Bulls can't get TD, lose 22-15

USF's inability to score in the red zone has kept them from overtime, allowing Connecticut to pull off a 22-15 win at Rentschler Field.

USF had two shots from the 1-yard line for a game-tying touchdown in the final minutes, but Moise Plancher was stopped for no gain and Matt Grothe was dropped for an 11-yard loss on a bootleg. Grothe's fourth-down pass sailed high and incomplete, and Connecticut has its first-ever win against a ranked team.

USF (6-2, 1-2) is now two games behind the Huskies (7-1, 3-0), and the loss could drop the Bulls out of the top 25. They're the seventh top-10 team this season to lose two straight after being in the top 10.

Comments

Never ever seen a football team commit more penalties - more stupid mistakes and have a worse special teams unit.

They are not a very good coached team.

Penalty after stupid penalty after stupid play.

[Ari]

And then you got Leavitt acting like a jerk on the postgame radio interview.

Just a horrible performance today. Coaches and players were awful.

That has to be one of the worst 3rd and one calls EVER, with a Mike Ford available. Way to throw the season away...

[Reality]

The refs blew this game for USF.

[JB]

Fromt he national championship to the Pizza bowl in 2 week. Way to go!

[Terry Lucas]

I'm speechless... but thank God I can blog on here... Moises is a good back... but on 2nd and goal after Grothe's run, why not run Mike Ford out of the bone set-up. He ran it earlier for six, except it got called back. On 3rd and goal, give it to Ford again... he is a bruiser back. The coaching today on those two final plays cost USF a BCS bowl. At least it will save me a plane fare as we'll be playing in the friggen Sun Bowl. The question now... are we even ranked after two blown opportunities? The team picked it up in the second half...

For everyone that cried about the bandwagon fans... they won't be there next week... you'll have plenty of seats for the UC game.

[Bill]

Gregory needs to go, his play calling is an embarassment. This team was not prepared to play for the 2nd straight week

[MSA]

Absolutely embarrassing. The special teams are awful. The penalties are a disgrace. And the offense is a joke. I understand we still have some scholarships available. How about signing a receiver who can actally catch.

[Ari]

Horrible. No discipline. So many stupid mistakes. We got a 3rd class place kicker.

A TD called back on a stupid holding penalty.

Just awful.

Still cant believe how much of a jerk Leavitt was in the post game radio interview. What an idiot.

[staindnlinkinn]

i will say it again since it got deleted the bulls suck... jim leavitt made some stupid calls he could have went with an onside kick... played mike ford on the last play....he will not be coach of the year.... and they can forget about the rest of their season... maybe next year... they are starting to remind me of the dolphins... and cedric hill do you hear me jim leavitt is a complete loser and needs to be kicked off the football team... first he can't catch a ball that was dropped into his hands by grothe and then he commits a foul so that the touchdown gets called back hang it up with this guy.... and grothe i'm sorry you played a lot better last year... i hope they drop out of the top 25 and don't make it even to a bowl game.... if they do give them some loser bowl game because that is what they deserve.... if you can't win agains uconn u don't deserve to be mentioned among college football's elite teams and yes for the record i think it was a fluke of them making it into the top ten or five they just got lucky this year against auburn and west virginia.... jim leavitt put your football team to bed bc your done this year

[Ari]

In the last two weeks the opposing team has had a running back that has run in excess of 150 yards per game.

Just looking stupid.

[staindnlinkinn]

jim leavitt you suck and your team sucks

[VOR]

WANTED:
Reciever who can catch.
Kiker who can kick.
Will trade one slightly used FORD.

Every missed kick seems to deflate the offense.
Every dropped pass kills us.

Regardless. See ya'll at the UC game.
Go Bulls!

[staindnlinkinn]

i hope that usf loses the rest of their games this season because that is what they have done you let all your fans down and your proving all the critics right you should have came back strong.... and you guys call this finishing strong......that guy that has cancer and came and talked to the team deserves a lot more then what you guys are putting forth.... you have let this guy down as a whole team from coaches all the way down to the last player on the team.....

[Ari]

You are an idiot dude.

[Tad]

#1 Fact: USF has lost the last two games by a combine score of 10 points.

#2 Fact: Alverado has missed 4 field goals within the 40 yard line. The possibility of 12 points.

Hate to say, all the penalties, missed field goals, and relying on the defense has finally caught up. This is still a good team, but seems helpless in close games.

There wont be 25k fans at the RayJay against Cincy.

Time to get off the bandwagon losers

[Tad]

Did cee change his name?

