NCAA Football FanHouse

Big East Keeps its BCS Status Sun Rises in the East

John Radcliff — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: Louisville Football, Pittsburgh Football, West Virginia Football, Big East, Rutgers Football, Cincinnati Football, South Florida Football

Was it really only four years ago that the Big East was in danger of losing it's BCS status? Miami and Virginia Tech left in 2003 and Boston College in 2004. The conference sent Pitt, one of several 8-4 teams in the Big East to lose to Utah in the Fiesta Bowl. And there wasn't much reason to think the conference was going to get better any time soon. The conference was written off by the media and the blogospher didn't even bother to poke fun.

But something happened last week that most of us didn't even notice. The Big East was granted a spot in the BCS through 2013.

The reason is simple: no one noticed the news. No one questioned the Big East's place at the adult table. The reaffirmation wasn't even a note in BCS meeting coverage. "It was quiet,'' Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said Tuesday. "The way I like it."

You'd never make it as a blogger Mr. Tranghese. You need to rub it in someones face every once in a while. The least you could do is hold up one of those foam we're #1 hands. Or one of six, I guess. How bout a little woot-woot? Oh fine!

Despite the picture on the right, you can't just point to West Virginia and say their two BCS bowl victories and three straight top ten finishes are the reason. But I won't argue with you if you do. It really has been the improvement of several teams in the Big East that has brought the conference back to respectability. Louisville was expected to be one of the better teams in the conference. And mostly, they've come through. But the real surprise has been the improvement of South Florida, Rutgers, and Cincinnati. And more recently, Connecticut.

While the conference still isn't flooding the first round of the NFL draft with players, it is putting a lot more teams in the top 25. Sure, some coaches have left for "greener" pastures. Others like Greg Schiano and Jim Leavitt have made commitments to their schools that don't involve contracts. There's a balance, and certainly enough rising programs and programs that are there to keep the Big East respectable. At least until the Big 11 10 decides to add another team. Wankers.

Big East Keeps its BCS Status Sun Rises in the East originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 07 May 2008 17:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Louisville Wins the Big East Draft Again

John Radcliff — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:29:00 EST

Filed under: Louisville Football, Pittsburgh Football, Syracuse Football, West Virginia Football, Big East, Rutgers Football, NFL Prospects, Cincinnati Football, Connecticut Football, South Florida Football

I did this last year, so it seems only fitting that I would do it again.

And it wasn't even close. Louisville had five players drafted, while Pitt and West Virginia had three apiece. Rutgers, South Florida, Cincinnati, and Connecticut had two each. And for the first time since 1975, Syracuse did not have anyone selected.

That's 19 players drafted. And any way I slice it, that's just not all that good for a BCS conference. Looking at the distribution of what rounds the players were taken, it was pretty well spread out over the entire draft for the Big East. But that doesn't make it feel any better. It's especially bad if you look at a team like West Virginia that has had three 11 win seasons in a row along with three straight top ten finishes. They've had exactly four players drafted in the last three years. And Chris Henry and Pac Man Jones the year before that. So we won't even go there.

The ACC? Yeah, that conference we've been quietly laughing at after Miami, Va. Tech, and Boston College left. Yeah, they had 33 players drafted this past weekend. The coaching must really suck over there or something.

Pac 10? Oh, they had 37 players drafted. SEC? 35. Big 10? 28. Big 12? 27. Hell, C-USA had 11 players drafted! Patriot League? Never mind.

Even more upsetting for West Virginia fans, two players left early for the NFL and weren't drafted. Those two being Darius Reynaud and Johnny Dingle. Yeah, sorry folks. Those Dingle-Berry photo's won't be happening anymore. Those are definitely two players the Mountaineers could have used this year, though. I'm not saying that their stock would go up any with one more year of college. But it sure wouldn't go down.

Louisville will have the most holes to fill as well. You don't replace Brian Brohm, Harry Douglas, and Art Carmody. I know there are others, but those three were special at their positions. West Virginia won't be far behind with the loss of Slaton and most of the secondary and defensive line. Rutgers, well we don't know how bad it is because we haven't seen anyone but Ray Rice run the ball. The rest of the conference should be fine. And that's not a good thing if you think about it.

Louisville Wins the Big East Draft Again originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USF Coach: No Swearing!

Brian Grummell — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:29:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, The Word, South Florida Football

I can't see this being an effective policy

One immediate change from past seasons: first-year DT coach John Hendrick will not allow any profanity from the players.

Hendrick, an ordained minister, joined the Bulls' staff after a one-year stint at Division I-AA South Carolina State.

We wish Hendrick well, but count on this bit of news circulating to USF defensive line recruits from rival schools. Young men (er, um, most men) swear. A lot. Athletics is a warm environment for the uncouth mouth.

Attempts to curb profanity tend to be in vain and recruiting is the lifeblood of most successful college football programs.

Something has to give.

(H/T: The great Wizard of Odds)
%Gallery-5292%

USF Coach: No Swearing! originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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2008 Big East Football Schedules Announced

John Radcliff — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:04:00 EST

Filed under: Louisville Football, Pittsburgh Football, Syracuse Football, West Virginia Football, Big East, Rutgers Football, Cincinnati Football, Connecticut Football, South Florida Football

OMG! Football news! February is like the worst sports month in the world! Unless you like meaningless mid-season NBA and NHL games. Sure I love NCAA basketball. But that love has been tainted by my coaches fashion sense and my teams ability to rip defeat from the jaws of victory. So I'm kind of not liking February at all.

Anyhow, some good news today football fans. The Big East released the 2008 football schedule. And while that's nothing compared to being in the stands after hours of tailgating and screaming obscenities at opposing fans and players, it is a reason for hope. The hope that another football season will soon be upon us.

And lookie, there are actually some good out of conference games this year. In September:

Cincinnati @ Oklahoma-Will the Sooners crumble again in the face of Big East might?

Penn St. @ Syracuse- When this game was scheduled Jo Pa was heard saying, "That Paul Pasqualoni is a tricky devil. We're going to have to find a way to shut down McNabb!"

Kansas @ South Florida- The Bulls can't be looking at this game the way they were a year ago.

West Virginia @ Colorado- This game fills the void left by Maryland opting out of the series. And given the size of Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, that's quite a void to fill.

Iowa @ Pitt- Again, Iowa might not like this game as much as they did when they scheduled it.

Rutgers vs. TBA-Ah, the unknown enigma that is TBA. You just never know what team you're going to play.

October has two out of conference games of note. Auburn @ West Virginia and Pitt @ Notre Dame. This could be a buzz kill game for the Mountaineers. Even though it is a Thursday night game in Morgantown and the SEC doesn't know that you can play football on Thursday nights. It will be a tough test wedged in the middle of conference play. This could be a make or break game for West Virginia's national title hopes if they exist. Pitt has a score to settle with the Irish from the 2005 season opening game that, coincidentally, was the last time the Panthers were ranked.

This might be the last football news we get until spring practices start up in about a month. So enjoy it while you can.

2008 Big East Football Schedules Announced originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USF Can't Play December Home Games

Charles Rich — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:35:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, South Florida Football

Raymond James Stadium in Tampa is a typical publicly financed stadium. It was sold to the public as necessary to keep the Buccaneers in the NFL, and that it would be an engine for economic development with many other events that could be held there. That, even if the stadium doesn't make money in the "traditional" sense -- pay for itself and operating costs rather than with subsidies from the local government through the Tampa Sports Authority (TSA) and Hillsbrough County -- the overall impact on the economy justifies it. The same multipliers and indirect economic gains that are also used to justify new convention centers all over the country.

The problem is that actual pool of available events for a football stadium is rather limited. They can get the Super Bowl every so often, but that's not even every five years. As usual, the stadium sits vacant most of the year.

