USF-FIU: Ten quick thoughts ...

I'm here in Naples, which I picked as a halfway point home -- didn't want to drive all the way back, didn't want to have to drive all the way in the morning. Still hoping I can find a pair of tickets for the Rays game so my 5-year-old can run around the bases after their last home game ... of the regular season.

-- Can't say enough about Brouce Mompremier and what he means to this team. He and Carlton Williams are two of the biggest leaders on this team, fifth-year seniors who came in during the Conference USA days and have seen it all. My recorder's batteries just ran out, so I can't get you the great quotes from his teammates and coaches -- I'll add them Sunday. Tyrone McKenzie recalled how much Mompremier taught him last season, said he cried for a second thinking that something serious might have happened to his friend. This was a proud homecoming for Mompremier, who played at Miami Edison and had lots of family on hand. The word from USF was very encouraging Saturday night -- a night in the hospital, mostly as a precaution, with lots of tests on his neck to make sure everything is OK. We'll keep you posted ...

-- I think USF will take a hit in the polls as a result of such a lackluster final score: 17-9 is just unimpressive from No. 12. Will No. 10 Auburn fall below USF for a close loss to No. 6 LSU? Probably. But I bet No. 13 Ohio State leapfrogs them, and No. 14 BYU, having outscored UCLA and Wyoming 103-0 in the past two weeks, could jump them, too. No. 16 Penn State, who beat Temple 45-3, could even move ahead. Again, last week I thought USF should have moved up two spots to No. 17, so this isn't that huge a deal either way ...

-- There's a ton to say about the offense, especially in the red zone, but fans shouldn't be too hard on USF's defense. FIU didn't cross USF's 35-yard line until 8:54 was left in the game, and the defense essentially gave up one big play, and that was in the final two minutes. Again, especially considering the way they've finished the last two games, it's not the way fans want to see the game end. In the last three games, USF has given up more points in the fourth quarter -- 37 -- than they have in the rest of the games combined (30).

-- I wouldn't be surprised if you see a change on punt returns. Marcus Edwards hasn't done much since his record-breaking game in the opener. FIU had eight punts, and USF totaled 12 yards returning them. There were three downed inside the 20, including two Edwards simply let go past him rather than attempt a difficult catch. The safety with two minutes left? If Edwards doesn't let the punt past him to be downed on the 1-yard line, it's not an issue. I thought the special-teams kick coverage was solid, both on punts and kickoffs.

-- With the exception of Jamar Taylor on one third-quarter drive -- 51 yards on six carries -- it wasn't a good night for USF's running backs. The rest of their night adds up to 32 carries for 85 yards. Taylor loses a fumble on the opening drive. Next drive, Richard Kelly has runs of 8 and 10 yards, but fumbles, recovering the ball himself -- he didn't get another carry rest of the night. Two carries after Kelly's fumble, Mo Plancher gets popped at the 2-yard line, but officials rule his forward progress had stopped before he fumbled -- he only got two more carries from there.

-- That leads me to this: Mike Ford isn't his old self. He had two crucial touchdown runs, yes, but his final numbers are 14 carries for 24 yards, with no run longer than 6 yards. He's a guy USF needs healthy, especially in short-yardage situations. Twice in the third quarter, he was stopped short on third-and-1. The latter I just don't get: Taylor runs six straight plays, gaining 13, 19, 5, 8, 1 and 5 yards ... and then USF lets Ford try to finish the drive, with no luck. On fourth-and-1, with three backs in the backfield, they go for a Grothe keeper that comes up short. I'll have quotes from Greg Gregory when I get home.

--  Is Rutgers really 0-3? Did the Knights really lose to a Navy team that had lost to Duke and Ball State? After Morgan State this week, Rutgers opens Big East play at West Virginia, then at Cincinnati, which could easily have them 1-5, with Connecticut and trips to USF and Pittsburgh still on the schedule. Pittsburgh got a solid win against Iowa, but the Panthers' rush defense still looks suspect.

