'Pretty disgusting': Bulls edge FIU 17-9

Here's the game story from Sunday's paper. Lots more to come ...

MIAMI – For the past two years, Florida International has been generally regarded as the worst team in Division I-A football, losing 25 of 26 games entering Saturday’s game with No. 12 USF.

The Bulls, 28-point favorites coming in, were almost as bad Saturday night, struggling near the goal line and giving up another fourth-quarter collapse that had the Panthers attempting an onsides kick in the final minute. The Bulls hung on for a 17-9 win, but coach Jim Leavitt wasn’t excited about much.

"We played about as bad as we can play. I really don’t see how we could play worse," Leavitt said. "We won a ballgame, but we’re not real happy about it. It was pretty disgusting. … We made every mistake you could possibly make."

After seeing 14-point fourth-quarter leads disappear in wins against Central Florida and Kansas, the Bulls nearly did it again. Leading 17-0 with three minutes to play, USF allowed a punt to be downed on the 2-yard line, and after two false starts, saw running back Mike Ford tackled in the end zone for a safety.

The defense, having held FIU to 79 yards in three scoreless quarters, then gave up a 61-yard pass to the 2-yard line, setting up a touchdown with 53 seconds left. FIU’s onsides kick was recovered by safety Nate Allen to thwart the rally.

"We just messed around the whole game," Leavitt said. "There’s no excuses. If we want to be a real good team, we need to find a way to change. … To play a team like this and not just move through it, it’s embarrassing, to be honest with you."

The scoreboard was never as frightening as what USF faced in the third quarter, when linebacker Brouce Mompremier collided with a teammate and lay motionless at midfield. After several minutes, he was taken off the field in an ambulance and taken by helicopter to a local hospital, where he was in stable condition, with full movement in his arms and legs.

On a night when FIU’s fans didn’t have much to cheer about, awkwardly half-filling FIU Stadium for its grand opening, they found a certain joy in having given the Bulls a scare. “Overrated,” the fans chanted, and USF’s players said they have to play better to earn their national ranking.

"We moved the ball well all night, but when we got into the red zone where it mattered, we couldn’t punch it in," said Grothe, who went 14-for-22 for 136 yards after back-to-back 300-yard efforts in his previous two games. "I thought we were (ready), but apparently not."

USF’s offense got just 10 points from its first four trips inside the FIU 10-yard line, with a field goal blocked and Grothe stopped on fourth down from the 1.

"A lot of the mistakes we made were self-inflicted wounds," tackle Ryan Schmidt said. "We were inside the 10-yard line (four) times in the first half and only scored twice, one a field goal? That’s just not acceptable for us. We’re much better than that. We didn’t even get it from the 1-foot line. We got stopped. We’ve got four senior guys (on the line) so that’s not what we’re looking for."

In the first half, USF outgained FIU 216-40, but the Panthers outgained the Bulls 149-102 in the second half. The Bulls’ defense, while stingy, forced just one turnover, giving them three takeaways in four games, among the lowest totals in the nation.

So while the Bulls are pleased to be 4-0, there’s little else to be pleased about, especially with a road trip ahead to N.C. State, which upset No. 15 East Carolina in overtime Saturday.

"It's a wake-up call," Schmidt said. "It's a good thing we got a W, but it's not something we want to do every week."

Comments

[Chris]

People are finally agreeing with what i have been saying all along...Leavitt was a great program builder...but not so great on the sidelines...time to make the move upstairs and get a real coach while USF is still the golden child of the polls. Another bust like last year and it will be too late!

[Ernie]

This has got to be the worst coaching staff in Div I!! We have great athletes that constantly underperform. NO reason why we shouldn't be blowing out these teams, instead of fighting for dear life! How many points have we given up in the last 5 minutes of the games this year? Note to Leavitt: The game last FOUR quarters (60 minutes) Incredibly inept coaching!

[LMLB]

I agree with those about the play calling. This has got to change. When even the boys know the plays called are wrong............ that tells you something.
How long do we have to wait to get rid of Gregory. This isn't the first game that we were left scratching our head wondering, WHY DID THEY RUN THAT PLAY!
When you are 3rd and 19 (?) why on earth would we send Grothe on a run play. Makes NO SENSE! And it was calls like that, that almost killed us.
But don't count us out until we have actually lost a game. A WIN is a WIN!
I'll take it UGLY and all!

I agree with Matt. If Leavitt keeps building these inferior teams up, then we are going to keep playing at their level.

[RR]

I thought this team was different, but it appears that may have been wishful thinking.

Barely beating the WORST team in the country, you can bet that was the ONLY team in the country we could have beaten last night! Syracuse would have steamrolled us last night!

Get it together, guys!

[Windbane]

matt, he says the same things about every team we play, including TN-Martin this year.

I think it was more the play calling and execution more than anything. We can't have a power running game when our good RBs fumble, either.

[Matt]

What does Leavitt expect of his team when all week he has been telling his team they aren't good enough to blow this team out. All week he said this was going to be a tough game and that it was going to be close. I think the team really listens to him, thats why they play well when he shows confidence in them and play poorly when he doesn't. This has been the case for the past few years. He needs to coach lights out everygame. It's OK to have some confidence and show that in games like this. Instead he shows his fear and coaches to NOT LOSE, versus coaching to win. He needs to coach as hard and strong as he wants his players to play.

Yeah... something needs to change. There was over 6 minutes left when Gregory called a run up the middle followed by two straight designed qb draws. Its not like we took our time in between either like we were trying to run the clock down. All night it was horrible. Anyone could have stopped us on the goalline, he did the same crap every time. Motion the tight end and try to run behind him. They would see it and blow it up. Serious gut check here. Fix it and lets go!! We are way too damn good for this.

[paul]

USF will not go the distance this year against teams like NC State and UConn. Kansas was a fluke. Look for them to end the season 8-4 or worse.

The current undefeated record is temporary. I think we all know that.

Maybe you can ask the OC why they didnt throw any intermediate passes all night? Isn't that what worked so well against Kansas? So that means we should run it 50 times. Good call.

There are players on this team that have the killer instinct. I dont think the coaches have it, sadly.

[BC]

So what are the odds the media makes a national story out of FIU's students chanting "Bullsh*t!" while Mompremier was down on the field? Or do we have to mass email their athletic department to make that happen?

[MAL]

Like I said after the UCF game, USF lacks the killer instinct a great team needs to be successful. Anymore lackadaisical performances like that and we can kiss the Big East title goodbye again.

Regardless of USF's performance (or lack thereof), hopefully Mompremier makes a full recovery.

[USFMikeB]

A horrible win, but a win nonetheless. Hopefully, our whole team, coaches included, learn from today. More importantly, hopefully Mompremier is okay.

[Don Corleone]

As ugly as it was, half the teams that played today wish they could have won just as ugly.