It's over! Cincy 38, USF 33

After a strange call by Cincinnati on a fake field goal gave the Bulls a shot, the Bearcats held on.

Comments

[Rob]

Pretty sure that was pass interference on the last play, but you can't turn it over 8 times and expect to win.

[Jason]

Are we the most inconsistent team in the world or what? How many times do the Bulls go out and just completely stink it up and then somehow, still manage to be in it at the end. Here, the UConn game, Rutgers last year. I mean just some of the worst football I have ever seen. Then after 3.5 quarters of cussing and chucking the remote they manage to somehow climb back in to tease you. I have no idea what to say about this game other than we can play up or down to any team...and maybe that is the one bit of consistency we have. Hopefully Leavitt can at least act classy after this one.

[BasketBull]

Fun game --horrible on my stomach, worse on my Bulls' heart. Our guys hung tough but just too many mistakes. I bet we now have more turnovers than TDs, maybe.

I still love this team. GO BULLS!

Btw,that Cincy coach is a jerk. Any coach that yells at his players for every bad play is without class. He even yelled at his coaching staff when one of their guys caused a penalty.

[Dan]

Pathetic. Good thing we are already bowl eligible. I think Grothe just got intercepted again and the game has been over for 20 mins.

[Ari]

Grothe is terrible

The play calling is terrible.

The recievers drop pass after pass.

Our special teams is comical

We are just an awful team. Our fan base is pathetic. I sat in the first row of the upper deck for the first half and I think I could see half the stadium leaving for the parking lot at halftime. What a joke. Then I move down to section 200 and its like a party with a football game that happens to be going on. Nobody is watching the game, people stading in the freakin isles.

To continue my rant... somebody needs to get the word to Gregory that a hitch route on 3rd and one is a TERRIBLE call when you have the most mobile QB in the big east.

Our special teams could be the worst in the country. CJL should be embarrased to have his name on that section of the squad.

[Luis]

USF's a decent enough team, but hardly a world-beater, and that No. 2 ranking looks more ridiculous with every passing game.

[Ryan]

Sorry about your luck Bulls fans. As a Gator, I won't get nasty like some of you do on UF's blogs. Just remember that your team is still ahead of FSU and Miami. Despite the last three weeks this season still is memorable for achieving some first evers for the program. #2 may seem like forever ago, but it proves that USF is close to a top tier program. Don't get down on Grothe and don't get down on the coaches. If the fans can continue their strong support during this tough stretch that will separate you all from teams like Miami who come and go depending on their season's success.

Good luck the rest of the way!

[Ari]

Don't get down on Grothe huh???

Dude has thrown TWO pick sixes in two weeks.

The guy has 6 ints and two fumbles in 8 quarters.

Two of his Int's were inside our own 10 yard line and picked off in the endzone..

Last time I saw a QB throw more Ints was Trent Dilfer.

[Ari]

You wanna see a well coached team..??

Watch Uconn.

They don't turn it over. They keep it simple.

Guy at Uconn makes them look like the Lakers and USF like the Clippers.

[Jason]

Ryan has a good perspective...although there were some Gator fans mouthing off on here earlier. All teams have their dufus fans. Its been a crazy season and this wouldn't sting so bad if it hadn't been so good early on. Hopefully, the spotlight they were under early on will get us a WR or two that can actually catch a ball. The bandwagon fans are very frustrating, but at least USF will be on their radar next year. That's all part of building the base. Honestly, I was impressed by how much of the crowd stayed given the way the team played.

www.firegreggregory.com

[Jason]

Ari...do you remember the past few years with Julmiste? I'm just saying. Grothe can make a ton of mistakes, but the kid has a huge up side. He is getting no help from his receivers, the line is beat up, and I am still trying to figure out where the running game went. Its frustrating to watch, more so if you are there I would imagine. I would take Grothe over anyone else in the Big East this side of Louisville. And he is still a Sophomore.

[J]

Grothe had a bad game, but how much worse would it have been without him. Can you imagine Julmiste out there?

And Jason is right - the blame can't go to Grothe alone. They were behind all game, there is no running game, receivers can't catch the ball, and Grothe is running for his life on each play.

The fact that we had TWO chances at the end of the game to win with a -6 turnover differential has to tell you something about the team. There is talent there, but discipline is a huge question mark.

[Ari]

Grothe has had two pick sixes in two weeks.