-- I'm going to have to do some research on the defensive line this week: FIU had given up nine sacks in two games, the most of any team in the country, and USF can only muster one sack? Yes, FIU only passed the ball 21 times, and George Selvie was sidelined with an ankle injury. The Panthers shouldn't have more sacks than USF does, whatever the score is. And for all the turnovers forced last season, the Bulls have three takeaways in four games -- they're not good enough to keep winning without short fields and/or a defensive touchdown now and then ...

-- I wrote a feature on USF receiver Taurus Johnson, and one thing receivers coach Mike Canales talked about was the need for Johnson to be consistent, to not disappear and become a non-factor in games. Johnson had two catches for a total of minus-4 yards against a defense that had allowed 82 points in its first two games. The receivers as a whole were nearly absent after the first quarter -- Grothe went 6-for-9 for 88 yards in the first, then 8-for-13 for 48 yards the rest of the game. It's not like the game was out of hand where you'd want to stop throwing the ball ...

-- If that 8-for-13 for 48 seems unimpressive, how about 8-for-13 for 46 yards? That's what FIU's Paul McCall threw for in three-plus quarters, while rushing eight times for 15 yards. The Panthers seemed to pick up a step when Wayne Younger came in -- he converted a fourth-and-1 and third-and-1 on his first drive, which led to a missed field goal, then converted another fourth-and-1 on the next drive, then had the 61-yard pass to set up the touchdown. I'd play Younger more if I were FIU ...

Comments

[I've been saying...]

You guys keep saying "I've been saying all along blah blah blah". To who? Your wife, your buddy, the pizza delivery guy. No one cares or pays attention to your posts to know what you have been saying.

at least you are important in your own world at your one man party.

[Windbane]

The fact is that very few 1-A teams have special teams coaches. Most schools, like us, share the work among a lot of different coaches. All we need are a few adjustments, really. Block better on FGs and change punt returners (give Theo Wilson more than 2 chances).

Well I think it is early to predict a shake-up on the staff at the end of the season. Leavitt has not been known to fire assistants. I do wonder why he picked the current hires for d-line. They just didn't bring a whole lot of experience for this level of competition, in my opinion. As far as special teams, I would take a guess that Leavitt feels like he is adequate at performing in that capacity. I think if someone else were coaching Special Teams with the same performance, or lack thereof, he would have made a change.

[Dr. Rob Ritter]

I think the issue of a special teams coach would have been better solved after McCarney (Who we miss more than you know) left. We replaced him with 2 coaches. We would have been better off with 1 defensive line coach and a separate special teams coach. Only way to address it is years end is hope 1 leaves or is let go. Now we know how much McCarney did, how much he coached and got involved. Next issue would be replacing our offensive co-ordinator with Canales who is already on staff and ready to go. He can pick defenses apart. There is going to be an opportunity at the end of the year. Do not be surprised when it happens. Then the distortion field will be released on us and we will be made to believe that these coaches left on their own volition. There will be a coaching shake up. Unfortunately, it will be a year to late.

[Windbane]

Accountability: Just who would you suggest we fire to get a special teams coach?

[Accountability]

Ditto to Dr. RR; We always play up or down to the level of our opponent. I've been saying that for a few years now. That will cost us big sooner or later.

Again, as I have said before; (1)let's get a Special Teams Coach and (2)let's find some consistency on offense.

I am still hoping that this could be our year to win the Big East, but I AM WORRIED.

GO BULLS!!!

[Bullerz]

Greg,
Please don't ever tell us that the game should be over at halftime. You said that on one of your comments last week about FIU. I hold your opinion much higher than the message board people. Especially since you were right about UTM.

Mike Ford should not have played this game but apparently we needed him. Our RBs had a bad case of fumbilitis.

[Eric Cullison]

I dont think that you can blame the players THAT much on this game. When you look at it we ran probably less than 40 different plays. I dont care who you are playing. When you run stretch right, stretch left, dive right, dive left, qb sneak, screen pass, screen pass left. Its not hard to continue to figure out what we are doing. I love gregory, but his conservative play calling can kill us sometimes.

[Joe]

Was anybody else absolutely terrified of the prospect of having Alvarado be the kicker when Bonani went down on the field goal attempt?

I've never been so worried before, only to have a quick instant replay erase those fears when I saw that there was NO WAY he could have hurt his leg on that play.