[Rob]

What the **** is wrong with goal line playcalling in Connecticut? CJL really blew this one! Just like he blew it when USF was on the goal line two years ago! All in all this game was so hard to watch. The media hype definitely got to this team. He goes for the trick plays with one yard to go, but when its forth and 2 or 3 on our side of the field he gets scared!

[MSA]

Leavitt built the foundation, but I do not believe he has the skills to develop USF into a perennial top 20 team. Many years ago, Spurrier coached the Tampa Bay Bandits, and the team's style of football was a blast to watch. Time to bring the Ol' Ball Coach back to Tampa. Jimbo - here's a hint for next week: O-F-F-E-N-S-E.

[Ari]

They just arent a smart team. The coaches seem out of step when the pressure gets high.

Why not run a QB sneak on the two yard line?

Ane the penalties....this program and this team has been saturated with penalties since its existence.

[DELdaBULL]

That was the most painful play from the 1 I had ever seen:( Big dissappointment.

[Ken]

We're playing very good teams, and we've come very close to winning both of these games. We could easily have won them both--instead we lost them both. We'll still be ranked, but behind not only WVU but also Auburn (assuming they win). How's that for ironic. Bad Penalties, bad kicking. Very sad.

[staindnlinkinn]

yeah i'm sorry i have been a usf fan from the start i was there when they had their innagural game but wow starting so strong at the beg of the year and now finishing and looking really weak against a uconn team watch what west virginia does to them when they play.... i'm sorry but wow what a really big let down today usf.... cedric hill please take yourself off the team for everyone else's sake

Watching this team play football is so similar to watching Seth Greenberg's basketball teams play big games.

Lots of mistakes. Lots of missed free throws.

Football: lots of penalties and lots of stupid play calls.

2nd and goal on the freakin two yard line -- RUN THE QB SNEAK!!!

[Dave W]

Hey staindlinkin- the real USF fans will stick by the team.

Just a really disappointing game. I don't even have to review it- my comments would be exactly the same as after the Rutgers game.

Tad has a good point- penalties and missed FGs have finally caught up to us. Throw in progressively stupider playcalling and you have two losses in a row. We threw away so many opportunities again today and deserve to lose due to poor effort in the first half and poor playcalling in the second.

But Grothe demonstrated that he is one of the most dynamic players in CFB again today. Get rid of the dropped passes, and you have one heck of a ballgame.

[MSA]

Regarding penalties, I could not agree more. What in the world do we have to do to just stop the foolish penalties? Next week, we'll have an unranked USF vs unranked Cincy - just like old times in C-USA.

[staindnlinkinn]

ari you suck along with the usf team.... they will not make a good bowl this year they can hang it up..... they are just plain losers this year face it they don't have their act together

[Tad]

Cedric Hill drop the most important pass, but he still was very productive. My beef is with the kicking. Hopefully, they can bounce back at home and beat Cincy.

[BullBard]

Matt Grothe did NOT decide to run against three to four defenders on his own and without blocking. The idiot who called a "naked bootleg", per announcer, should be whipped with thorns and doused with alcohol, then iodine, then terminated due to insane stupidity.

Memo to receiver who failed to catch the ball for the tying touchdown; you are NEVER EVER EVER allowed to brag about having any skills, you do NOT have any!

The Alvarado as placekicker project is definitely a failure! I do not care if it was raining, the opposition made their attempts, plus, he had plenty of opportunity to practice in the rain in Tampa this past week. His problem is fear of important games, he misses his initial kicks then hopes the opponent makes more mistakes. We can NOT afford his crap anymore! Maybe he can remain as punter, maybe.

GO BULLS!

[Blake]

The dropped passes today reminded me of the Miami game 2 years ago. Pat Julmiste had the best game of his career and no one caught a thing. It was horrid. Well, my prediction going into the year was 10-2, hopefully I was correct.

[staindnlinkinn]

grothe can only do so much.... jim leavitt needs to recruit bigger players how many players do we have hurt now... with this game... it seems like every game four or five go out and are out for two-four weeks.... doesn't anyone want to play football for this team....and there isn't one player that can catch the great passes grothe can throw i say take mike jenkins and or trae williams off of defense and put them as a wide receiver that would make the most sense... considering these guys have really great hands

[Dave W]

staindnlinkinn- where did you come from? You've never posted here before to my knowledge and all of a sudden you dominate a comment thread? Did you used to use a different sn or what? If not, and you are new to USF football discussion, then you need to learn when enough is enough. We get your point- drops are a problem. No need to write it 5 different ways.