Two passes picked off inside the ten and two fumbles recovered by the other team.

I haven't seen a QB turn the ball ove more than he has in the last two weeks.

[Capt Obvious]

WAAHHHHHHhhhhHhhhhhhhh...Elite 3....bwahahahahah

[VOR]

Does the BE have the worst refs or what?
Holding by Cinn all day long. No calls.

[Ari]

The refs don't matter when your turn the ball over 8 times.

Unreal. Grothe single handily turned the ball over FIVE times. 4 ints and a fumble. What a joek.

I didn't think it was possible to turn the ball over 8 times.

At times it didn't even seem like we punt it. We either score or turn it over. It was like fumbling or throwing Ints was our way giving the ball up.

I still can't believe the stupid pass grothe threw in the first quarter that was intercepted in the endzone. Then you have that stupid fumble by Taylor and the muffed punt.

a pathetic effort.

[steve oneal]

What's Grothe supposed to do with no line in front of him and receivers dropping balls? Am I mad? Hell yea I'm upset. I will still be there next home game and I'm still a BULLS fan.Ryan, nice perspective on the game. And it is a game. The season isn't over yet and we can still finish with a better record than last year. The coaches have to get this team focused on the next game and forget this one, it's over and nothing will change the outcome. And I don't care if it's Birmingham again, I will be there. GO BULLS!!

[Buck]

Tebow or Grothe? Um, did you get your wake-up call today Bulls fans????
http://www.gatoralert.com/component/option,com_myblog/show,Grothe-vs.-Tebow-revisted.html/Itemid,/

[GoBulls]

What a disappointment. I hope that jackass Leavitt (there I finally said it) treats the media with a little respect and dignity this time, rather than embarassing himself and the University any further with the previously reported nonsense.

[Ari]

You can't be considered a quality team if you can't run the football.

Thats the real problem. You got grothe throwing the ball 51 times. That isn't going to work.

[James]

My fiance and family were at the game, and everyone around said the same thing, it was a strange game. We came out with the special teams play, then POOF! Did anyone else think that first quarter was the longest quarter ever?

We did not play a good game. The turnover on the punt, going right into the Bearcats player summed up the whole game.

The refs did have some very interesting explaintions for the calls.

As a aluminus, still Love the BULLS! But we got to get back to basics. I still think we can pull off 9-3.

[steve oneal]

You need an offensive line to run the ball. We need more depth to overcome injuries that you are bound to occur during the season. We will see what this team is made of, if they can regroup and finish season strong, or dwell on these losses and struggle the rest of season. They need to get it together now or we won't have to worry about any bowl game. GO BULLS!

[Ari]

Looking back, I have no idea how we beat Auburn.

no clue. I remember Ford having a little succes running the ball in that game, but still -- i have no clue how we were able to beat that team at Auburn.

its like night and day now.

[Adam]

All you people down on Grothe, were you at the game? I don't know how the TV looked, but two picks were thrown to Courtney Denson who looked like he had no clue what route he was supposed to be running all night. One was a clear PI on Hester. The last one was on Grothe, he didn't see the defender.

GG runs Matt so much that he is exhausted by the time he is having to try and bring us back at the end of the game. The fumble was bad, but why is our QB the only one that can run.

Greg, Couple of questions...

1. How did we come out with injuries? Seemed like there were a lot of them. Jenkins gave us all a huge scare, looked like Selvie tweaked something, Bogan (who is a stud receiver)??? Rough game.

2. Was Ford sat in the first have for dicipline or just waiting to get his pretty solid fall forward type running in the second half?

Great game for those that left early, wish we could have gotten the 2 point conversion, game was ours if we did. Also, Jenks was too fast for his own good on the on-side kick (great kick by Teachey by the way).

Score was 31-14 after the first quarter, they scored 1 TD on a trick play after that. Pretty proud to be a Bull right now. The last three games have been disappointing, but this program is going to be scary good real soon.

We need to plan on bad refs, run the ball better, and not cough it up so much. Marcus has done a pretty good job all year, but he has looked pretty shaky on several fair catches, caught up with us tonight (even though they didn't score, we needed the time).

Sorry, I am writing more than Greg did today, but anyone who thinks it is good that Amarri wasn't there is crazy. We 100% need his leadership on our offense.