The TSA has managed to add a December event for the next couple of years. The ACC saw the dreariness of Jacksonville in the past couple of years and went looking for other options for their championship games. Tampa bid and got the ACC Championship for 2008 and 2009, with an eye on getting the permanent site after the 2-year stint in Charlotte.
Tampa is actually luckier than a lot of other cities since they have a major college football team in the area that lacks it's own stadium. That means another 6 or 7 games played there to help with the costs by the South Florida Bulls. The Bulls, though, may be rethinking their deal after finding out their contract with the TSA is so lousy. The Bulls wanted to play a Thursday night ESPN game at the stadium a couple days before the ACC Championship. They weren't just rebuffed, but told where they stand with the TSA.

The Bucs have top priority for scheduling games at Raymond James Stadium. After that, it's first come, first serve, [TSA Executive Director Henry] Saavedra said.

"That's where the rub lies," Saavedra said. "USF feels like a major tenant here and feels like it should be treated better."

Saavedra went on to state that the contract negotiated by USF did not include any clause giving them a right to select dates after the Buccaneers. So, therefore the whole thing is USF's fault. Naturally USF's administration and fans were thrilled by that characterization -- especially by a Florida State grad. The contract signed in September 2007 is for 5 years with an option for 5 more years.

USF was pissed off enough that the school president began making noises about building their own stadium. Given the costs and land requirements, it is probably a hollow threat in the short term. It did, however, get the attention of local politicians.

The Mayor of Tampa Bay felt forced to get involved to try and reach some compromise.

Mayor Pam Iorio urged officials from the school and the Tampa Sports Authority to work together on a long-term contract guaranteeing the Bulls their choice of scheduling dates, after the Buccaneers.

During a meeting at her office Friday afternoon, Iorio also instructed city officials not to pursue the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship Game beyond 2009, leaving the calendar open for the Bulls to play a home game the first weekend in December.

"The two are in the long-term incompatible," Iorio said.
...
"It is our college team," Iorio said. "And it needs flexibility in its schedule so that, as it continues to gain in reputation - and the Big East and ESPN like highlighting USF with a big game - they have that flexibility with priority standing."

She later backed off of that instruction to city officials as it became clear that too many other interests in the county wanted the ACC game.

Economic development leaders have been giddy about the prospect of hosting the ACC title game permanently. Last year, the ACC title game generated about 9,500 room night visits in Jacksonville area hotels.

"Nearly 10,000 room nights is certainly a major economic engine," said Rob Higgins, executive director of the Tampa Bay Sports Commission. The commission worked for four years to land the ACC Championship Game.

Ultimately, while the tourist, hotel and restaurant groups wants to push for more of the one-game impact of the ACC Championship, the importance of the lease with USF to use Raymond James Stadium long term will force the TSA to give USF priority in scheduling games and rework the lease.

USF Can't Play December Home Games originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 10:35:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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South Florida Doesn't Want to Know if Moffitt Committed Academic Fraud

Charles Rich — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:26:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, NCAA FB Campus, NCAA FB Scandal, South Florida Football

When the story of Ben Moffitt's impending divorce and the lie of his happy married life broke, the big story were allegations by his estranged wife that she did his papers and took his online exams. You would think an academic institution would take these allegations very seriously, even in the context of a divorce proceeding. Schools at least like to pay lip-service to the notion of the student athlete and academic integrity.

Well, um, South Florida is apparently uninterested in such quaint notions. They are not going to investigate unless one of Moffitt's former professors comes forward and expresses more than just concern.

"Professors in the courses would have to have some cause or suspicion that something inappropriate was happening and they could follow up on that," USF spokesman Ken Gullette said Friday.
...
"The information we have is information we're getting from reporters," Gullette said. "There's not much to do at this point."

USF President Judy Genshaft would not comment on how the allegations might affect the school's academic credibility, and she referred questions to Gullette.

Offhand, I'd guess that the allegations are disturbing and worthy of some investigation regardless of the situation. The fact that USF has no urge to look into matters unless absolutely pushed says much more about the academic credibility at South Florida. They want the professors who didn't catch anything the first time to be the ones to demand the review -- and call into question their own practices.

South Florida Doesn't Want to Know if Moffitt Committed Academic Fraud originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:26:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ben Moffitt's Divorce May Hurt USF Almost as Much as His Children

Charles Rich — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:04:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, NCAA FB Gossip, NCAA FB Scandal, South Florida Football

Every time South Florida played a game that was televised, there was inevitably a point where the announcers would wax rhapsodic about Ben Moffitt's devotion to his family. How he would commute 55 miles each way daily to go home to his wife and children. It was a great story, and soft-focus feature piece. The Bulls were happy to play it up, this year with "Linebacker. Leader. Husband. Father" tag lines in promoting him.

Turns out his marriage was falling apart. He apparently left his wife in early November, and stopped visiting his kids about a month after that. Despite leaving his family, he was still talking to any media that wanted to go with the cuddly story and promote Moffitt up through the Sun Bowl.

All of this is embarrassing to Moffitt. It certainly wouldn't land him much in the way of "father of the year" or "husband of the year" awards. For USF this would be a mildly embarrassing episode, but minimized since Moffitt is a senior and won't be returning next year. The problem is the additional allegation the soon to be former Mrs. Moffitt has made.

...Shauna, 26, made public Thursday a larger allegation, saying that she had taken multiple online courses for her husband and written papers for his college classes to keep him eligible to play football.

"I have written every single paper he has ever written in five years at USF," said Shauna, who works as a data specialist in the Sumter County Appraiser's Office.

Can you say major NCAA violations?

If she puts these in court filings and explanations, the NCAA has a cakewalk of an investigation. Just making the allegations probably has USF facing lots of scrutiny from the NCAA. Especially after FSU just had the online test cheating scandal result in suspending players as punishment. Here you have a player accused of cheating to stay eligible.

From forfeiting games, scholarship losses, lots of other restrictions and all sorts of negative publicity. The Bulls are not some sort of established program that could quickly recover from this.

South Florida has quickly become a major player in the Big East and a substantive factor in Florida collegeiate football. They haven't arrived at the level of Florida, Miami and Florida State, but they are closer to those programs than they are to UCF, FAU and FIU. This sort of scandal could knock them the other way.

Of course, this could all quickly go away if it is simply about money. Not to be too cynical, but isn't it always about the money?

Moffitt is an NFL draft prospect and early projections put him anywhere from the 3d to 5th round. Reaching a quick settlement for alimony and child support would be in Moffitt's and USF's best interest.

Ben Moffitt's Divorce May Hurt USF Almost as Much as His Children originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oregon Isn't a One-Man Operation

Brian Grummell — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:31:00 EST

Filed under: Oregon Football, Big East, Pac 10, Bowl Games, The Word, South Florida Football

Sure, things looked bleak when Dennis Dixon collapsed in a heap against Arizona and Oregon soon went on to three straight defeats. Oregon's quarterbacks looked like garbage and they were presumably left for dead against South Florida in the Sun Bowl.

I guess they didn't get the memo.

A nobody reserve named Justin Roper has been magnificent for the Ducks this afternoon, leading them to a 46-14 third quarter lead against an above average Bulls defense. Turnovers have helped, but Roper is 15/26 for 181 yards and 4 touchdowns in just three quarters of work. Not bad, huh?

I think Oregon got silly in sticking with its dropback veteran Brady Leaf instead of taking its lumps with the more mobile Roper and it cost them several winnable games and ultimately the Pac-10 championship. Contrary to the concerns of some, the spread can go on when a quarterback gets injured. Just like with more pro-style offenses it is up to a coaching staff to find and develop the appropriate style of quarterback to run the system in case a starter goes down.

