Pitt-fall: Bulls lose 26-21 to unranked Panthers

TAMPA – Maybe USF just wasn’t meant to play football on Thursday nights.

For the second year in a row, the Bulls went into a primetime ESPN Thursday game with an undefeated record and big hopes, only to fall to the same weeknight weakness. This time, the No. 10 Bulls overcame poor play to take a lead with six minutes to play, only give up a quick touchdown and lose 26-21 to an unranked Pittsburgh team.

"We made a lot of mistakes," said USF coach Jim Leavitt, whose team was held to 245 yards of offense – its lowest in nearly two years -- and committed 11 penalties. "We were fortunate to be in the game that close to be quite honest, with all the mistakes we made in this game."

For all their struggles, the Bulls (5-1, 0-1) drove 86 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to take the lead 21-20 with 5:57 to play. Needing a defensive stop to preserve the win, USF instead watched Pittsburgh (4-1, 2-0) need only three plays for the go-ahead touchdown.

"I told the defense when we went out there: This is what we get paid for," said linebacker Tyrone McKenzie, who had a game-high 15 tackles. "This is why we’re a defense, let’s go out and finish this thing. …You don’t work so hard to go out there and just (pee) down your leg. We can’t do that."

The Bulls saw Pitt running back LeSean McCoy rush for 142 yards and two touchdowns, including a 3-yard scoring run with 4:43 left. USF got the ball back twice for a chance to rally, but couldn’t muster a first down the first time, then saw a last-second Hail Mary from midfield fall incomplete as time expired.

USF’s hopes of an undefeated season are now over, and the Bulls will need to regroup to stay in the hunt for a Big East title.

"One of the poorest exhibitions of tackling and coverage I’ve seen in a long time," defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. "We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do if we’re going to get this thing back on track, which I think we will. We’ve got good kids that want to win. We just have to work harder evidently."

USF’s offense, which piled up 353 yards and 31 points in the first half at N.C. State last week, never got going, held to its lowest total yardage since an October 2006 loss at Cincinnati. Twice in the third quarter, after a botched fake punt and a forced fumble, USF took over in Pittsburgh territory and went three-and-out both times.

"We never clicked. We didn’t play well all night," offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said. "We never got in a rhythm, for a number of reasons."

The Bulls hurt themselves with penalties – eight in the first half, where they trailed 17-7 -- and then there was a blocked field goal, a miss on a fake field goal, and giving up a 52-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.

"They came out a little more prepared than us, I think," said Grothe, who was limited to 129 yards passing and 25 rushing. "They looked completely different than what they looked on film. ... It's hard to go undefeated in college football. It's just one game."

Down 20-14 in the fourth quarter, USF found its offense, with running back Mike Ford rushing seven times for 53 yards on one drive. Grothe rolled out to his left, stopped and found receiver Jessie Hester wide-open for a 22-yard touchdown and a 21-20 lead.

As was the case in close wins against Central Florida and Florida International, it appeared the Bulls might absolve themselves for disappointing play by escaping with a narrow win.

But the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, setting up Pitt on its 40-yard line. Stull found receiver Oderick Turner for a 38-yard gain, then McCoy rushed for 19 yards to the 3, setting up his touchdown that silenced a Raymond James Stadium crowd of 50,307.

Last season, the Bulls were 6-0 and ranked No. 2 until they lost 30-27 to an unranked Rutgers team, setting off a three-game losing streak that dropped them out of the polls. USF now has its first bye week of the season, with 16 days before they return to play Oct. 16 at home against Syracuse.

"Nobody's gone through the Big East undefeated (since West Virginia in 2005)," Leavitt said. "We've got to find a way to put it behind us, move forward and get ready to play, use the bye week wisely."

Comments

[RR]

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

Yeah....that's right you wimpy, P.C. Bulls fans...I just booed.

And you know what?

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

[bobbymo]

great job by dave wannstedt and the panthers coaches for coming up with a simple game plan..run, run and run some more.. and the pitt defense can certainly get after it. pitt is starting to gell and the skies the limits for the BIG CATS !!!

[jose]

grothe is not a money player.

leavitt has reached his glass ceiling; he cant pull this team past this point, discipline and focus matter.

[C-Diddy]

I am not putting this on our defense. I don't care if we had the '85 bears D, they can't be on the field THAT long especially with the RBs Pitt has. Every time they stepped up and held them or forced a turnover, the O went 3 and out. They didn't even try to establish the run and we needed to so we could control the clock and the game. Oh, and Delbert managed to stick it to us again when we needed him to do SOMETHING! Very disappointing performance...

[tampafan]

LOL... That was great! I am so sick of the USF fans thinking they are the sh-t!. I never had a problem with USF fans before and use to root for them even though I went to FSU. They are to young to realize that it takes more then a few big wins to say you have an elite program. Granted they are doing great for such a young program and there success is hightened because FSU,UF and UM are down now but when any of those teams were good the only lost to each other or other elite teams. They never lost to crap teams and didn't play down to the competition like USF does consistantly! Great teams get up for the small teams as much as they do the big ones and USF just doesn't do that and they will never be great until they do!

