Falling again: Rutgers dominates USF, 31-0

The zero on the scoreboard says a lot, but USF might have been worse Thursday night in a 31-0 loss to Rutgers. It's the first regular-season shutout in the school's 13-year history, so the only question left is this: Was it the worst the Bulls have ever looked?

Was this worse than the 41-7 loss to Pittsburgh last month? Worse than Rutgers' 49-16 win last year? Worse than the Sun Bowl loss to Oregon?

Comments

[USFshould be 1-AA]

Points scored against Rutgers this season:
Army 10
FIU 15
Howard 7
Cinci 47
Pitt 24
UConn 28
U Suck Forever 0, zilch, nada, goose egg, 7 minus 7, 0 x 64, 12 divided by 0, the square root of zero.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!
PATHETIC!!!!!
CHRIS FOWLERS said "USF is not even in the top 75"
LMAO
Nice billboards! funny!
WANNABEEEEEEE

[Dave Glaser]

Offensive line was consistently whipped. Offensive gameplan was a joke. Special teams were worse than pathetic. George Selvie was invisible, again. Jerome Murphy with ANOTHER 15-yarder. What do the coaches see in Kayvon Webster that says he's ready to play at this level as a true freshman? Delbert takes too long to punt the ball. And that's just the start.

Schiano is clearly in the head of USF's staff. RU spied Grothe last year, spied B.J. last night and there was no change in approach from Mike Canales. Does anyone see any more imagination in the play calling now than they did with Greg Gregory? I don't. Win or lose. Looks like the same half-dozen plays.

[nicon 1]

No More Excuses, Levitt and Staff must Go. Thanks for the Start but you got paid , we do not owe you a Job any longer. If the University is asking for our support and Money it is time we got something back for it.I will not be renewing my ticket package until major changes are made.This program has taken nothing but backward steps since 2007. OutCoached, OutPlayed, OUT OF HERE

[Done with the Jim]

Our lack of a strong running attack & suspect special teams is hurting us.

Posted by: Cat | November 12, 2009 at 11:48 PM

*********

Who is at the root of those problems?

[Sage1]

CAT- The point you missed is that if things at USF are so great under CJL then why didn't Wally have Shane come and coach with him at USF to fill the D-Line position that has been fiiled three times in the last three years. The other point is that neither Wally or Dan left for a head coaching or D-coord position respectively that would have been a step up. Also, by your logic you are acknowledging that USF is not up to the same level as Iowa State and obviously Florida. It is time to remove the rose colored glasses.

[Pancho]

Anytime there is betting involved you have to consider that the games are fixed. This is one game that I think was fixed. Stupid penalties and lack of showing by some players. I did not see Selvie once rush the passer like he is capable of. I saw no drive from his legs to try to push defender back or out of the way.

Fixing games is a well-established fact. Not all players/coaches are involved. You only need one person or a few to be involved.

Could one reason be for fixing this game be to make the Big East look stronger than other conferences? Could a decision have been made to pick the team (Cinn) that will represent the conference in the BCS?

If the Bulls win out and Rutgers has a strong finish, you have maybe 5 teams ranked with Cinn in a possible BCS championship game.

[cg]

BJ is a freshman, but he is clearly not a natural leader (he pouts and gets mad at team when they try to build him up). Who is going to teach him how to lead? The head coach who beats his chest and makes faces like a 2-year-old, or the QB coach/OC who clearly hasn't told him you can throw the ball out of bounds.

Leavitt needs to go. I can't handle another year of this, let alone the 5 decades of it that he would give us if he parks here for life.

[Cat]

Sage1, Wally left to go coach with his son at Iowa State. & the other coach you mentioned went to UF. Not exactly an indication of things being so bad at USF under CJL.