In doing so, Oregon found its mojo in a big way as the run/pass game is clicking. Johnathan Stewart, aided by a functional quarterback for the first time in a few games has gone off for over 200 yards (a Sun Bowl record) including a 71-yard touchdown run.

Oregon Isn't a One-Man Operation originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 31 Dec 2007 17:31:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Syracuse, The Cure for What Ails You

Charles Rich — Sat, 10 Nov 2007 14:16:00 EST

Filed under: Syracuse Football, Big East, South Florida Football

From a #2 ranking to unranked with 3 straight losses, South Florida was reeling. Their BCS dreams, Big East championship goals all fell quickly. Of course nothing restores confidence and makes a team feel better than beating up on a bad team.

That is what USF is doing to Syracuse today. A 27-3 lead early in the 3d quarter and it could have been much worse. The Bulls committed 9 penalties in the first half to really slow things down and take away a couple other scoring opportunities.

The Bulls have been so much faster than the Orange. Completely taking away what had remained of the Syracuse running game. On offense, just moving through Syracuse's defense.

The biggest difference for USF in this game is that the Bulls seem to be remembering to run the ball with someone other than QB Matt Grothe. Tailback Mike Ford is having a great game and the first time he has run for more than 70 yards since the Auburn game -- which was also the last time he had more than 8 carries.

Syracuse, The Cure for What Ails You originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 14:16:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Lombardi Award is a Joke

John Radcliff — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, South Florida Football

Forget it! When the award is handed out at the end of the year, just keep you hands in your pockets and look the other way. Yes, Big East homerism running on all cylinders here. But I find it hard if not impossible to think that George Selvie, defensive end for South Florida, isn't one of the top four linemen in all of college football.

By any measuring stick, Selvie has all the defensive linemen that are still eligible beat. And those linemen would be Glenn Dorsey of LSU, Chris Long of Virginia, and line backer James Laurinaitis of Ohio State. Here's a little breakdown of the stats. In order, they are tackles, tackles for a loss, sacks, and because a couple of them made them, interceptions.

G. Selvie -------49-- 27.5-- 13.5-- 0

G. Dorsey ------46-- 8.5--- 5.0---- 0

J. Laurinaitis -51-- 7.5 ---5.0---- 2

C. Long --------65---- 16----12---- 1

OK, not the prettiest thing you've ever seen, but it does put things in perspective. 27.5 tackles for a loss!!! It's unreal what this kid is doing. And unlike Long and Laurinaitis, he's done it against the likes of West Virginia, Auburn, and North Carolina to name a few. While Long and Laurinaitis have done it against much weaker competition. I have all the respect in the world for Glenn Dorsey, but to be honest he hasn't been as good as advertised this year. I don't have any doubts that he is that good, but for my argument I'm looking at what they have done on the field this year. Not what they are capable of doing.

Luckily for Selvie, and not so luckily for the rest of the Big East, he's a sophomore and should be at the top of this list next year. But for my money, he's at the top of the list this year.

The Lombardi Award is a Joke originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 07 Nov 2007 07:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Week In Schadenfreude: Weis E Coyote Did What?

Brian Cook — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:33:00 EST

Filed under: Michigan State Football, Nebraska Football, Notre Dame Football, UCLA Football, South Carolina Football, South Florida Football

scha·den·freu·de /???dn?fr??d?/
-noun

satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else's misfortune.

[Origin: 1890-95; < G, equiv. to Schaden harm + Freude joy]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, (C) Random House, Inc. 2006.

On This Week In Schadenfreude we explore the sputtering rage, gibbering condemnation, and resigned ennui of the college football fan who has recently undergone humiliating defeat. Because even in your darkest hour, someone else is suffering too, and probably worse than you. Unless you are a Michigan fan who has just finished watching the Appalachian State game.

I was at Spartan Stadium nervously contemplating a 24-14 Michigan deficit when our designated general-update text-messager-guy filed an odd report. His obviously garbled text message: "ND goes for it 4th and 8 on 25 stuffed going to OT."

We debated what this could possibly mean. Weis went for it on his own 25? No, that would likely have led to a Navy field goal try. Surely, not even certified super genius Charlie Weis could pass up a 42-yard field goal in favor of letting his crappy offense attempt to convert a fourth and long.

Surely ...

Did ANYONE with a Motorola headset question this decision? Latina, Haywood? Corwin, where the hell were you? Charlie Junior -- you wearing that thing for decoration? ANYONE? Ahh, hell, forget the headset -- he should have listened to the crowd. Fifty thousand people yelling "KICK IT YOU STUPID SON OF A [dog]"

Oh my God. He did. (Please note that the original post above was taken down by the blog in question; it was reproduced on MGoBlog for posterity's sake.) More spleen after the jump.

Impossibly-named Ram Vela pulled a Roy Williams-vintage flying squirrel attack on Evan Sharpley, sacking him and sending the game to overtime; when Navy stuffed a two-point conversion in the third stanza the rats began leaping from the SS Weis E. Coyote in earnest. Yeah, Notre Dame. You are the Tears of Unfathomable Sadness victor this week.

BIG TEN

Michigan State. Oh, Sparty, you never change. Michigan got the ball back down 24-14 with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter; after a couple Michigan first downs got them to around midfield, Greg Mathews caught a four-yard crossing route and stepped out of bounds ... and kept stepping ... and kept stepping until a MSU defensive back clocked him on a hit so late it hasn't happened yet. Result: first and ten from the 25, eventual loss.

The surprised? No one. As the Red Cedar Message board asks:

How many ****ing times can this happen?

Survey says "about two to three times a year until the sun explodes."

In the aftermath, Mike Hart would call Michigan State "little brother"; this goes over about as well as you might expect:

SCum is such a piece of **** program. They're the leaders of no class. Mike Hartless Piece of ****, Terrance Taylor, and the rest of those *******s need to die a terrible death. I ****ing hate that program. Not because they beat us, but because they are truely the most obnoxious SOBs win or lose. I pray those ****ers get killed by Ohio State, and that OSU spits on them and kicks Floyd in the nutsack as they walk off the field. SOBs.

(Floyd, for some reason, is a frequent nickname for Lloyd Carr on message boards of Michigan rivals.) This perfectly encapsulates the portions of the Michigan State fanbase that aren't inured to the football team "SCum", -- not even "scUM" -- bad puns, censored swearing, and the desperate hope Ohio State can do what they can't.

PAC 10

UCLA. This makes about as much sense as UCLA's season so far:

I'm not sure what this is. It appears to be Halloween-there's a scarecrow next to the guy, and though I hear LA gets a little weird I've never heard of that particular fetish-and this guy is dressed up as "cardboard box that doesn't like Karl Dorrell." Or Kobe, evidently.

Anyway, over at the very spleeniest blog in the college football blogosphere, Bruins Nation, there is naught but quiet repose and reflection. UCLA gacked up another game against what appeared to be a totally overmatched opponent, this time Arizona. The result:

I don't know about you guys, but I am actually feeling pretty good.

Where's the rage? Gone, gone away, replaced by the refreshing knowledge that next year there will be someone else to rage at. The only cloud on the horizon is the distant, frightening possibility that Dorrell could win out, thus winning the Pac-10 (everyone would have two losses and UCLA would have all the tiebreakers) or take two of three from Arizona State, Oregon, and USC.

Uh ... I think you guys are safe. Though it would be just like the Michigan State of the Pac-10 to submarine one of the three, two is a virtual impossibility.

SEC

South Carolina. From the top ten to straight out of the top twenty five, the last three weeks have not gone well for the Gamecocks. Some guys named Smelley and Dancin' Blake Mitchell keep screwing stuff up at quarterback ... and then there's the matter of 541 rushing yards yielded. To one team. In one game. That's 43 more than Notre Dame has on the season. Granted, said team has Darren McFadden and Felix Jones, but ... uh ... no.

