yards.

-- Having said that: The rest of the second half? Five drives, 15 total yards. Grothe got four second-half first downs with his feet, but didn't have much in the air: 3-for-7 for 20 yards. Most important thing was zero turnovers in the second half, making it hard for West Virginia to get its points.

-- Nate Allen is a turnover magnet. Got another end-zone interception, killing a West Virginia drive, and took a fumble recovery and returned it 44 yards. Also led the team with 11 tackles. Not a bad first month as a college starter. ...

-- I think if Rich Rodriguez could do it all over again, he might give Noel Devine more than four touches on offense. He had more on one carry than Pat White totaled on his nine carries. He also had two kickoff returns, but I was surprised not to see him utilized more creatively. Oh, and maybe he shouldn't have made the Yankees comment. That one motivated the Bulls -- except maybe Larry Antonucci -- in a big way.

-- Fun to see Jon Gruden and Joey Galloway introduce USF's starting lineups. Galloway on corners Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams: "Expect to see these athletes on Sundays next season." I can understand folks complaining because it could have been a USF celebrity like Lee Roy Selmon, but I thought it illustrated the way Tampa has embraced the Bulls' success.

-- Thought it was cool USF opened the game with an unbalanced line, with starting tackles Walt Walker and Marc Dile both lined up on the left side and Cedric Hill basically as the right tackle. Hill let his end upfield and left Mike Ford open to run 35 yards around the right side. The rest of the night for Ford? Four carries for 7 yards: nothing gets you in Jim Leavitt's doghouse faster than a fumble. (OK, maybe a fumble, then pulling out a Sharpie, but that's it.)

-- Statistically, West Virginia had everything but the turnovers. They ran 28 more offensive plays than USF. Consider this: West Virginia's first seven drives netted 62 yards. Their next seven netted 374 yards, with no three-and-outs in that span. For them to have the ball for 19:03 in the first half and be down 14-3 at the half is what the math folks would call an anomaly.

-- One thing I'll warn USF about for Florida Atlantic next week: turnovers. USF had four tonight, and FAU ranks second nationally in turnover margin, plus-13 in four games. FAU, by the way, has sold about 10,000 tickets for the USF game, so the Bulls will go from their biggest home crowd to likely their smallest home crowd since UAB on a rainy weeknight in 2004. Yes, FAU beat Minnesota, but Minnesota has the worst defense in I-A football. Worst.

-- How high does USF go in the polls? My guess is No. 12, moving far enough to slide ahead of a one-loss West Virginia team and the Cal-Oregon loser. Shouldn't go higher unless there are upsets or really unimpressive wins from the five teams directly ahead of USF.

Thoughts? Celebration stories? Don't make me check the overnight arrest reports ...

Comments

[Eric]

Greg,

You have to ask Leavitt about the FG kicker. Why are we not seeing the new FG kicker M. Riley?

[Adam]

Come on Greg. I thought there would be a follow up to how it was indeed a "hotdog" environment.

I think I saw Slaton walk back to the bench after his first fumble saying "hot-dog, they're fast coach."

Great game, glad I was there. As for Delbert's miss, what is the college percentage for 48+ yard FGs? I am not worried about that one. If Leavitt believes in him, he is going to come through for us.

One last note...I love our defense.

[Rich Murphy]

Very exciting watching the Bulls up here in DC. I love reading the Times sports section. The Washington Post rarely give any Florida teams the love. Folks up here still think Maryland is a football team! I have to educate them real football is played in the state of Florida! Go Bulls!

[Winston]

Hey Bulls, you suck! Just kidding -- Great win, guys. When I was at UF, your students always came up to party in G-ville and support the Gators. Now it's time for us to return the favor --- You deserve major props for this. Forget about the Big 4 in Florida -- Welcome to the Big 2. And hey, if we lose to LSU, you might be the Big 1 this year. Soak it in -- you never know how long this stuff will last. Just ask FSU .... (www.GatorAlert.com)

[Matthew Cox]

Not sure if they are still playing the "sore loser" role to the hilt, but curiously enough, commenting was disabled on timeswv.com's WVU stories yesterday. Guess their fans and adoring media shills are like their team...love to talk a big game but that's all

[EEC]

Were is CEE that fake USF fan with all of his negativity. Well he has been wrong over and over. Usually people stop and ask themselves hey it is me not them. But that requires a level of interspection.
Great defense, but our offense is so bad this year.

[Dan Bashour]

Proud to be a bull today. Glad I made the trip. Can't wait to get back home to Morgantown and watch those Mounties make excuses. This link is a WV site. Click on the Rich Rodriguez audio. Basically says they beat themselves.
I'll be back for the UCF game. Can't wait.

http://www.wvmetronews.com/

[greg budzban]

Incredible win. How good is this defense? Top five in the country, I would say. Leavitt and Burnham have built something very special, and I still don't think people realize how good these guys are, though they may be starting to understand.

BTW, great column by Romano. It is events like these that tranform a university. Nationally, USF has emerged.

Yeats words come to mind:

Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.

[Matthew Cox]

When does ESPN announce which game was their "instant classic" that gets a Sunday replay? I gotta think we've got a super shot of filling that spot again...

I'm really loving all the "explanations" coming out of Mountaineer media...the headline from an article on timeswv.com declares USF won because they had fewer bad plays than WVU. Same article mentions all of the adult entertainment establishments on Dale Mabry, because they have something to do with football I guess, and, if I'm reading it right, claims Leavitt and co. are still working out of the trailers.

[DR]

Greg, it was a great night last night! The Phils are actually 2 games up if you think about it. If they tie with the Mets, they win the tiebreaker and win the division. I thought the Phils were better and more deserving to be in the playoffs last year than the Cards, and if they can win it, you know where i'm going...
Great win by the Bulls last night. Not to be a downer, but a couple of things could have been better. I don't like having to beat my chest to keep my heart pumping in 4th quarter games. I thought they backed away from their game plan after they tried to cut throat and Grothe threw a quick bad INT after a big TO. At that point in the game, I thought they could have kept pounding the run and took some time off the clock. God knows they have to get to the 5 yard line to get into field goal range. The DE wasn't giving them anything easy. It was fun watching the DE play. I don't know of any DE better in college. Great job tackling, NFL teams can't tackle as well.
Party today men, but back to business tomorrow. UConn beat us the last 2 years, we can't forget that. Lets play week by week, and take care of business. Don't get caught up in the polls, just play like winners should.

[DR]

We got dissed by the Auburn coach, no name needed, he deserves no respect and now the WV coach. Any true football fan knows that the team that turns the ball over is usually the loser. They made mistakes because they took a beating! The made a mistake by allowing us into the Big East because now the Big East is in Tampa now! Like Dick Vitale says, we're diaper dandies baby!

[Ken]

Greg, what's the story with Ford? He came out the opening series and looked great, and a bunch of us were thinking that we were finally going to see him unwrapped. But we hardly saw him after that.

[Astro]

Fumbling is a big no-no in Leavitt's eye. Taylor looked very impressive though.

[G.A.]

Astro's got it. Playing time is all about trust, and fumbles hurt the coaches' trust in a player. I imagine you'll see a lot of USF's running game -- both freshmen will be busy - next week against FAU.

[George Steinbrenner]

I am announcing today that I have relieved Rich Rodriguez from his duties with the Yankees. Coaches simply cannot invoke the Yankee name and then fail to deliver like that.

Anyone have Coach Leavitt's number?