[USFshould be 1-AA]

OMG- you guys suck!!!!!!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH
YOU WILL BE LUCKY TO PLAY IN THE MAGIC JACK BOWL! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

31-0 (they should have scored many more points in the first half) against Rutgers!!!!!!!!!!!!
In a half full stadium in New Jersey!
Your coach looks like a clown!
You team looks like a pop warner team!!!!
NICE BILLBOARDS!!!!!!!!!
GO COMMUTER U!!!!!!
LMAO!!!!!!!!!
we see why FSU didn't want BJ Daniels, didn't we? hahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha
OMG, my side hurts from laughing so much, ouch :)
wow, wow, wow U Suck Forever!
Holy Cr@p
Need more stupid JUCO transfers? yes you do hahahahahahahahhahaahahahahaa

[Bull_loney]

Good God this is embarrassing. This team is loaded with quitters and babies. If they do not have a winning conference record, I hope the university has the integrity to decline a bowl invitation--if they even get one. This team totally disgusts me.

[JT]

Take away 3 wins at Syracuse and this USF program is 3-11 on the road in the Big East. Wins at Pitt, W.V. and Rutgers.

Seems like this program is heading in reverse as BJ looks alot like Pat J. Strong arm, good legs, 50% completions on a good day. I hope I'm wrong, and I hope we get some qb competition for him.

Let me know if I'm wrong, but can't Grothe can take a Selmon exemption and get another 2 or 3 years of eligibilty. Just kidding!

[Sage1]

Why do so many assistant coach's come and go here? It is not like they are taking promotions, most of them leave for lateral positions, why is that? The answer is really simple and if you were to ask them candidly off the record I suspect they would say because of the head coach. The word is out on the street that this is not a good place to be as an assistant coach. Why else would a seasoned and successful DC like Wally Burnham leave to go to Iowa State of all places? Oh by the way, if I read the stats correctly, Iowa States defense is one of the best in the Big 12 but widely un-noticed because they play in the North division. Why did Dan McCarney leave after one year to take a lateral position? Why do we see the same vanilla offense regardless of who the OC is? There is only one constant and that is Leavitt. He doesn't allow his coach's to coach to their potential because he too afraid to give them complete control. Here is a good question, when was the last time we saw this team try a fake punt, or field goal try? When was the last time time we saw some actual originality in a play call or a scheme? He will always be out coached, out classed and in the lower half og the Big East standings.

[Cat]

I don't see this game as worse than the Pitt. loss. I guess because of our defensive performance in the first half. Of course they wore down as the game continued but golly it was impressive.

[Cat]

You all know this, but will still remind you that for a young qb to be successful, he needs a supporting cast. It seems BJ is being asked to do to much. Our lack of a strong running attack & suspect special teams is hurting us.

[Jim in Williamsburg - USF '68]

Hey southflbully:
Yes, BJ is a freshman, but so was Rutger's QB....and several others of their star performers.
Frankly, there are several of the high school teams in this neck of the woods that could have beaten the Bulls tonight.

[Sage1]

Once again Leavitt was out coached and out classed. Kelly, Schiano and Wanstad have all dominated Leavitt and Edsel will again in Dec. Yes he has done an admirable job building the program to this point but it is ver very clear he cannot take it to the next level. Yes he is the one responsible because he has final say on the offensive and defensive game plans that are submitted.
As far as the Gruden slant, I think that either Phil Fulmer or Tommy Bowden would be a better fit and be able to take the progeam to the next level faster. Another couple of names would be Charlie Strong and Dan McCarney, not to mention Skip Holtz. I think we all saw that Gruden was not the offensive guru everyone was so quick to annoint him as and you have to question his evaluation of talent, just look at all the draft mistakes he and Bruce Allen made.

So someone please crank up the "www.firejimleavitt.com" website and lets hope the AD has enough balls to do what needs to be done.

[Mr.Fabulous]

oh ver rate ed

[Rick]

BJ can't think fast enough at this level. He won at Syracuse and FSU against below average teams. He played well in one game so far. Even Julmiste had a good game once in a while. USF 1-3 against BCS teams with winning records.

[Cat]

gonna be a long week 'til the Ville game. The agony of defeat lasts longer due to the dang Thurs. night factor.