Garnet and Black Attack politely motions to tar, feather, and run the esteemed defensive coordinator out of town:

The continued employment of the South Carolina defensive staff needs to be seriously re-evaluated.

"Seriously re-evaluated?" We want blood!

The University of South Carolina was embarrassed tonight. Not just defeated, not just thumped, but embarrassed.

Okay, good, good... more!

I've usually had nothing but good to say about [USC defensive coordinator] Tyrone Nix, thinking that the overall defensive numbers justified it, but enough is enough. The running games of the SEC, other conferences and even other subdivisions have learned how to steamroll this team. Year after year after year.

"Subdivisions" as in "bowl/championship" subdivisions? Yikes.

BIG EAST

South Florida sure went ... well, let's let this message board poster get in the obvious zinger:

AT LEAST ONE AGRUMENT IS DECIDED Reply

... we may be located in Tampa but we earned our school name USF because we went South in a blink.

Zing! How do you end up 1-3 in the Big East with victories over WVU and Auburn? Is it weirder that USF is unranked now or was ranked #2 earlier this year? Woo, 2007!

BIG TWELVE

Holy God. Nebraska is a fixture on This Week In Schadenfreude as Husker fans slowly spiral into insanity. A combination of the world's worst defense and decades of beating their Big 12 North foes 56-7 makes an ugly combination and 76 (!!!) points scored against ... by the beginning of the fourth quarter. After an opening three-and-out, Kansas scored ten straight touchdowns, missed a field goal, then scored another touchdown.

Worst everything in school history? Definitely. Corn Nation urges the executioner to stay the axe, though not for nice reasons:

Forget the idea that he (or Bill Callahan) should resign or be fired. He shouldn't. He shouldn't be let off the hook. At the end of the season, we can write about how this is the worst season in Nebraska's history and it can be attributed to him without any asterisks attached. This becomes more important as time marches on.

How about branding him with a scarlet N as soon as the season's over? I'm sure if we gave Callahan a cut he'd go for it, and I'm sure the entire state of Nebraska would shell out thirty bucks to watch it on PPV.

Meanwhile, some fans have thrown in the towel for not only this year, but for the rest of time:

5 straight losses
76 points against KU

this is our nightmare--how long til the psyche of the players on this team is healed?

the freshman now will remember this when they are 5th year seniors. is it motivating or crushing?

will they ever recover? or will it take years for this kind of embarrassing cataclysmic era to wear off?

Given the state of the Raiders, survey says "Basically forever," "Crushing," "No," "Yes." What Callahan touches turns to ash; plants die in his footsteps and the soil is leached of all nutrient.

One last thing that has nothing to do with anything, really: a post pooh-poohing Navy's Paul Johnson:

Yea I watched it and I am dam glad that's not going to be are offense.

Seriously? Seriously? I have prowled the ungrammatical highways and byways of the Internet lo these many years and never, ever seen an "our" for "are" switch. The kicker is the thread title: "hears a great coach." I'm as speechless as a Cornhusker fan watching Kansas put up 76. Are there no schools in Nebraska? How about some books? Or, like, cable news channels? Anything whatsoever with text?

ACC

Miami fans wondering if it could possibly get worse than Kyle Wright now have a definitive answer, that being "Hell yes." Kirby Freeman destroyed his own offense, the hopes of the Miami fanbase, and one blog's server:

Kirby Freeman's Ineptitude Shut Down Our Servers
For those of you who missed it:

1-14, 84 yards (TD), three interceptions, one Miami server shutdown.

It was probably for the best, anyway. No one needs sixty comments saying "Are team suckzzzz."

This Week In Schadenfreude: Weis E Coyote Did What? originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:33:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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South Florida is Really Trying to Lose

John Radcliff — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:40:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Cincinnati Football, South Florida Football

With five turnovers in the first half, it seems that South Florida is not really interested in winning this game. The Bulls haven't been able to do much of anything on offense inside the red zone. Two fumbles and three interceptions have ruined almost every drive by the Bulls. If not for an interception and a kickoff both returned for touchdowns by the Bulls, this game would be way out of hand by now.

On the flip side, Cincinnati is looking more like the team that started out the season 6-0 and was leading the nation in turnover margin. Not the team that has lost it's last two games and was only able to generate one turnover. They've been balanced on offense, and as you can tell very opportunistic on defense.

The Bulls get the ball to start the second half and had better start doing something positive with it. Raymond James stadium already looks about half empty and the crowd shots are getting tighter and tighter. Wasn't it just a little over a month ago that this place was sold out?

South Florida is Really Trying to Lose originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 17:40:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USF Not Ready for Primetime

Charles Rich — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:29:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Connecticut Football, South Florida Football

Maybe it was a bit premature to anoint South Florida as arriving. Losing at Rutgers on a Thursday night wasn't totally unexpected.

Losing at UConn, however, is a different story. This isn't to insult UConn (no, really). The Huskies apparently are a better team than expected. South Florida, however, has done a lot more in the season and was looking like a team ready to make a jump into national contenders from young team on the rise.

Turns out they are not. Good teams looking to make it nationally don't keep losing conference road games. They don't come up with a total of 3 points when starting 1st and goal inside the five -- twice. The Bulls went down to the UConn Huskies 22-15, despite USF QB Matt Grothe generating 335 yards of total offense to the entire UConn team's 353.

The lack of any other running threat -- or that Head Coach Jim Leavitt has lost faith in the other running backs as the season has progressed -- has taken a toll on the USF red zone offense. The shorter field and no other threat, makes it easier to defend. Until USF shows some more faith in, or develops another threat, it will be easier for the Bulls to be stopped.

As for the Huskies, it may be time to give them some credit.

USF Not Ready for Primetime originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:29:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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USF The Latest to Fall

Charles Rich — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:04:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Rutgers Football, South Florida Football

Really, at this point, is this a shock? Another team rises near the top of the rankings only to go down quickly. The only thing worse than jamming every game into some easy, overarching theme or storyline for the season, is when you just can't ignore it.

Still, there were other storylines.

Trickeration. Rutgers successfully running two fake plays on a punt and field goal resulting in 10 points.

Ray Rice. Rice had 39 carries for 181 yards only 5 days after a 36 carry workload. Not to mention his third straight 30+ carry game. With 818 rushing yards and an impressive performance in a primetime game, Rice has likely re-inserted himself into the Heisman picture.

Rutgers isn't going away. A week after Syracuse Coach Greg Robinson voiced the whisper of Rutgers being a one-year wonder with 2 straight home losses, the Scarlet Knights responded and didn't fold late. When the fans charged the field after the game, it seemed more like relief from the fans that they still have a reason to believe, rather than the joy they had after upsetting Louisville last year.

Rutgers defense. The second half saw Rutgers make a huge adjustment to contain USF QB Matt Grothe. In the first half, the Rutgers D hung back a bit and tried to spy Grothe. This gave him time to look downfield or choose to take off to one of the sides. They tried to contain him in a traditional style that Grothe and USF has exploited all season. In the second half, the defense went aggressive. They took advantage of the speed on the edges with DE Eric Foster with a blitz. Limiting Grothe to have time to look downfield, and with the pressure coming from the corners keeping Grothe from running outside. Instead, they kept him in the pocket. Suddenly, one of the best rushing QBs in the country looked like a statue and was sacked 7 times.

