Aloha: Lots of catching up to do ...

Sorry for the extended absence from the blog -- my wife and I were in Hawaii for nine days celebrating our 10th anniversary, so I've been out of the loop on all things USF for some time. Catching up now, so we'll have lots of notes in the next day or two to get caught up on loose ends and other things as USF gets ready for Saturday's game against Syracuse ...

-- Monday was the deadline for initial voting for the Lombardi Award, which honors the top lineman/linebacker in college football. This voting is used to name 12 semifinalists for the award, and I don't know that USF defensive end George Selvie, a semifinalist in 2007, will be among those 12. Selvie has been limited by injuries and his numbers are way down from last season, though he's faced consistent double-teams from opposing offenses. I have a ballot in the Lombardi voting, and did not include Selvie among my four nominees.

-- Speaking of awards, USF sophomore Carlton Mitchell is on the Watch List for the Biletnikoff Award, which honors college football's top receiver. I have a Biletnikoff ballot, and the watch list was sent to balloters late last week. Mitchell, who led the Bulls with 37 catches for 537 yards and four touchdowns last season, has had a slow start to his 2008 season, with 11 catches for 131 yards and one score in six games. If there should be a USF player on the list, it might be Jessie Hester, who leads the team with 25 catches and three touchdowns. In A.J. Love, Taurus Johnson and Hester, the Bulls have three of the Big East's top seven receivers in terms of receiving yards.

Florida, for the record, has four players on the Biletnikoff list -- Percy Harvin, Louis Murphy, Cornelius Ingram and Carl Moore -- though Ingram is out for the season with injury. FSU's Greg Carr and Preston Parker are also on the list, as are UCF's Rocky Ross and Kamar Aiken and Florida Atlantic's Cortez Gent and Jason Harmon. (Again, Harmon will miss the entire season with injury, so the list is largely compiled from 2007 stats.)

-- FIU has run off three straight wins since giving USF a scare in Miami last month, most recently a 31-21 win against Middle Tennessee State. The wins are against three teams who are a combined 4-14 this season. ... Speaking of state teams that played the Bulls close, UCF's only win against a I-A opponent is against 1-6 SMU, but the Knights played Miami close, losing 20-14 on the road despite mustering 78 yards of total offense. ... Even Tennessee-Martin, USF's opening opponent, is 5-2, its only loss coming in overtime to Tennessee State ... If you're still wondering about USF's strength of schedule, it'd get a considerable lift if Kansas can fare well at Oklahoma this weekend.

Comments

[GP]

Good trip then Greg?

[cg]

Welcome back. Hope you had a good trip.

[Mike Lakeland]

Glad you're back, Greg. I trust that you and the misses painted Hawaii red in celebration. I'm nine years away from my ten-year (tenure...get it?!?!), and I want to take her to Scotland.

I watched some of the UCF-Miami game. Well, at least enough to see their classy DB Joe Burnett flip off the Hurricane faithful after. What a bum! Of course, O'Leary won't do anything about it, as JB is UCF's only decent thing going.

[G.A.]

Great trip. Lots of snorkeling, hiked across a steaming volcano, beautiful beaches. Didn't check my e-mail or go online for eight days, which you guys can imagine, is a long time for me. So I come home to 827 e-mails ...

[BullScott]

Welcome back Gregg!!

[Kyle]

Welcome back, Greg. You picked the perfect week to go away for a while.

[Brendan]

Welcome back and congrats to both you and your wife.

[G.A.]

Really couldn't have timed it better if I had Leavitt's help. Our anniversary was Oct. 3, and USF's last game was the 2nd -- took an early flight out, stayed nine days and still made it back without missing a game-week practice.

[KB]

Greg,

Great planning on your part.

For you to know 10 years ago that USF would have a bye week on your anniversary and plan your wedding day around it is truly top notch.

Welcome back to the mainland.

[Sarasota Ralph]

Greg,
Hope you enjoyed the islands, and some special time with your wife. Ten years is kind of a magic number around this town. The Bulls started getting noticed after ten years, the Rays are doing the same after ten, and the rest of us, are just happy to be away frm the snow and the cold for that long.

Now, let's make this weekend a nice Homecomng for both of you.

[Eric S]

So that close game against FIU was not a fluke?

I felt that FIU was a better team than anyone gave credit. They will be a force in the Sun Belt in a few years.

They have some playmakers and a energetic young coach. Now if they can get some dedicated fans.....

[Jordan]

Nice to see you back Greg, its been getting ugly around here. Questions...

BJ Daniels- The whole redshirting question. Leavitt seems to know something I dont.

Basketball- Any recruiting news!

[SRQ Steve]

Greg,

Now that you are back, the Orlando Sentinal's Iliana Limon will be able to start writing stories again for the Slantinal.

[Steve O'Neal]

Congratulations and I'm glad you had a great time. We had our 30th last march and I mentioned to the Mrs about a trip to Hawaii. She offered to buy ME a ONE WAY ticket. Glad you're back.

[G.A.]

I'll check on Daniels and will have a basketball update soon ...

[Jordan]

Thanks Greg, hope you had a great time.

[Welcome Back G.A.]

Greg...USF's SOS will take a big hit after Kansas gets abused OU this week...they looked terrible in winning ugly against lowly Colorado

Steve...and you didn't take her up on it??? Now that's sad...lol.

[James Wilson]

I see a repeat for Texas Tech's Michael Crabtree fot the Biletnikoff. He's the best I've seen in a long time and I think he's a redshirt soph. He already has 10 tds with 6 games left. He would look great in pewter and red!

[Ken]

Welcoome back, Greg. Great choice of destination. Which island were you on, or did you move around some?

As you now know, there was quite a discussion about BJD's eligibility for a red-shirt if he doesn't play any more. I recall this was discussed here earlier, and I thought you'd said that he could play in the early games and still red-shirt.

Again, welcome back.

[j-dizzle]

hey greg, i, too was a benefactor of the scheduling this year.. i actually tied the knot on sat the 4th, just got back from honeymoon in antigua yesterday and just got on the blog from work as we speak and was pleased to see i didnt miss much on the blog.. although i must admit i was looking forward to reading 10 days worth of entries as i try to adjust back to the real world, haha. congrats to u and the mrs and im sure it was a good time.. a little vaca is always appreciated