[fran]

3 years in a row with 4 BE losses (we will lose at Uconn). Sorry if I can't get excited about the St. Pete Bowl again. CJL has clearly peaked, and cannot take this program further. Every coach in the conference save Syracuse routinely outcoaches him in all game facetts. He is a mid-major coach but clearly not up to BCS level and needs to go.

[bulls die hard fan]

I do believe we were out coached but I don't know if you can put it all on Leavitt. In football there are other people that have a much bigger effect on the game than the head coach. Really the head coach might have the least amount of control DURING the game. The players have to perform and the D and O co. need to have good schemes prepared and if they are being exploited, THEY are the ones that need to adapt. We have never had real O or D co. EVER. I feel if anything. Leavitt should at least take a pay cut so he can get a legitimate D and O co. Then if we still see the same result, I will agree that Leavitt needs to go. But until we have that, we have to be thankful for what and how far Leavitt had taken us! Personally, I feel it's not on the players, since I know we have the talent, just do not know how to use it. Which falls on the coaches. If you need an example look at Brian Kelly and what him and his coaches have done. Or an even better comparison would be Patterson at TCU, which is very comparable to us, being in a football state with speed and not one of the big three but producing results. Or maybe Leavitt needs to be more like Bowden and be a CEO. Whatever the answer maybe I just hope something is done. I can't take this every year. Although, we have been lucky to have what has been given in such a short time!

[FHP3]

U - Undisciplined
S - Shoddy Tackling
F - Failures

B - Beaten Down
U - Uninspired
L - Lacking Energy
L - Losers
S - Second Class Coaching

[SJT]

Cannot win Big games with a dumb team. The 2007 team lost some games but still played lot smarter than this for sure. Do we have a special teams coach or is still CJL coaching that as well. Definitely the O-line looked terrible again and its better to go with the backups to see if they can block better

[southflbully]

I think a lot of you have forgotten that BJ is a freshman. He had a bad, ok terrible game. Freshmen are going to do that. You can not place this loss on BJ. You place this on coaching. We were/are the better team, however we do not have the coaching staff in place to prove it. This was EMBARRASSING!!!!!

[Cat]

Not giving up on the Bulls yet. Keep in mind, BJ has started six games & won three of them as a frosh QB. Is there room for improvement? Of course. Defensively there were bright spots tonight. Others say that we packed it in. I saw us hitting hard up 'til the end. Don't enjoy losing but it's not the worst thing that can happen. RU surprised me with how well they played. We didn't lose to a division two team. We have three more games & likely a bowl game afterward. Calling for CJL's head isn't necessary.

[Jim in Williamsburg - USF '68]

What an embarassment!
Totally inept coaching. Totally inept players.
Perhaps it's time to find a new direction. Mayhaps Schiano, Wannstadt or Kelly would consider an offer?
If not, maybe it's time to consider the directive of USF's first president, John Allen: "This university will have a football team over my dead body."
Consider this: Allen is dead and we still don't have a football team. At least one that knows what it's doing.

[cg]

It would take a miracle for CJL to get fired. Contract, weak admin (oh, we just would never have had anything without you Jim!) and no money.

Let's face it, as fans of college football in Florida, we expect programs to want more. That's not happening here.

[Done with the Jim]

Out coached!
Out played!
Over run!
Over paid!

[USF95]

Fire Leavitt and make Gruden an offer. His family lives in Tampa and he wants to keep his home in Tampa. The guy has a Super Bowl. You imagine what a great recruiter he would be. He was a solid NFL coach that was given nothing by the Glazers after they decided to stop spending money on the team after they bought Manchester United. Pete Carroll was an absolutely awful NFL coach but great college coach. Spurrier was an awful NFL coach. Gruden would do a sensational job at USF and finally bring elite talent in and quality assistants. Money? USF is paying Leavitt now what Gruden was making in Oakland as an NFL head coach. What is being close to home worth to him and being close to his family? The same could be said about Dungy. It's worth a try because we are going nowhere with Leavitt.