[cee]

what a damn joke this program has become.. unranked, then the media gives us a ranking, and then jim leavitt CHOKES it away with 3 consecutive conference losses.. tonight was the deathblow to our conference title hopes..

.. all because of JIM's stupid gameplanning. ya, let's keep running the ball with a WALK ON. that doesn't work? let's just throw interceptions to the team that thrives on capitalizing off of turnovers. notice how in the past 3 weeks, we have gotten NO pressure on QB's? yea, that's jim's fault for bad playcalling.. it's called a BLITZ jim, try using it.

i like how we were down by over 20 pts in the 3rd quarter and we pissed the time away by running the ball.. although i do think mike ford is better than any WALK ON, how about we try running with him in the 1st half?

Jim, you have lost complete credibility in only 3 weeks [if you even had any to begin with]. with you running around like a madman with no composure, coaches like randy edsall, who have a FRACTION of the resources that we have in terms of local recruits, are getting the job done.

[Ari]

I still wonder if it is possible for Matt Grothe to turn the ball over more then he has.

I am glad basketball season starts on Friday. Expectations are nice and low -- and life can get back to normal..

i am tired of thinking that this is a good football team. we are average at best

[Ari]

And let me make post #14 for me on this thread.

USF needs to just pick a stupid running back. If it is williams -- then it is williams. If we are going to go with Mike Ford -- then go with Mike Ford.

But this rotating backs doesn't do crap. The RB can't get a feel going. It is just nonsense.

And please -- take that inside draw play that USF runs for the shotgun and just burn it. The play only works when grothe runs the misdirection -- but that is only about 3 times. The other 15 times - I bet it averages 1 yard a play. I can't remember the last time a RB gained more than 5 yards on that stupid play.

[cee]

Ari, "average at best" is an overstatement.. if you look back at some of my other comments of the past, i've known this was coming from a mile away.. we just do not have the talent on the field or the coaching. we are a bad program, and the architect (leavitt) has constructed us to become a house of cards.. sure, it looked pretty to all the USF kool-aid drinkers who follow this guy like a cult leader, but anyone with any kind of football knowledge could see our deficiencies. leavitt underrecruits the state of florida (the best state for college football recruits) and on top of that, he coaches them up improperly.

our team consistently lacks discipline the way we commit penalties and the way we get faked out by trick plays (like the fake punt and FG against rutgers and the fake punt against cincy). leavitt needs to do a better job of getting the guys at least in the position not to get faked out. then again, it's hard to coach up a recruit when they lack talent and are only 1 or 2-star athletes.

another coaching deficiency is in how leavitt plays favorites. we do not have much talent on our team as is, but it's the kiss of death the way leavitt plays favorites, despite how BAD they really are (i.e.- playing a WALK ON, over a decently touted transfer at RB)

[Ari]

By the way... On the fake punt. I was watching from my seat and that wasn't a fake punt. That punt was going to be blocked and the punter just ran the ball. You could see it clearly from my section. USF had 3 guys that were going to murder that punter and he just steped up and ran rather than have his punt blocked.

Those people pis*ing on Mike Ford: he was in the freaking hospital with bruised ribs; that he was even in there shows his dedication and desparation on the coaching staff

[cee]

ya, desperation because of their crappy playcalling and recruiting....

[Windbane]

Ari, you can overreact to a loss all you want. Cee, you can claim you knew this was coming when you thought we'd lose every game this season.

We could have easily won the last 3 games. Obviously, we've made too many mistakes, but we've lost by 3, 7, and 5 points despite mistakes.

Ari, Grothe is our QB so you might want to get over the INTs. Btw, that pick-6 in the last game was off a tip. One in this game was a non-PI call (the first of 2 crucial ones). But hey, setting USF's passing record and still running for 75 yards is terrible.

I wonder how many teams have won despite 8 turnovers. I would have liked that Sportscenter stat if we make that 2-point conversion, or not barely miss a catch with 2 seconds to go, or get a PI call on the last play.

This is a disappointing season. We should be able to go 4-3 for the 3rd time in the Big East, but we clearly had the chance to win these 3 games. Overreacting is not necessary.

I think we should have a contest to think about who "cee" is:
My idea: about 80 years old, alone, bitter about everything, and pretending to know something about football. Of course, I have to give him that he know how to use the computer.

[steve oneal]

cee, you say cjl doesn't recruit florida. I thought most of our players are from florida. I just don't get why you hate this team so much. Is there ANYTHING positive about our team or what?

cee is just an attention grabber; ignore her.