Craig James stayed focused on the game-at-hand. Possibly the biggest shocker of the night. It didn't hurt that the game was close throughout and there was lots of action the whole way through. It made it difficult to wander too far off-topic. Aside from apparently a contractual obligation with ESPN to mention Joe Torre turning down the Yankees extension offer. (I'm a Yankee fan, and I'm sick of the topic.) My personal theory as to why James was that way had to do with his appearance earlier that day on "Pardon the Interruption." It meant he actually had to do prep work for the game, so he might as well use the information that he had jammed in his skull.

The turning point of the game seemed to come when USF blocked the Rutgers FG late in the first half. The Bulls seemingly took it in for a TD to take a 2 touchdown lead. The replays, though, showed that USF pitched the ball forward to allow another Bulls player to pick it up and advance the ball. Between the reversal of the ruling and the time to review the play, there was a definite shift. The reversal reinvigorated a stunned home crowd and the time to review gave the Rutgers defense a chance to catch its breath.

The defense managed held and USF couldn't convert a 45-yard field goal. Rutgers still had a minute to do something. The Scarlet Knights were able to go 48 yards and get a field goal before the half to reduce USF's lead to four. Both the defense and offense for Rutgers went into the half feeling more confident, and carried it over to the second half.

USF The Latest to Fall originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:04:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fourth Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers

Brian Grummell — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 23:17:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Rutgers Football, South Florida Football

USF @ Rutgers | 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | 3rd Qtr | 4th Qtr

Welcome back!

Ladies and gentlemen (well, we hope you're gentlemen): we have a ball game. Rutgers leads USF 27-20 in a game marked by the running of Ray Rice and a boatload of special teams scores (yes, scores) and mistakes.

We return from the break with Rutgers holding the ball in USF territory poised to try for a third and long.

Live Blog after the jump . . .

10:49 - Another incomplete pass on third down by Teel. He's barely cutting it tonight. Punt time.

10:50 - Verrrrrrry interesting graphic by ESPN there:

Scoring by quarters ~ ~ ~

USF: 10 - 7- 3
Rutgers: 3 - 10- 14

Hell of a trend and the story of this game.

10:52 - Nothing going for USF there, Grothe sacked on second down. Rutgers just keeps choppin'. Makes you wonder what the hell happened to make them 4-2 at this point. And then ANOTHER sack! That was a coverage sack. USF's in deep doo doo here.

10:54 - Yep, they're unraveling with a special teams no-no there. That is uncharacteristic as well as USF weathered close and late games this year to both Auburn and West Virginia. Rutgers may have found itself tonight.

10:55 - Worth repeating Fowler's talking points here. This game isn't over, and Ray Rice is nearing 70 carries in just five days of work. That's just insane! So far, so good though. He's been everything for Rutgers tonight.

10:56 - 51-yard field goal try is . . . GOOD! That thing looked dead and then miraculously wobbled to the right and good. Yep, this is Rutgers' night watching that. Rutgers 30 - South Florida 20. Can USF rally?

11:04 - Nice little drive here for USF, moving the ball on a nice mix of rush and pass inside the Rutgers five yard line.

11:05 - James "This is the drive a #2 team is supposed to make, on the road, answering the call". TOUCHDOWN, 2-yard rush to the right and we have a ballgame again. Rutgers 30 - USF 27 with 9:16 left in the 4th quarter. They still gotta figure out how to stop Ray Rice now. Hmm ...

11:10 - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand yet another special teams mistake for USF, a late hit on an already long return. Who else but Ryan Gilliam. I think that's his second over-aggressive penalty there. Rutgers ball near midfield.

11:12 - Third and six for Rutgers, split I formation pass, incomplete again by Teel. Punt time. Nice showing on first and second down by USF's D there, not sure I can give them credit for that third down play. Great punt for Rutgers, downing the ball inside the five with 7:26 left. That stacks the decks considerably against USF.

11:14 - Huuuuuuuuuuuge play for USF there. That was a slow-developing, high-arcing fade that amazingly beat the corner to get the ball to the 29. Breathing room, 6:24 left. This might be their last possession with the way the clock's going. Nothing going on the second down run, tick, tick, tick (5:30) . . .

11:16 - Another shotgun fade call there, but the receiver cut it off. Punt time with 5:19 left. They'll want those three plays back.

11:18 - Second and five . . .Rice for two more and the ball might be loose? 4:12 left, USF claims they have it. Well, they do! W O W. That's stunning. Replay shows it, yep, helmet to ball, helmet wins that 99 times out of 100. Turnovers: Rutgers 3, USF 0, Ben Moffiitt's not surrendering his souvenir, heh.

11:23 - First down sack for Rutgers, their sixth tonight. Second down incompletion. Tick, tick, tick . . . 3:34 left, ball on the Rutgers 45.

11:25 - Incomplete pass on third down. Whoah, USF's going to punt here? Hhhhmmmmmm . . . Touchback.

11:26 - First down and Rice almost breaks it to the left but gets tripped up for no gain. That was carry #36, thank you Chris Fowler. Next play, two more yards and a USF timeout with 2:34 left. Gutsy third-down call, complete pass for the first down but it's coming back! Wowwww. Holding flag. USF gets a 9th life here. Third and 18 and Rice doesn't get the first down. USF will get the ball back here on the punt ... less than 2:00 left.

11:31 - Here we go, setting the table: USF has 49 yards to go, trailing Rutgers 30-27 with less than 2:00 left, no timeouts.

11:32 - SACK! Spike on second down, eeeehhhhhh. Third and 22 with 1:11 left on the road. Overthrow on third down. This is it!

11:33 - Completion! But there's a flag . . . offensive PI, one last shot (again), but this time for even more yards.

11:34 - Rutgers calls a timeout. Ohhh, the suspense! 4th and 37, lol. Good luck.

11:36 - CHOP CHOP CHOP

Down goes #2. What a game, what a season. USF ain't a bad team, but Rutgers showed they're not dead yet either. Here come the "over-rated" chants. That's not needed, especially from a Johnny-come-lately like Rutgers. Savor the win and go on to next week, you don't need to do that.

Rutgers 30 - USF 27

If you missed this game, be sure to go back through all the Live Blogs for it, it was a great show tonight.

Fun times in New Jersey tonight! Great crowd shots, fans are all over the field, it's festive. "Great scene" says Doug Flutie.

Fourth Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 23:17:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Third Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers

Brian Grummell — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:31:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Rutgers Football, South Florida Football

USF @ Rutgers | 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | 3rd Qtr | 4th Qtr

Welcome back!

South Florida leads Rutgers 17-13 in an exciting game. We've had improbably third-down conversions, blocked kicks, missed field goals, big runs and Ray Rice already recording 20 carries in a half.

Sadly, it appears there won't be a Lou Holtz pep talk at halftime from ESPN. What to do what to do? Personally I gotta take the trash out and put away some laundry so I'll check back in a few minutes. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, kiddos.

Live Blog after the jump . . .

10:00 - Three and out for USF, with the help of a dropped pass that would have been for the first down. That's at least drop #2 for Amarri Jackson.

10:03 - Touchdown Rutgers! They lulled USF to sleep there. Underwood made a nice catch in traffic to get the first down, but then his defender weakly tackled him and he was off to the races. That reminded me of that run by a Tennessee player against California last year when he went into a pile and a guy missed his tackle. The rest of the defenders assumed he was taken care of and he raced out of the pile. HUGE play for Rutgers. Rutgers 20 - USF 17

10:11 - USF players starting to drop like flies here. That lineman does NOT look thrilled, banging his head on the turf.

10:12 - Man, Grothe is something else on the run. He's been doing it for a while now but it never gets old watching him do these reverse spin-outs to avoid sacks. They completely throw defenders and get him in space to become a weapon. No matter though, as USF must now punt again. Rutgers is once again regaining control of this game.