Worse than the announcers calling Busbee "Bushy" was when Mompremier went down. The first like 8 or 9 times they mentioned his name they were calling him "Browce." Finally someone corrected them and they started to say it correctly. Here's hoping he's ok

[Ari Hinkelberger]

The Hinkelberger would like to see the following things:

Lets pick a freakin running back. I think Taylor is probably the go to guy right now.

Lets run Grothe more. Guy hasn't used his feet nearly as much as he did last year. He is dangerous when he is on the run.

Lets do something about the stupid place kicking. Never seen a team in two years have more blocked field goals. I bet 1 out of every 6 field goals gets blocked.

Other then that, this game wasn't close. They had like 70 total yards through 3 quarters. We fumbled the ball at the one yard line. We missed a QB sneak at the 1 yard line. I am not worried about this game. NC State isn't that good either. South Carolina smoked them, and the gamecocks are average at best.

[JG]

I hope they drop in the polls just so they come to play next week. Play like that against NC state and they will get blown out.

[Norb]

The announcers were pretty bad, just made watching the game that much more painful. According to the announcers, we have a running back James Taylor (announcer must have Margaritaville on the mind) and the anouncers repeatedly said USF is not 3-0 after the game was over... last I checked team played 4 games and is undefeated.

[Ernie]

USF has great athletes, and some of the worst coaching I've seen to date! These are some of the most unmotivated guys in Div I! No sense of urgency and lackluster play. I've heard of "taking a play off" from time to time, but our guys take the whole game off! Kiss your #12 ranking goodbye until you learn how to dominate and finish the entire game. Time for a coaches house cleaning to. We need motivators.

[MA]

One other thing that concerns me is the complete lack of motivation that the team has been displaying thus far this season. They were good against UT-Martin, but uninspired against UCF, and for almost the entire first half of the Kansas game, and obviously the entire FIU game. It seems as if they expect to not have to play hard to win. Well, good teams play hard every week regardless of the level of competition. The coaches should have challenged our starters to win this game by half-time so they could sit out the 2nd half.

[702JV]

No need for me to really post anything. Dr. Ritter summed everything up that I was thinking other than one issue. If you watched the game on ESPNU (I am in Las Vegas), the announcers were horrible. One anouncer reffered to Busbee as "Bushee" the entire game. Clearly his broadcast partner, a producer, anyone could have corrected that.

[MA]

Why does our O-line always make the other team's defensive line look like a bunch of studs? I think we have given up more sacks than we have gotten in each of our games. I knew McCarney would be missed on the D-line, but what has happened to our blocking up front? I also like that Grothe is protecting the football better, but it seems he has given up improvising all together. I usually like to see him flushed out of the pocket because he throws so good on the run, but they have taken that away from him this season. I think that will cost us down the road when Big East teams have lots of film to watch of our new approach.

[Rich]

It's time for Leavitt to stop talking up inferior competiton. It's obvious the players don't take it seriously and we end up playing flat. Quit acting like FIU = USC, coach. Time to talk our guys up and tell them we exepect to flatten teams like this. We need a new psychological approach when it comes to these type of games. He can get them up for big games with this approach but it doesn't work against heavy underdogs.

[BullBard]

Hopefully people will consider the four straight weeks of football played by this team before thinking they cared less about this game. Just about every team in the top ten if not the top twenty five have had at least a bye thus far to help recuperate themselves. USF has had three grueling games, two against in-state teams that were inspired and of course the other a higher ranked Kansas. If USF manages to win the next two games to be played within the next thirteen days they will have played six straight weeks without rest and would definitely deserve a top ten spot if not a top five, no matter the score.

Hopefully, the coaching staff can re-instruct the ball carriers on maintaining strong ball possession techniques since FIU's Coach Cristobal pointed out in his post-game radio broadcast that he noticed USF's ball carriers, "are loose with the ball."
If he noticed that so will the rest of our opponents, especially NC State.

At this time we are undefeated and I hope everything is okay with the health of our injured players. Per the Miami Herald, "Mompremier is in stable condition, and can move his arms and legs and has some tingling in his shoulders. " Here's hope to a speedy recovery.