And you don't attack an established poster like Ari until you've earned a little respect on this board

[staindnlinkinn]

this team had plenty of time to practice and focus on penalties for last week's game against rutgers i guess they didn't practice hard or pay any attention to it if i was head coach this team would be in the dog house until further notice.... and 2 hour practices forget it they would be more like 3 or 4 hr practices every day till they straightened up.... you hear me guys play like a team.... yeah the worst team in the big east last year just beat you and they didn't even look that good in this game.... so if they didn't look good imagine what you looked like to national tv

[staindnlinkinn]

i have earned the respect i have been ont the fields with the team

I just can't get over the penalties.

Just stupid mistake after stupid mistake.

We had the ball inside Uconn's 5 yard line THREE times and got all of 6 points.

Just pathetic.

Our kicker is second rate. I am so disappointed. Just depressing. Two weeks in a row -- we look awful.

[staindnlinkinn]

i have seen them at their best and this definitely isn't it i have been with this team since the beginning it just a really rude wake up call for this team that i'm calling for and i hope leavitt reads these post and know that everyone is so disappointed with the coaching and the players except for matt grothe he is the one really doing all the work for this team give that guy all the credit and he deserves to have the team wake up and pick up some of the slack

[Mike Lakeland]

Why didn't we call a QB sneak on those last 3 plays?!?!

[staindnlinkinn]

matt grothe deserves to be with a better team... he is playing at a higher caliber then the whole team... you can see the desire in that guy's eyes when he practices and is on the field during the game.... he has what it takes but when u have a guy like cedric hill and a couple others dropping balls he'll never get the respect he deserves especially from the media he is getting called a poor man's joe montanna on national television that is not right.....and it's because of his teammates and his head coach making stupid decisions

why do you just copy and paste the same stupid comment on each blog post.

[staindnlinkinn]

jim leavitt i think has lost his marbles.... he is one of the guys i'm talking about that are hurting the team... i think it's time for a new head coach.... and i think that grothe might want to think of transferring and advertising it on next week's national tv game when he gets interviewed.....transfer to a better school..... usf who that's where they are headed back to the whole team

[staindnlinkinn]

why so everyone knows about the stupidity that usf plays with on the coaching staff and players

[staindnlinkinn]

benjamin williams is too slow of a running back u can see it when he gets the ball it's like he doesn't know where to go like he stops and think about it and you can't do that u gotta move with a sense of purpose when u get the ball it's bad when your a running back and your own quarterback has more yards then you on the ground for the whole season

[Dave W]

Thank you for your opinions, staindnlinkinn. You have addressed every single aspect of this team. You are 100% correct. I have never been more impressed by a poster than you. Your analysis is the be-all, end-all of football knowledge. In fact, I think your incredibly long rants may the smartest thing ever said. EVER.

I hope my sarcasm came through there. Go away, no one wants to hear your uninformed opinions. I'm not reading what you write, just skimming, and at the same time wondering why someone who has never posted on this site suddenly starts posting every 2 minutes.

[MSA]

I don't know if we have the personnel to do it this year, but I would love to see the USF offense line up and play some smashmouth football. Put 240 pound Richard Kelly at FB in front of Ford/Taylor/Williams, sit Cedric Hill and put in a big tight end or another tackle, and just pound the football. We need to control the clock, keep the D off the field and minimize the hits Grothe is taking. If we can get the running game going, watch Grothe light up the secondary with his play-action passes. If we continue to drop passes, we cannot be productive in the spread offense. The Big East knows about Grothe's ability and our opponents are gameplanning for him. Time for a new approach.

[VOR]

Stain has got to be cee.
Had to change his handle since he is now apparently in love with Grothe.

[DELdaBULL]

Cee,

Something has to change when preparing for road games.

What should we do Cee?

[staindnlinkinn]

well i'm not cee but i wish he would show up here for u since your in love with him.... but if u must know take mike jenkins or trae williams off defense and give matt grothe someone to throw to because there is no one on offense he can rely on

[staindnlinkinn]

what dorm do u live in beta which used to be all boys or gamma...? do you work at the marshall center at the pizza hut? i'm an on campus student so if u must know....

[Ken]

If Stain isn't our friend cee, they are definitely cousins in raincloud world. I think what we have here is a WHOLE LOT of disappointment over losing a second game that could have been won. We're still a very young team, and, yes, we even have a headcoach who is new to really bigtime headcoaching. Let's continue to show faith. It is really hard to win these football games against other teams that are just about as good as we are.