[Ari]

The Int that he threw inside the 10 when we were down 31-14 was horrible.

I am not anti-grothe because he is pretty much all we have -- but that Int was so horrid. Just terrible.

[cee]

steve, i said he under-recruits the state of florida because he recruits 1 and 2 star athletes from the state of florida when there are 4 and 5 star recruits all the way from pensacola to key west. not being able to land a handful of these recruits is like not being able to hit the ocean with a rock. the man just simply can't do his job.. he's stuck in 1AA, where 1 and 2 star recruits reign supreme.

as i have said from the beginning, we need a 1-A BCS coach in here who can recruit and create a sound gameplan.. neither of which leavitt can do.

[Reality]

So does Texas A&M still bother going after Leavitt?

[staindnlinkinn]

listen ari i don't know who u are but you suck Matt Grothe will win his heisman in his four years at usf if he decides to stay....the guy is carrying our football team and he has continue to do so since last season.... last season he did it all the way... it was because of him last season they made it to a bowl game and if they make the pizza bowl it will be because of him again....he deserves a lot of credit and jim leavitt knows it that's why he quoted saying i will stick with him forever..... the guy is amazing i have never seen a better quarterback now if they could get him some wr's that can catch the ball then the games would be amazing and maybe even blow outs i have watched every single game through the season to this point and every game i have seen the wr's dropping balls that were thrown right at their chest especially in the end zone.... I stick with you Grothe i just hope they find u better receivers for next year.... and i posted the last loss they should take mike jenkins and put him in on plays like that to catch the ball i know he or trae williams would have caught the ball and yes i'm for taking the idiot play calling offensive line coach grant gregory off our coaching staff.... his plays are see through it's pretty bad when the announcers say yep they are going with a naked boot leg..........

[Tad]

The problem with injuries is not the lack of depth, but b/c of the inexperiance behind the senior players. Look at when Jackson and Johnson got injured. Who filled in? One Redshirt and one true freshmen. Throw in a Sophmore QB and 2/3 RB are freshmen, and you can see the problem with the offense.

[Chris]

What a bunch of whiny fans! We are 6 - 3 with three very tough, very close, losses. Two of those were on the road and the loss at home included one of the most uncharacteristic quarters of football I have ever seen at USF. Get over the tough losses and move on. We will be in a bowl game and if any of you are true fans you will pack your crap up and go to the bowl game with the rest of us!

[Herman]

From National Championship to the Oil Change Bowl or the Hungry Howies Cajun Crust Bowl....can't wait to see our bowl game in the lovely state of Arkansas. Terribly coached team all around. The wheels are falling off the wagon, the bandwagon fans dont even watcht the game, they stand around the pirate ship glancing at the jumbtron once ever 10 minutes.

Grothe is 90% of our offense and he is 90% of our turnovers. He has been doing this for 2 years now. people in the crowd were yelling to bench him. If we were to play Auburn or West Virginia the next 2 weeks, we would get SPANKED. What a false hope of a season. I knew with our offense and special teams we would lose games. but you cant say that on the message boards because the koolaid fans twinkle their panties. Way to go USF, right back down to reality of who we really are. I love the emails i am getting from friends across the country. They sum up all, told you so, overhyped, overrated, fluke beginning season, etc. etc. They are all right.

Im with Ari, cant wait for basketball season, low expectations and back to normal.

[steve oneal]

Cee, would you agree it is easier for established programs with winning traditions to recruit the better athletes than a program just starting out with no history or tradition or more importantly less tv exposure? That is what cjl was up against and it seems to be getting better. Now, if cjl does not recruit better athletes with us being in a bcs conference and the fact we get a lot more tv coverage now, then I will agree that he can't recruit well in florida. There are no more excuses. We have a new athletic facility, great stadium, BCS conference, nice city, and the school is also upgrading facilities on campus for all students. We should expect to be able to recruit better student/athletes now. I thought at the beginning of the season if we could get past Auburn that we could have avery good season. I am very dissapointed with the last 3 weeks and I'm afraid that if the players don't forget these losses and regroup immediately the next 3 weeks won't be much better than the last 3. I will still cheer on the Bulls and not give up or lower my expectations.(btw, with the hiring of coach Heath and time, my expectations have risen for the bb program). GO BULLS!!