10:14 - USF ball! The returnman muffed it again. There's a flag here, and it should be a block in the back as a USF player was nearly pushed into the returnman by a Rutgers blocker. Yep. USF ball, huge change here and another untimely turnover for Rutgers immediately after they had asserted themselves. That has to just kill their coaches. Well handled by the officials there in straightening all of that out. USF ball on the Rutgers 24. Show Me time.

10:21 - Great blitz call there on third and six. Schiano has coached his tail off tonight. 37-yard field goal is . . . blocked! High snap there was the undoing. And now the crowd is letting them have it, heh.

10:22 - Rice wiggles 13 yards up the middle on first down. Where have we seen this before? Next play he's off again, right up the middle, breaks a tackle, squeezes between two defenders before being caught from behind for 32 yards. That guy's special. USF has no idea what to do about him right now.
10:27 - Hankies flying for both sides here. Focus, fellas, this is a big-time game.

10:29 - Teel badly overthrew that fade there. Oy ... 4th and three, 33-yard field goal attempt is . . . a fake! and TOUCHDOWN! USF had to know that was coming, right? Huge mistake on their part not having some kind of read defense for that. Rutgers 27 - USF 17

10:35 - Wow. Rutgers has 155 yards this quarter, mostly on the ground. USF's offense is responding on this drive as Grothe makes plays all over the field. Erin Andrews was saying USF's defense was lethargic coming off the field, which makes me worry about them though.

10:38 - HUGE conversion on third and 10, just their second conversion on third down tonight. Ball on the Rutgers 11.

10:40 - 34-yard field goal is good. Rutgers 27 - USF 20. This is a touchdown game as we wind down the third quarter (1:26 left).

10:42 - ANOTHER mis-field for Rutgers on a return, but the returnman rights himself and makes a nice return into USF territory. Allllllmost by Ray Rice there. The defense didn't even find him behind his line and then he bounced right but the only defender who could get him . . . got him.

End of the third quarter. See you again at the Fourth Quarter Live Blog!

Third Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:31:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers

Brian Grummell — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:25:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Rutgers Football, South Florida Football

USF @ Rutgers | 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | 3rd Qtr | 4th Qtr

Welcome back!

USF leads Rutgers 10-3 in a well-played game so far. The energy is good and each team has made a few plays.

Live Blog after the jump . . .

8:36 - Ray Rice is hittin' people! Right up the middle, too. Next play USF answers deep in its own zone. This is a fantastic back-and-forth between the teams so far.

8:38 - Nice observation by Fowler: Rutgers has been a little cute in the red zone. Is that because they're afraid their base offense can't score against USF? Or is something they've eyeballed but just haven't executed?

8:40 - Touchdown Rutgers! Nice little pass there, hard to defend call as Underwood gets the score. Rutgers 10 - USF 10

8:43 - Today's special sideline guest: Michael Strahan. Hmm . . . I miss Ray Lewis. That guy should have a job with ESPN now, and if not now, immediately after retirement.

8:46 - So who will Lou Holtz give a pep talk to this week?

8:47 - Rutgers gets a nice sack there. That was big, sets up a 3rd and 17. Grothe all the time in the world to throw the next play, gets 15 of those 17 and the ball into Rutgers territory. Punt.

8:52 - Missed opportunity there for Rutgers on third and five. Bad Mike Teel showed up there. He might forever be an enigma for this Rutgers offense.

8:56 - Another first down, another long run for Grothe. Nothing going on that drive, though.

8:59 - USF ball! What a weird play. Rutgers' player muffed the ball, bobbling it into the hands of a USF player. He actually returned it for a touchdown but by rule that play cannot be advanced. Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge play for USF after Rutgers had started to slowly assert itself here in the second quarter. Ball on the Rutgers 18.

9:01 - TOUCHDOWN USF! After a holding to set up first and 20, Grothe fakes a handoff before hitting Jesse Hester Jr. streaking across the middle for the catch and score. That silenced the crowd. USF 17 - Rutgers 10

As I've said before, people criticize the USF offense for its average numbers, but every time I watch them I'm impressed in their ability to manufacture yards and points and show so many looks.

9:08 - Erin Andrews just accused her ESPN co-horts of being old men. Funny stuff.

9:11 - Ray Rice just absolutely dropped someone on a stiff-arm. Make that George Selvie. He's up to 20 carries now. Every time Rutgers makes a nice play, USF answers. This is great.

9:12 - Two plays, tow near-interceptions in USF territory by Teel. Streakiest player in college football? Timeout USF here, but after the TO Rutgers will line up for a field goal.

9:15 - TOUCHDOWN! They might need to review this, but Ito's field goal was blocked. USF's guys appeared to intentionally fumble the ball forward which is not permissible. The recovered ball was recovered and taken for a touchdown.

Fowler: "It's like they practiced that!" I agree. Creative, I like it, but two of those in a row is a tip-off that it was intentional. What a great night of football.

Well, upon review that second fumble appears to have been unintentionally fumbled. Now about that first one?

Flutie: "What's good about this is that they've been coached that on a blocked kick, to advance the ball forward and get it up the field" Indeed.

Yep, review calls them on the illegal forward pass on the initial return. No touchdown, USF ball marching backwards. Good catch by ESPN: no flag was thrown on the field, but the replay crew initiated a penalty there. Hmm . . . Flutie summons the memory of the Holy Roller play in the NFL.

9:20 - USF ball at the Rutgers 45 or so after the rest. First and long after a penalty and Grothe gets sacked the next play. Timely sack for Rutgers. On second and 31 Grothe works his way up the field back to the 50 but then USF gets flagged for a hold. Sloppy sloppy here with just 3:28 left in the half. Leavitt just popped some veins, the hat's gone, the headset's off and he's storming around the sideline. Great TV!

9:22 - Ok, so maybe there isn't a Holtz pep talk at halftime. Grothe scrambles for the improbable first down and 18 yards. What a save job! James again blames the funnel strategy for giving USF third down opportunities.

9:26 - 45-yard field goal is . . . wide left! Rutgers ball with 1:06 left trailing by seven.

9:30 - 25 seconds left, ball on the USF 44, Rutgers has a shot at a field goal and maybe a touchdown here.

9:31 - OooooooHhhhhh, dropped touchdown pass there. You touch it, you catch it son!

9:33 - Field goal time with 0:11 left, nice drive there just missing on a touchdown. From 40 it is . . .good! USF 17 - Rutgers 13

HALFTIME

Be sure to check out the Third Quarter Live Blog!

Second Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 21:25:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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First Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers

Brian Grummell — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Rutgers Football, South Florida Football

USF @ Rutgers | 1st Qtr | 2nd Qtr | 3rd Qtr | 4th Qtr

I realize you had this beaten down into your skull last year but you know what? Form has held: the Big East matters.

USF's kind of a big deal right now, #2 in the BCS and perhaps in control of their own BCS destiny. Last year's magic carpet ride for Rutgers is a distant memory, like Hoffa probably buried somewhere in Jersey. Losing at home to Maryland can do that to ya. One team's feeling good about itself, the other would like nothing more than to jealously tear down another's dream. How can you not dig tonight's matchup?

Live Blog starts at 7:30 Eastern

Vitals, TV Info and Pregame Notes after the jump . . .

Vitals

- (2) USF (6-0, 1-0) @ Rutgers (4-2, 1-1)
- TV 7:30 Eastern, ESPN
- USF is favored by 2.5

Phil Steele Facts (USF): Last year QB Grothe led a comeback but their 2 pt conversion in the EZ was dropped & they recovered the onside kick only to be ruled touched a 1/2 yd early.

