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What They Are Saying

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 20, 2007

A look at the some of the reaction around the country following USF's 30-27 loss at Rutgers.

MIKE BIANCHI, Orlando Sentinel: "Was anybody else uncomfortable with the way South Florida coach Jim Leavitt lost his composure. The TV cameras showed Leavitt loudly berating a player on the sideline, ripping off his headphones and throwing them to the ground and pretty much acting like a football version of Bob Knight. It's no wonder his team showed a lack of poise against Rutgers. When the coach can't control his emotions, how can the players be expected to? What example did Leavitt set Thursday night? 'Hey, fellas, when the going gets tough, lose your temper, throw things and scream a lot.' The come-from-nowhere Bulls should be one of the nation's most embraced teams, but Leavitt's public persona makes USF hard to love. One of the major reasons FSU and Miami emerged on the national scene is because, in the early days, Bobby Bowden and Howard Schnellenberger were promoters and ambassadors for their program. Lighten up, Leavitt. You've done a great job. Don't ruin it by acting like a jerk."

HAYDEN FRY, former Iowa coach whom Leavitt worked under as a graduate assistant: "I think that Coach Leavitt's team lost for a couple of reasons. They committed too many penalties in key situations, and they got outplayed in the specialty teams. I thought Matt Grothe did well, but the play-calling really hurt his cause. They could not pick up the blitzes, and he continued to get sacked for big losses. I think USF should have used the short passing game. Rutgers blitzed on every play and an occasional screen or dump-off pass to the tight end would have kept the Knights honest."

STEWART MANDEL, SI.com: "When you're an LSU or Oklahoma, you can lose a tough conference road game, brush it off and return to the top five within a couple weeks as if it never happened. When you're USF, and you lose a tough conference road game just four days after an already skeptical set of voters tabbed you the No. 2 team in the country almost as an obligation, you can expect the court of public opinion to be somewhat less merciful."

MIKE TRANGHESE, Big East commissioner: "Our problem is, we're a young league, and when we beat each other up, people will discredit us. The SEC has a long, upstanding tradition and people are starting to understand how tough it is to get through that league undefeated. I think it's become difficult to get through our league undefeated, and it's only going to get more difficult."

CORNNATION.COM, on which coach he would want at Nebraska next season: "I was going to say Jim Leavitt, but after watching South Florida spike the ball with 1:21 left [to] bring up a third-and-22, I'm convinced he's a complete idiot. I'm sure someone else straps on his Velcro shoes for him in the morning. He scowls really well."

MARK SCHLABACH, ESPN.com: "When you're an 11-year-old college football program and belong to a conference that lost three of its best teams only three years ago, there are no mulligans. But the Bulls deserve a mulligan as much as LSU or Oklahoma. When the new college football polls are released Sunday, chances are the Bulls will probably be ranked even lower than No. 9 West Virginia, which lost at South Florida 21-13 on Sept. 28. That's the way college football works."

MUNGOENDWITZ.BLOGSPOT.COM: "A cautionary tale was well provided [Thursday] night by a humanoid named Jim Leavitt, the coach of the South Florida Bulls. Did any of you see the game and his crazed weasel performance? Stomping and screaming, eyes bulging, neck veins pulsing, even when his team had done an OK job. Mr. Leavitt, Woody Hayes is dead and gone and your program ain't gonna last with these kinds of shenanigans. You got your 15 minutes [of fame] and decided to act like you had rabies. Kudos, sir."

RICK BROWN, Lakeland Ledger: "The critics went to sleep Thursday patting themselves on the back and saying they told us the University of South Florida was a fraud. They will say the Bulls' No. 2 BCS ranking was more happenstance - a by-product of every other team losing - than legitimacy. Now, after Rutgers' 30-27 victory, the sham can finally come to an end, they will say. Those critics would be wrong. USF's story is just starting."

MATTHEW ZEMEK, FoxSports.com: "When you look at this game in a larger context, the stacks of mistakes made by players and coaches alike served to place yet another cloud over a Big East Conference that isn't enjoying a very distinguished season. The effort level in this game proved to be phenomenal, but the level of execution - to put it charitably - left a lot to be desired. [Jim] Leavitt - so good for so much of this season - simply lost focus [calling a timeout with the clock already stopped with 2:26 remaining]. Coaches, not just players, were losing it in crunch time."

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