[Dr Johnny P LoveTrain(1620am WBUL)]

We are NOT dropping out of the Top 25 as teams below USF havn't been winning either and OHIO STATE will possibly be upset by Penn State! Please don't jump off the USF bandwagon yet,UConn will NOT win Big EAST! Go Bulls and In Bulls Pride FOREVER!!!

[staindnlinkinn]

and dave don't worry about it where i came from i'm just tired of seeing crap come from our team no one is stepping up except for grothe face it that is the only play maker we have on the team..... especially now since ford is hurt and u can bet he is prolly out for the rest of the season so now we have benjamin williams he can't do anything and jamar taylor wow from five running backs to two... i say that is a great season....it's bs there is enough blame to spread all over the team from top to bottom they need to go back home and sit down pass a bottle of root beer around the room and sit in a big circle and complain to each other about how it's the other one's fault for not making the play.....i think that must be the scenario or something like it since nothing has improved since their last loss but that they have only managed to look worse on natinal television that is why if you ask me the media was so hesitant about giving this team media attention bc they didn't want to look like fools for choosing them to win or for it to be a good game the media has been in the right in the past for not rushing to give this team media coverage they are not ready for this level of football a team that truly is ready doesn't look like this and don't make these kind of mistakes... they might lose a game but believe me they come back fighting hard like they are fighting a war in the next game and usf just looked like yeah we are here for the game but no desire to win.... and who knows we might all be getting the wool pulled over our eyes meaning these games might be rigged to draw more attention to the big east conference so as to say look everyone our conference is tight and have close games.... and the refs i think we have some betting refs in our conference as well considering the calls that are being called on the field like the one in the rutgers game on the fumble that we picked up and took into the end zone for a touchdown.... this just seems all a little to weird with the calls that are being made... someone needs to start monitoring the refs real close

[Danielle]

i live in NYC. I am a USF alum. I cannot find transcripts of Leavitt's post game radio show comments. Can someone point me where I can find them or sum up what he said? I am real interested. Thanks in advance !

[Ari]

I don't think there is a transcrip. He was just real short and curt with Mark Robinson and Jim Louk. Was interupting them and acting like an idiot. A very disappointing act by a coach that I have long championed. I know you are upset after the loss, but Jim Louk and Mark Robinson are just doing their jobs and I was actually interested in hearing the coach answer the questions and not act like a retard.

Guy showed no class in the interview.

Just added to the idioticy of the entire game. Penalties -- missed field goals -- stupid play calls.

Just very disappointed. I knew this was a possible loss on our schedule. We could be the worst road team in college football. We don't travel well -- we make tons of mistakes.

Just a awful day in USF sports. I mean we had the stupid ball inside the Uconn 5 yard line three freakin times and can't score a TD. Not only do we not score a TD -- we score a whooping total of 3 points.

jim leavitt just said to sum it up we suck... i suck as a head coach... and i call really bad plays at the wrong times... and oh yeah i am a really sore loser and make crazy gestures and faces on the field when the camera is on me....uhm could someone please replace me as head coach

[Danielle]

Thanks for posting that info up here - gives me some perspective! Here's to next week...!

[staindnlinkinn]

average team gets average results....we leave the work for west virginia to knock out uconn they will not win the big east championship.... bc if they do well the big east looks like nothing then bc uconn is nothing they didn't deserve to win last week against louisville.... with the messed up call they got from the ref when the receiver called for a fair catch and then started running all the way to the end zone.... does uconn think america is stupid and didn't see the re-play of that.... just for that i was hoping usf would have went in there and smashed them for that but again they let us down in times where it matters

[VOR]

I wonder if loosing all those assistant coaches is catcing up to us.

[BA]

Everyone relax and keep this season in perspective. Did anyone in the country believe the USF Bulls would be 6-2 at this point w/their first top 10 ranking in school history? If you did whatever business you are in is the wrong one.

This has been a tremendous season with lots of great games still to come. This team has come up big on nights and lost on nights. It's all a growing process and this will go down in Bull history as a very good team. The next 4 are win-able games. They will not take away the sting of these losses, but stay onboard.

Go Bulls!

[staindnlinkinn]

the offensive line coach sucks as well he is just worried about getting his son grant gregory some playing time... i say it again recruit better coaches and staff.... i bet the verbal commits usf have gotten back out .... i would say sorry... u guys suck and have a bad coaches... i'm a play maker and need to be on a play making team

you sound like an idiot.