Phil Steele Facts (Rutgers): The Scarlet Knights were 10-2 the last 2 yrs at home. RU is just 2-4 after facing SU. Recruiting: Last year 24 players on the Knights roster were from Florida

* * * * *
Pregame Notes (Continuously Updated)

. . . As I write this the song "In The Air Tonight" by Phil Collins is beating in my head. My subconscious must be excited about this . . . Also on TV tonight: Utah @ TCU on the Versus network. I recently wrote about how Versus hates Pac-10 favorites . . . Be sure to check out MJD's Debriefing today: How to Build a Championship-Caliber Team in 11 Short Years (concerning USF) . . . Heh, Rutgers students serenade USF players to 'overrated' chants. They should know (I kid, I kid . . .) . . . USF's George Selvie is from around my neck of the woods, which means he was probably worried about his family today as multiple tornadoes rolled through Pensacola . . . Erin Andrews dressed in green. She's a Tampa native. No homerism there, Erin! Heh . . . Oh look, a stupid blind resume comparison from ESPN. Did I not just say Monday how stupid those are? Argh . . .

7:49 - Nice first play for Rutgers lining up in the I, two receivers to the right, Underwood motions left, run left, Underwood with the seal block but he was flagged for a hold while Rice went for about 15. Next play another run to the left.

7:53 - Fantastic fake punt by Rutgers, nice pass by who else but last year's hero against Louisville: Jeremy Ito. What, no point at the camera after that?!

7:55 - George Selvie is on the ground. That's not good . . .

7:57 - Wow that hole closed fast. On a handoff from the two, Ray Rice delayed a bit then found a hole but as soon as he lunged at it that sucker closed.

8:01 - Field goal, Rutgers. I can't watch a Jeremy Ito play anymore without expecting him to point to that overhead camera. Sad faces everywhere. Rutgers 3 - South Florida 0

8:11 - This drive didn't net a touchdown, but what I like about the USF offense is that they show a hell of a lot of looks and can do a lot of things on the field. Craig James is right, right now it's a setup offense as they feel their way through the Rutgers defense to set up some stuff for later. Field goal USF. Rutgers 3 - USF 3

8:18 - Great field position and opportunity here for USF after the break thanks to a stop of Rutgers and weak 36-yard punt. Two plays and two big runs follow, the second one a nicely setup dash through the middle of the field by Benjamin "BBQ" Williams.

8:23 - Touchdown Rutgers! That looked like a broken play and Grothe wheeled around feeling the pressure, scrambled and looked like he was about to run out of bounds. But, he realized there was a shot at the end zone and went all Tebow-like to drive through for the score. That'll be on all the replays.

Craig James informs us Rutgers' defensive look was a "funnel theory" look. Thanks for checking in this week and not bringing Laughing Hyena Craig James! Nice night so far for the ESPN crew. Rutgers 10 - USF 0

8:30 - Oooohhhh, overthrown bomb there and USF's safety darn-near picked that one off. He might want that one back. Credit to Mike Teel for answering on the very next play with a completion to the USF 28 yard line.

End of the first quarter, see you at the Second Quarter Live Blog

First Quarter Live Blog: USF @ Rutgers originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 20:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Debriefing: How to Build a Championship-Caliber Team in 11 Short Years

mjd — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: The Word, South Florida Football

The Debriefing is a column that runs every weekday at 9:00 a.m. here on FanHouse. It goes deep into one issue and then bounces around to a plethora of smaller ones ... and does it all in a way that will make you feel like the prettiest girl at the cotillion. Bookmark this page, and visit daily.

In 1997, the South Florida Bulls were a 1-AA team that lost to Georgia Southern, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Drake, The Citadel, and Elon College.

Eleven years later, they are ranked #2 in the nation and are very much a part of the national championship picture.

To put this into a big-picture perspective, let's find a 2007 team that's in a similar position to the one South Florida was in back in '97 ... not in Division 1A, getting pasted by the mighty Elon Phoenix, and on pace to finish just under .500.

The best available comparison seems to be West Virginia Wesleyan. The USF Bulls were 5-6 in 2007, and lost to Elon 41-13. The Bobcats of West Virginia Wesleyan are currently 3-4, one of those 4 being a 59-16 loss to Elon. Close enough.

So, close your eyes and imagine, 11 years from now, the BCS championship game pitting a team like LSU, Ohio State, or USC ... against West Virginia Wesleyan.

That's the kind of mountain that South Florida has climbed.

(Also at the bottom: Not much, to be perfectly honest with you ... slow news day yesterday ... Manny Ramirez cares about the ALCS slightly less than I do ... Dave Wannstedt is hurt, but I believe his mustache is doing just fine ... and Priest Holmes? Where the hell did that come from?...)

Granted, this is not a perfect comparison. South Florida was already a big school, located in the middle of a fertile recruiting area, and had a long-term plan to develop a football program.

West Virginia Wesleyan is a tiny school, I don't think that Buckhannon, West Virginia is an overly-fertile recruiting ground, and their long-term plan for their football team is only to make sure all members of the team leave the school with a strong belief in the values of the United Methodist Church (Triune God 47! ... Sanctifying Grace 19! ... hut HUT!).

But still ... hammered by Elon, and under .500. It's a starting point.

So how does a team get from there to here? How does one get from the water's edge of inspiration to the far shore of accomplishment (thanks, Q)?

Well, the key ingredient appears to be an insane head coach. In this case, the insanity comes in the form of Jim Leavitt, who, according to this profile by Tania Ganguli at the Orlando Sentinel, runs alongside his players at practice, wakes players up at their homes in the summer by jumping into bed with them, and does belly-slides before practice.

Said current USF star quarterback Matt Grothe of his first impression of Leavitt, "Honestly, when I first met him, I thought there was something wrong with him."

There might be. You know of any other coaches who aren't constantly chasing more prestigious jobs and more money? Leavitt is a highly-qualified, driven, hard-nosed, defense-first coach who's been pursued by other, higher-profile programs (Alabama being one of them, but we'll come back to that) ... but has no desire to leave.

He honestly wants to be at South Florida until he retires. He wants, more than he wants money or fame or a prestigious job, to build something. South Florida might not (yet) be Ohio State, USC, or The U ... but it's his. Whatever it is, he's responsible for it. There's something noble in that.

In fact, you might call him the anti-Saban. Maybe Saban can't be blamed for always looking for a better situation ... maybe he can't be blamed for telling fibs and trying to pocket the most money he can. A lot of people do it. But the fact of the matter is, he is a fibber when it comes to jobs, and he does seem to leap in the direction of anyone willing to throw an extra nickel his way.

Leavitt's never been like that. He's had his opportunities, but hasn't jumped.

What else factors into South Florida's success? Funny you should ask. Nick Saban has his own theories on the matter. From Ray Melick at The Birmingham News:

"The distribution of players is not the same for everybody. There's a significant amount of players who don't qualify (at some schools) and they end up being pretty good players at some other schools. I think there are six guys starting on South Florida's defense who probably could have gone to Florida or Florida State but Florida and Florida State couldn't take them. And if you do a good job of recruiting that way..."

That's Saban's theory ... USF is good because they'll take the kids who either haven't had access to the same education, have been forced to fight through some difficult circumstances, or are just flat-out dumb.

It's difficult to subscribe to that particular theory. Not because South Florida is above anything like that, but because Florida, Florida State, and Alabama aren't, either.

I believe any of those schools would give a full scholarship to a tree stump if they thought that stump had good initial burst and could reliably beat bump-and-run coverage. They'd have some brainy co-ed take the stump's SAT for it, fill in the name "STUMP, TREE," and aim for about an 800 ... qualifying, but still believable for a tree stump. And there he'd be on Saturdays, split out wide left, "STUMP" across the back of its custom-made, armless jersey.

Whether you buy Saban's theory or not, it's also true that Florida is home to a huge number of stud high-school football players ... more now than ever. And whether it's because of sheer numbers, or because some of these kids just can't figure out what shape the offensive backfield should take in the "I" formation ... there are more quality players than Miami, Florida State, or Florida can take.