GO BULLS!

[USF_Grouper]

On that 4th-and-goal QB sneak -- any chance Gregory didn't actually know where the ball had been spotted? That was the play that was called a fumble on the field and changed by replay. Two officials on the field who initially looked to be spotting the runner down where putting the ball ~6" from goal line. Replay clearly showed the runner was down about there. Somehow the booth then put the ball at hte one. Just a thought, but I was thinking Gregory must have made that call thinking the ball was spotted properly.

No execuses though... shouldn't even get to 4th down against FIU.

[Dr. Rob Ritter]

Well time for the reality check. I was at the game. First off, the USF crowd was placed in the old section of their stadium. Nice old metal bleachers. Can we once and for all not argue for an on campus stadium. Please as a whole, can we now appreciate the fantastic stadium we play in and just let go of the OCS issue. Now to the game. I have noticed over the last 2 years USF plays to the level of the competition. Their is no denying it. Next, we are as overconfident as a team can be. I understand we are talking about 20 year old men. They think if they show up to play lowly regarded teams that their talent alone will overwhelm the opponent. Wow, it was disgusting coach Leavitt. The offensive line was atrocious, the lack of rhythm in the offense was evident and once again, the play calling was awful. I am shocked to this day that no one else has mentioned it. Am i missing something, did i not get the memo to lay off the offensive co-ordinator? I would say we can't play like this next week or we will get beat, however, we won't because we will play to their level whatever that is. We are the new college edition of the cardiac kids. Be prepared everyone to have nitroglycerin pills ready because it seems that this is the rule, not the exception this year. I will miss my first game of the year next week having been to all of the games this year. Somehow my heart is thanking me!

[RR]

How can you blame Ford??

Did you see the blocking (or lack thereof)??

Emmitt Smith would have had the same sort of numbers.

Pathetic...FOUR SENIORS ON THE O-LINE??

P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C

Either Mike Simmonds isn't coaching these guys well enough, or the staff isn't recruiting the right kind of athlete.

Something MUST change.

[Jerryd]

Where is the excitment among the players. I see them laughing on the sideline but not standing trying to get in the game. Grothe needs to put some freshman enthusiasm in the game, have fun with the game. The coach hasn't tried any trick plays to get everyone going. It is those things that have given USF the spirit to win. Our team needs to not play ball like other teams but have a spirit that brings a unique excitment to the game.... Go Bulls!

[BA]

A win is a win and it's better than a loss. Ugly, you bet. Good teams find ways to win ugly, non-motivating games and this team did that vs. FIU. CJL will have the team ready for NC St. next weekend. This is also the time on the schedule when lots of teams have guys hurting. We are no different. Guys need to step up and fill those vacated spots until the starters can return. This will be a much tougher test than anyone thinks vs. NC St.

Get healthy and let's go after the Wolfpack.

Go Bulls!

[Windbane]

I've been saying for a very long time that Marcus Edwards has little play making ability. I said it after he broke Randolph's record by 1 yard in a game where he got 7 returns and Randolph had 2 TDs called back in his game. There's no comparison with those 2, and that record means nothing.

Moise Plancher DID NOT FUMBLE. The referee did say that his forward progress was stopped, but what he meant is that his entire body was on the ground before the ball came out. The fact that those reviews took so long is ridiculous. It wasn't even close.

This doghouse BS has got to stop. If you fumble a ball, you've got to be upset at yourself and want to make up for it. The coaches need to let people do that. Taylor is the best RB right now and that fumble should not have prevented him from more rushes.

Throwing to Taurus might keep him involved in the game. We needed to throw the ball more. We are good at that.

This game was pathetic if you look at the score, but I don't think we SHOULD drop in the polls. We probably will, but if you compare the resumes of every school, we shouldn't. The Kansas win is worth more than anything Penn State, BYU, OSU, and others have done. It is crucial to not lose spots when it's going to be hard to move up.

Of course, we'll need to play better as well, and these injuries could really suck, but these close games shouldn't deny that we have the 3rd best win in Div 1 so far (USC and now LSU having the other 2, purely based on polls).