SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
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- Because we are feeling good about ourselves and that can’t be allowed to last. Gut punch incoming!
- And why do we feel good about ourselves? Because we beat a lousy FCS team, the other worst team in the ACC and a MAC team and then played an over-rated LSU team close. The Tigers are good but one-d9imentional and they will lose 2-3 games before the regular is over and wind up clinging to the Top 25. They aren’t a top ten team. And they weren’t even LSU when they played us, as those 14 penalties indicate. (They needed a snickers bar.)
- Oh, but we see flashes!
- South Florida has hardly been an uncompetitive team. They gave Florida State a pretty good battle and held Memphis to less than half its 50+ point average. They see flashes, too. Like us they have been struggling the last couple of years but have recruited well and are starting to see the impact of it. And why wouldn’t you recruit well in the Tampa area? 19 of their 22 guys on the two deep come from that area. They and Central Florida have been getting the Florida B-listers schools like Syracuse used to get.
- They’ll put plenty of speed on the field. Brisley Estime and Erv Phillps will be no mystery to them. They beat Syracuse 6 of 8 times in the Big East days because we just didn’t have the talent to hang with them. We couldn’t recruit on their level. We were just too far away from where the recruits are.
- Will Eric Dungey be the same guy he seemed to be before he got mugged by Central Michigan? Will that assault put him off schedule?
- Are we sure the injury bug has done its damage and will move on to plague someone else. Or is it not yet done with us?
- Lenoard Fournette is the only top running back in the country. Marlon Mack, going for his second straight thousand yard year. Darius Tice is averaging a yard more per carry than he is (6.4 to 5.4). D’Earnest Johnson averages 4 yards per carry but is also their leading receiver with 14 catches for 223 yards and 4 scores. And quarterback has passed for 525 yards and 6 score while running for 202 yards and two more scores. Wide-out Elkanah Dillion has averaged a whopping 26 yards on 6 catches, including a 62 yard TD strike. Johnson has a 71 yarder. They have plenty of weapons to worry about.
- And, unlike LSU, they are not a traditional, meet you at the point of attack team that you can defend just by swarming to the ball. USF wants to spread you out and then hit you in the gaps. They make you stick to your assigned territory and cover a lot of ground. That may prove harder to stop.
- They may be primarily a running team but anyone who looks at film is going to test us deep. We haven’t been passing those tests.
- Willie Taggart, like Scott Shafer is a Harbaugh disciple. He’s too good to keep losing. He’s ready for a big turn-around starting right now. A 3-1 SU team is just what the doctor ordered.
- This is our first road game, a new experience for the young players on the team. No, it won’t be a full house of screaming Bulls fans. It will be the opposite, like those games in the Big East vs. Temple in Veteran’s Stadium. The place will be a lifeless echo chamber. Remember how poorly we always seemed to in those games, even when we won? It’s hard to maintain an emotional edge when don’t’ have anything to react to- cheering home fans or jeering road fans. This could be one of those games where everything seems to be going in slow motion. And we want to put the pedal to the medal in this one.
- And why do we feel good about ourselves? Because we beat a lousy FCS team, the other worst team in the ACC and a MAC team and then played an over-rated LSU team close. The Tigers are good but one-d9imentional and they will lose 2-3 games before the regular is over and wind up clinging to the Top 25. They aren’t a top ten team. And they weren’t even LSU when they played us, as those 14 penalties indicate. (They needed a snickers bar.)
- Oh, but we see flashes!
- South Florida has hardly been an uncompetitive team. They gave Florida State a pretty good battle and held Memphis to less than half its 50+ point average. They see flashes, too. Like us they have been struggling the last couple of years but have recruited well and are starting to see the impact of it. And why wouldn’t you recruit well in the Tampa area? 19 of their 22 guys on the two deep come from that area. They and Central Florida have been getting the Florida B-listers schools like Syracuse used to get.
- They’ll put plenty of speed on the field. Brisley Estime and Erv Phillps will be no mystery to them. They beat Syracuse 6 of 8 times in the Big East days because we just didn’t have the talent to hang with them. We couldn’t recruit on their level. We were just too far away from where the recruits are.
- Will Eric Dungey be the same guy he seemed to be before he got mugged by Central Michigan? Will that assault put him off schedule?
- Are we sure the injury bug has done its damage and will move on to plague someone else. Or is it not yet done with us?
- Lenoard Fournette is the only top running back in the country. Marlon Mack, going for his second straight thousand yard year. Darius Tice is averaging a yard more per carry than he is (6.4 to 5.4). D’Earnest Johnson averages 4 yards per carry but is also their leading receiver with 14 catches for 223 yards and 4 scores. And quarterback has passed for 525 yards and 6 score while running for 202 yards and two more scores. Wide-out Elkanah Dillion has averaged a whopping 26 yards on 6 catches, including a 62 yard TD strike. Johnson has a 71 yarder. They have plenty of weapons to worry about.
- And, unlike LSU, they are not a traditional, meet you at the point of attack team that you can defend just by swarming to the ball. USF wants to spread you out and then hit you in the gaps. They make you stick to your assigned territory and cover a lot of ground. That may prove harder to stop.
- They may be primarily a running team but anyone who looks at film is going to test us deep. We haven’t been passing those tests.
- Willie Taggart, like Scott Shafer is a Harbaugh disciple. He’s too good to keep losing. He’s ready for a big turn-around starting right now. A 3-1 SU team is just what the doctor ordered.
- This is our first road game, a new experience for the young players on the team. No, it won’t be a full house of screaming Bulls fans. It will be the opposite, like those games in the Big East vs. Temple in Veteran’s Stadium. The place will be a lifeless echo chamber. Remember how poorly we always seemed to in those games, even when we won? It’s hard to maintain an emotional edge when don’t’ have anything to react to- cheering home fans or jeering road fans. This could be one of those games where everything seems to be going in slow motion. And we want to put the pedal to the medal in this one.