The other ones have to go somewhere ... and if they like the idea of staying near home, then USF, playing their home games in an NFL stadium, and now a member of a BCS conference, isn't such a bad option.

No matter how they got there, the facts are these: they're a very talented group of players, they've been a clean program, they're no dumber than the athletes anywhere else, they have very excited, glittered fans, and they've got a fantastic head coach.

Maybe they beat Rutgers tonight, maybe they don't. Maybe they run the table and end up in the BCS championship game, and maybe they don't. But the foundation's been built. And as good as the present looks ... there's no reason that the future can't look even better.

I love the look on the guard's face. There's gotta be a better way to deal with this, other than just straight tackling ... a taser seems appropriate, maybe a shot of mace to the genitals. I think that would be an effective deterrent.

Hey, Did You Hear? Manny Ramirez is a Goofball

Slooooow news day yesterday. No MLB game, no new Kobe "news," no real off-the-field happenings, and I don't think anyone significant was arrested.

The top three stories on ESPN.com as of a few hours ago revolved around absolutely nothing happening with Joe Torre, Manny Ramirez being an idiot, and Koren Robinson coming back to drastically alter the landscape of the bottom of the Packers wide receiver depth chart. So what the hell ... let's focus on Manny.

Even more scandalous than showboating after a home-run that brought the Red Sox within 4 runs on Tuesday night, Manny had this to say yesterday about the possibility that the Red Sox might not win the ALCS:

"It doesn't happen, so who cares? There's always next year. It's not like it's the end of the world."

You know, he's right. Life will go on. If the Red Sox lose ... the earth keeps spinning, Travis Henry keeps inseminating women, and Emmit Smith keeps stuttering. My life won't change at all.

Of course ... I'm not a member of the Boston Red Sox. Winning a World Series is not what I'm paid to do. I don't have 24 teammates counting on me. I don't have an entire region pinning their hopes and dreams to me.

So maybe, you know ... there are some differences between myself and Manny Ramirez. Maybe we should see this with different levels of importance ... but we don't.

The guy's a doofus ... but the good news is that Manny Ramirez isn't going to give any more or less effort because he's a doofus. He steps up to the plate, and he swings at baseballs. That's really as far as his thought process goes.

He has no concept of clutch, no concept of the postseason, no concept of leading a team ... all he gets is, "Manny hit baseball, baseball go far." And maybe that's not the worst thing in the world.

Beckham Could Resume Dragging Down Galaxy as Early as Tonight

I had no idea this was going on, but the LA Galaxy of the MLS have apparently been on a hell of a winning streak, sans David Beckham.

They spent the entire season sucking dwellar mud, but they've suddenly won five in a row and could clinch a spot in the playoffs with two consecutive wins, tonight and on Sunday.

It's impressive, but let's not make them the Colorado Rockies quite yet ... all but 4 teams get into the MLS playoffs. If you give an 8-year-old a soccer ball, there's a chance he'll accidentally make the MLS playoffs.

But here's where it gets interesting ... Beckham's about to come back, supposedly healthy. The Galaxy's five-game win streak was done entirely without Goldenballs, and now, he's available.

So do they mess with chemistry and stick him in the line-up (tonight, on ESPN2), or do they keep him glued to the bench? Personally, I'd vote for chemistry ... my guess is that someone in the MLS will make the Galaxy vote for Beckham.

Priest to Resume Full Contact

In some situations, those words could be quite scary ... but this priest isn't wearing a collar, he's wearing a Chiefs uniform.

I really don't feel like the world is sufficiently shocked that Priest Holmes is about to be playing NFL football again. I see this as a bigger surprise than Vinny Testaverde putting on an NFL uniform.

Hey, I love the Vinny story, but it's not going to shock me if Vinny's still in uniform for someone when he's 71 years old.

But Priest Holmes ... it was just a few months ago that no one even knew where the hell he was. The team wasn't in contact with him, no one had spoken to him, Shawne Merriman might have turned his brain into a combination of Trent Green and instant mashed potatoes ... and yet, here he is.

In fact, the Chiefs feel so good about him that they traded away Michael Bennett ... not that Bennett was lighting up the stat sheet in any way, but clearly, Herm Edwards trusts Priest to take on at least a backup/3rd down role.

I'm all for it ... I hope he tears it up out there and takes Larry Johnson's job. Give 'em hell, Priest.

Vincent Lecavalier. Well, hello, not-at-all negative hockey item in the Debriefing. Hopefully this time, we won't cause such an uproar.

There's a new children's hospital being built in St. Petersburg, Florida, and it's going to have a fantastic new Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center ... funded by Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier. Vincent's helping to get $3 million into the new facility, and they're going to name it after him.

Fantastic work, NHL's leading goal scorer for 2006-07. This is big ... it's not a little token donation, it's not $10,000, or whatever Roy Williams gave to charity through delivering pizzas. This is a huge, Mutombo-like move ... bless this guy and the kids he'll end up helping.

Dave Wannstedt. Pitt's a 10-point underdog this week against 23rd-ranked (BCS) Cincinnati, but if you ever wanted to bet on Pitt ... I think this week's your chance.

Why, you might ask, would you ever bet on such a miserable football team? Because Dave Wannstedt will be a little bit farther away from the team than usual. He got a sprained mustache, and because of this, he'll be coaching from upstairs in the booth, while offensive coordinator Matt Cavanaugh will take over on the sidelines.

I suggest that sometime in the first five minutes of the game, Cavanaugh say something into his headset like, "What's that? No, I'm sorry, Dave, I can't hear. I guess I'm losing you." And then spike his headset to the ground, stomp on it, and stuff the broken remnants into the Gatorade cooler, and go things alone.

Wannstedt's actually got an achilles injury, and also just had arthroscopic knee surgery. Also, he's afflicted by a complete inability to coach football. The mustache, to the best of my knowledge, is doing just fine.

Deserving Of Your Full Attention ...

7:30, ESPN. College Football. South Florida @ Rutgers. I kinda have to put this here after that column, yes?

Other Stuff ...

8:00, FOX. ALCS. Boston Red Sox @ Cleveland Indians.
8:00, ESPN2. High School Football. Cy-Fair (Texas) @ Cypress Falls (Texas)
8:00, VS. College Football. Utah @ Texas Christian.
9:00, NBC. The Office.
9:00, E! The E! True Hollywood Story. Hugh Hefner: Girlfriends, Wives, and Centerfolds
10:00, NBC. ER.
10:00, TNT. NBA Preseason. Seattle Sonics @ Los Angeles Lakers.
11:00, Spike. MLE Chowdown: Wedges and Wings.

The Debriefing: How to Build a Championship-Caliber Team in 11 Short Years originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big East Caption This: Jim Leavitt to George O'Leary

John Radcliff — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:42:00 EST

Filed under: Big East, Conference USA, South Florida Football

Man, I had to make this picture super big just to get Mr. Messerschmidt's name on there. Anyhow, we're going to try something a little different here. We'll have a caption contest for the above picture. All you have to do is fill in the blank of what Jim Leavitt is telling George O'Leary. No prizes, just the satisfaction of recognition. I'll come back to this in a couple days and name a winner. And then of course, you can tell me why I'm wrong.

I think it's customary for the blogger to start things off, so here ya go: "Ya know George, after today you guys are going to be glad this series is coming to an end."

Start your engines....and keep it somewhat clean M'kay?

Update: And the winner is Moonknight! "4. It could be worse George......you could have told the truth about your resume and be coaching Notre Shame right now!" Woop!

Big East Caption This: Jim Leavitt to George O'Leary originally appeared on NCAA Football FanHouse on Wed, 17 Oct 2007 21:42:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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