[FHP3]

The Jekyll & Hyde Bulls strike again!! USF shouldn't schedule another Thursday night ESPN game until after they've won their 1st Big East Title!! Can you say.....welcome to The St. Petersburg Bowl again!!

[Powerage]

After this game, Rutgers should be in the top 25. A good high school team could probably beat USF.

[cg]

Hey Rick, put in the legwork and give us a paypal account or something.

It's kind of full circle. I was on the ledge with him during the Meineke Bowl, but the team SURVIVED enough big games that I held back. It's fitting that an even more embarrassing shut out is what plants me firmly in the LEAVITT MUST GO category. (was pretty much there already, just not vocal)

[oldgreengold]

This was absolutely, without a doubt, the most pathetic, inept, "football" that I have ever seen played by any team I've watched in my entire life. I just don't get it. Period.

[Rick]

Who wants to pitch-in for a 'FIRE LEAVITT!' billboard? An inexpensive one, just black letters on white background.

[Pancho]

Daniels showed nothing the entire game, why wait until the 5 minutes to bring in Landi?

Once again, they have nothing for the blitz that everyone should have seen coming.

[Tampa Tad]

Just to add David, no one else wanted as a QB, a few other big schools wanted him but not as a QB now we see why, that's why he came to USF

[BA]

Embarrassed nationally for the enitre university, not just the football team.

Can't believe folks still want to 'fire' Leavitt. He didn't play a down tonight.

The OL is terrible and BJ looked like a high school freshman. We are an 'also-ran'.

[Sandro]

This is so bad it's beyond anything that I have seen ever from our team. Leavitt thank you very much for everything that you have done for us but you need leave, this team will not take another step forwards while you are the coach. Unbelievable I just don't have anything to say wow thank you guys for the embarrassment. Get rid of Leavitt and go after Charley Strong from UF.

[nicon 1]

I have 2 tickets to the Miami game any offer accepted!

[Tampa Tad]

David Weber,

I have to disagree about BJ's potential,
RU took away the long ball, and BJ's dead in the water. He can't throw with touch he sucks a well coached team will beat him every time.

[USFShep]

Fire Jim Leavitt NOW!

[nicon 1]

This Whole coaching Staff has to go. Its a Real Long Shot but make Tony Dungy an Offer. He is a Tampa guy and might be interested. either way we are going no where fast with the current coaches. Thanks for the start CJL now just go Away.

[srq steve]

well, we got our natl exposure for playing on thurs night. thanks woolard.

i too have lost my faith with leavitt.

my booster level will go way down next year. not that im not loyal, just feel like a stand needs to be made.

[srq steve]

well, we got our natl exposure for playing on thurs night. thanks woolard.

i too have lost my faith with leavitt.

my booster level will go way down next year. not that im not loyal, just feel like a stand needs to be made.

[David Weber]

I'm just posting this here to reiterate: Mike Simmonds needs to be replaced. He has never produced anything beyond an average offensive line, and his guys were completely unable to handle Rutgers tonight. It starts up front, and USF never got started. After a game like tonight, we fans should be out for a scalp. It's the second time in three games that we've completely outcoached and overmatched. Leavitt needs to earn his tremendous salary and figure this out. I think we're stuck as the 4th or 5th place team in the Big East as long as Leavitt is around. We shouldn't replace him unless a sure thing shows up, but I think it's time to give up hope of a championship. BJ has a world of potential, but Canales has absolutely no ability to put him in a position to succeed against a good team.

[cg]

CJL NEEDS to go. Hell. Hire Turd.

[Tampa Tad]

OK, CJL is being out coached again,Daniels is not the future and if his the future is not good. THIS college football, if the QB sucks you make a change simple.

[Pancho]

Poor tackle by number 2 to allow the td. He did a great job of touching but not tackling or pushing the guy out of bounds.

Maybe the basketball team will have a more respectable showing.

[nicon 1]

Too Ugly to watch anymore. this is not even high school football. Out coached Outplayed Out of here!

[JdP]

BJ is a terrible QB good luck with that guy