Can someone fill me in on what Leavitt said postgame, since I get the impression from the responses that he acted like a jerk? I can't find a transcript of his comments anywhere.

[Ari]

There isn't a transcript. He didn't say anything foul. He just acted like a retard. Was short - rude. Jim Louk did him a favor and just ended the interview after two questions. He was just rude. Probably got caught up in the moment and was upset about the loss.

Still needs to understand that people want to hear what the coach has to say after a big loss like that. Guy was just blowing off Mark Robinson....just added insult to the disappointing loss.

Mark Robinson and Louk didn't say anything about it.

Its no big deal I guess.

[Ari]

The question of the night is:

Who feels worse tonight? USF fans or Va Tech fans?

[Happy Hands]

Wow! You guys turn on your team and your coach so fast. Yes the made mistakes but they didn't give up at all. I hope the players don't read this and get a feel for how loyal their fan base is, or...maybe I do.
How can cee take on so many personalities at once?

[Reality]

Wow this staind linkin park kid is a talented new poster. He writes sentences like he was on the football team, so I am sure the good Bulls fans can figure out who he is. I cannot believe USF would let this kid into the school with his sentence structure. He must have been highly rated and quit the team, and has nothing but hate. How dare people call him Cee, Cee is a decent writer and actually breaks things down.

[happy hands]

Reality, I am calling shenanigans on you! Change your name to Cee-ality.

[Ari]

We suck. I am so pissed. Damn it.

i knew we were going to lose this game. I knew it.

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.

[Happy Hands]

If it makes you guys feel better, Tebow was held to -15 yards rushing. I think too much is on Grothe's shoulders, he's not that caliber of QB yet.

[Jim in Williamsburg, Va (Class of '68)]

I can't tell you how dissapointed I am in the performance of the Bulls these last two weeks., especially because I was "football-deprived" during my time at USF.
I guess I wanted to believe that anything was possible, but obviously, the team can't deal with defeat.
Not only is a national championship totally out the question, but the stated goal -- the Big East championship -- is so highly iunlikely as to be out of the guestion, as is a bowl game that has any meaning whatsoever. So much for this year's goals...
Perhaps the pre-season polls that had the Bulls finishing fourth in the Big East were not that far off.
Have fun Bulls, you got got beat by a program that is no older or better than you.
Did you hear the wake-up call yet?

Anyone looking for a bright spot??

Jessie Hester is CLEARLY our best WR.

Guy is stout. Catches just about everything Grothe throws at him. He should be our to WR. A close second is Carlton Mitchell. I think those two, along with Taurus Johnson, is are best set.

On the funny side, the team to beat in the Big East is UCONN. No one on this blog is allowed to tout the Big East for at least two seasons (NCAA sanctions for crappy conference). Plus, USF now has to admit the truth --that it is actually a Community college.

How is USF a community college? Have you been on campus..?

I think the only school in Florida that has more kids living on campus is Florida.

Just stupid comments.

[staindnlinkinn]

hey reality u can just go shove off.... do u live in the present or your own little reality.... wake up USF is nothing this year, maybe next year it's obvious their own coaches gave up on them if they by some odd reason win the rest of their games this year they just might make it to the pizza or tire bowl to play a school of UCF caliber or East carolina again and really look like fools bc they will prolly lose that..... what a huge disappoint me this year all the hype and for what they really suck no talent, nothing there just average guys.... nothing outstanding on the team just a bunch of penalty serving guys.... i could have caught the ball in the end zone if i was in the end zone i would have pushed cedric hill out of the way with my hand to his helmet and said hey loser i got this one

[YO]

what did leavitt say on the radio interview, i'm interested???

[staindnlinkinn]

he said he is a loser and his teams sucks and he is going back to coach one double A football again in fact he thought he was getting paid too much this year so he is giving back some of the money on his contract for losing this badly..... and he also said he is giving high school football coaching a thought

Florida does have more students living on campus. Of course, they live inside dorms. USF is a community college that takes four years to complete. Hence, the reputation of shady academic standards.

[hayhay]

GA,

ask CJL about switching kickers. alvarado has hurt us in almost every game, it's just that now his misses are costing us the game. it wasn't that bad against auburn that alvarado went 2-6 because we still one.

i'm still blown away that leavitt would call for such a silly outside run on 3rd and goal from the ONE.

just amazingly bad. grothe for two carries up the gut there, and they're headed to OT, or going for 2 and the win.

just mindblowing. horrible, HORRIBLE coaching.

jim, you cost the kids a BIG opportunity there.

this one's on you, PERIOD.