[BullBard]

Six games in six weeks with the last two within five nights is ridiculous and a major factor in USF's performance last night. Craig James and Jesse Palmer made the point repeatedly that the defensive line was weak due to injury.

I got the impression Gregory had a clue how to efficiently attack after our first drive in the second half but for some reason decided to abandon that strategy. He had opportunity to score more points with short fields after two Pitt turnovers but he failed to adjust from their defensive schemes and blitzes.

I believe this team can still win the rest of their games and I know Pitt will lose two Big East games, they are anything but a juggernaut. They caught our team at the right time.

Alvarado, you disgust me with that HORRIBLE kickoff after the offense scored the go ahead touchdown, shame on you.

[Don Corleone]

One thing we found it this game is that there aren’t any really good teams in the Big East. Playing like they did last night USF will lose another game, and Pitt will probably lose two more; if they can lose to Bowling Green at home they can lose to anybody. The BE winner will probably be a tie between a couple of 5-2 teams that are 9-3/10-2 overall. Also, playing six games in less than six weeks has taken its toll with the loss of key starters and some depth. The Bulls will be the most rested team in the second half as they play 6 times over the final 8 weeks. They will probably fall to 18-20th in the polls, and likely move up while being idle next week as a couple of teams will undoubtedly lose in front of them. They will head into the Syracuse game ranked 16th, and woe be the Oranges as they will be squeezed into submission.

[Mike Lakeland]

Sheet! We suck again!

Seriously, that game was straight up AWFUL to watch. We played worse than the FIU game. The crowd stayed more into the game than our players did.

Mike Ford showed some great stuff...we should've been running him all game.

[Dr. Rob Ritter]

Well i am going to say it since no one else ever will say it. I am the smartest guy when it comes to the Bulls. How many times have i said the way to beat the bulls is so painfully obvious. Run the ball right down our throats. No gimmickry, just old fashioned, smash mouth, between the tackles running games. It happened again last night. All opposing BE coaches have to do is emulate this again and again. Now granted, not every team has a shady Mccoy, however, UConn has a back to do this, so does Louisville. maybe even Cin. Watch out Bulls, the hurt is just beginning. I was devastated last night. I woke up thinking it was just a nightmare, now it is a reality.

[Steve O'Neal]

Darn disgusting play and coaching. Way too many 3rd and longs were converted by Pitt. The whole team seemed flat. This was the chance to show up and we fell flat on our faces. I sure hope that we can regroup with the bye week and still make a run at the BE title. I am upset about loss, but I will continue to support the Bulls because I am a FAN. One loss and some of you think the whole season is over. GO BULLS!

[DELdaBULL]

We are now 10-9 when Grothe throws an intercept. Matt please throw it to guys with USF on their chest.
Leavitt, Gregory, and co. please establish Ford EARLY in games so that the play action becomes effective. 6 carries through 3+ quarters is not gonna cut it. In case you have not noticed the kid is special.

[DELdaBULL]

I am still wondering why when the game is on the line Ford is in the game and gets 8 touches for 53 yards in the 4th quarter, but only 6 carries in the first three. As the lil lady says the offense does not play with a sense of urgency to start the game.
GA,
Was the defense on the field for 25 minutes in the first half? It sure felt that way. Someone coach Roberts to turn around!

[The Champ]

Well at least the Dodgers beat the Cubs last night.

Roberts has been getting beat all season long. It's not an effort or preparation problem, because for the most part, he's usually by his man as the WR catches the ball for a huge gain. It's a speed problem, as he seems more suited for the safety position. I'm guessing Washington has blown his assignments in practice a few too many times for the coaches to be comfortable with him in there, because it's obvious Washington has the ability/ speed to compete--even from what little I have seen of him.

[TJ]

Roberts is a 5th year sr without much experience for a reason and it showed tonite.

[kevin]

I have to agree with the horrible bandwaggoning fans...jumping off now that a NC is not in contention. Rediculous. Real fans stay with their teams. However, I also believe that real fans hold their teams accountable when they lose games they should win. The coaches should be held accountable, and should be criticized. Especially since they were ALL outcoached by "Whinestat" and co. Roberts is a horrible DB, but I blame the coaches for 1. coaching that mess, and 2. keeping him in the game
He's a kid though, so stay off his back. Let his coaches take the heat.
Lots of work to do all around. Go Bulls!

[JCM]

3rd and long...oh wait how about another shovel pass for 20 damn yards. Gregory need to get fired and we need a special teams coach now. Were was our defense besides making penalties

[so long fickle fans]

what strikes me as disgusting is the amount of "fans" who criticize players and coaches, you say tyller roberts is to blame but would you do better in his position? Yes he is in no way mike jenkins or trae williams but he is still a college kid playing football and filling their shoes the best he can which is a lot more than some of you have done with your careers or lives. You're all huge fans when we are ranked and all of a sudden coaches when we fall, as I have said before just because you can go 12-0 on PS3 doesn't make you able to call actual college football games. I like UF fans because win or lose they still back their team... 1 loss and you all jump ship it's pathetic

[Ken]

See "undisciplined" showing up frequently in the comments, and it seems right--on D and O. Why? We had the same time to prepare they did--if not more (cause they had to travel to Tampa). With all those penalties, we looked like the Bulls of old (we'd been doing so well earlier in the year).

Why not play Ford the whole game and give him 20-30 carries? Isn't it obvious that he'd the most effective runner we have?

We got to do something about the DBs.

Hopefully, we'll heal in the next two weeks, get our head screwed on properly, and go back to winning. The BE championship isn't gone--if we can run the table and finish 6-1, we're pretty likely to have beaten any other 6-1 teams, and anyone going undefeated seems unlikely.

[Ken]

I used to subscribe to the "play at the level of the competition" theory, but now I'm going for the "odd-even" theory: We can't play two good games in a row. So, we're going to win all the odd numbered games, the rest of the way, finishing the season at 8-4 (or maybe we'll get back to our lucky number, 9-3).

We're just not there yet--really good teams don't go and down so much. Yes, Pitt seemed to have a good game-plan, but they didn't do anything really unusual or unexpected, and we didn't show up. I'm sure we'll be back to put a hurtin' on Syracuse.
That was just so sad. And as badly as we played on both sides of the ball, we were ahead with 5 minutes to play and could easily have won if we'd just held them, and instead they ran our defense off the field (kickoff out of bounds, destroying our momentum and giving them the ball on the 40?!).

[Darth Vader]

Ahh, crap. Another loss to a team with a strong running game. This one hurts more than when I lost the Death Star.

I'm not worried. I feel that after the bye week, we'll come back strong and a conference championship is still within reach. Go Bulls!

[Dave W]

I'll have a pretty scathing entry tomorrow or Saturday, but Ari, you're wrong. The guys who coach Roberts are responsible. The team was flat all night long, Gregory kicked the bucket again, and Burnham showed us his weakness for 1,000 time- strong running backs. If last year wasn't enough, where 3 of 4 losses were directly attributable to Ray Rice, Andre Dixon, and Stewart, then this one should seal the deal. Until we have a 250# MLB (instead of 260# DTs), big RBs will kill us. Plain and simple.

Absolutely pathetic showing (not to mention incredibly embarrasing for me).

[TJ]

I'll begin the grassroots campaign for Q Washington to start over Roberts.

I've lost faith in this team. Every year we start of strong and then choke down the stretch and then wind up in the garbage bowl that no one cares about. I don't think I'm going to waste my time watching or going to anymore games since it's the same thing every year. At least I'm not a Mets fan as well.

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

Wally's defense should be ashamed of their performance...the penalties in the first half alone spelled disaster. The D probably gave 14 points to the Panthers by half time. It will take a lot of luck to win the BEast at this rate.

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I got a reason for the lose.
Tyler Roberts.
Guy is pitiful. Just flat out awful. What a joke. At least with basketball i know we suck, all that happens with USF is that I get my hopes up and we end up in the tire bowl.

Another dog crap season ahead boys and girls.

Just dump Tyler Roberts. Guy is awful

[jose]

tonight was a big night, sarah palin got exposed as a supreme idiot and USF choked again. Big game = USF choke job.

Grothe was too busy shooting animals in his back yard and leavitt cant scream his way to a big game win.

F-ing hiarious!!!!!

HAHAHAH

wait, werent you the ones saying you were gonna go undefeated?

HAHAHA

wait, werent you the ones saying Grothe should win the heisman?

HAHAHA

wait, werent you the ones that were making plans for the national championship?

HAHAHA

[702JV]

The play of our cornerbacks killed us! Great play calling by Pitt. They called timely screens and short passes to take advantage of our over pursuit on defense.

[MAL]

Can't really blame any one thing for the loss, and it really wasn't as close as the final score would lead you to believe. The offense was a no-show for most of the game and the defense just couldn't find a way to get off the field for most of the night. They also continued the season long theme of giving up way too many big passes to wide open receivers.

The season isn't over and we should still be ranked, probably somewhere in the high teens, but the Bulls really need to buckle down and get more consistent play if they want to challenge for the Big East title. Laying an egg on a big Thursday night game in front of all kinds of bowl reps isn't a good way to get a good bowl invitation. The Bulls better figure out a way to stop running backs like McCoy because UConn's Brown will be paying us a visit later on in the season.

[Markos]

great, just frickin' great. right when i get to laugh at the gaytors this happens. that cincy game is looking a lot tougher now