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After Roller-Coaster Ride, Bulls Look To Rush Back To Top

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By MARTIN FENNELLY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 15, 2008

TAMPA - It still seems like a blur.

The good, the great, the bad, the ugly.

That was 2007 South Florida football.

Places the Bulls have never been - and places they never want to be again.

Did it all really happen?

"It was insane," USF linebacker Tyrone McKenzie said, "but it happened."

Jim Leavitt's team really did start 6-0 and rise to No. 2 in the country, whether the country believed in it or not. The Bulls really did then lose three in a row, then rally for three in a row, before that dark day in the Sun Bowl against Oregon.

"It was a roller coaster," McKenzie said. "We just couldn't hold on."

It's about getting back up there in 2008.

More than that, really.

Bulls quarterback Matt Grothe says so.

"It's going to be about staying there, and not falling off."

Lost Focus At No. 2

They made history people won't forget.

Fan Day last Sunday at Raymond James Stadium brimmed with believers. The team's first preseason ranking (No. 21 in the coaches' poll) fed some fevers. The win at Auburn, the win over West Virginia, the No. 2 ranking, the 9-4 season, remain fresh. So does going from No. 2 to unranked.

"The ranking, no one will forget," Leavitt said. "Auburn, nobody will forget that. That was historical. West Virginia, people will talk about that for the next 30 years.

"The bottom line is, we haven't won our conference. We haven't won a Big East championship. Connecticut has. We haven't. There's work to do."

They've known that since they staggered from a 56-21 Sun Bowl loss.

"Unbelievable," USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. "I still haven't gotten over it. That might be the worst butt-whipping I've ever had, I mean total dominance, both sides of the ball, out behind the woodshed."

Grothe can hardly remember the day on which he threw two picks, one for an Oregon touchdown. He suffered a concussion.

"I'm kind of glad I got a concussion, because I didn't have to think about it."

Leavitt didn't suffer a concussion.

"I think what it might do is humble us quite a bit, make us realize you've got to not only play well, but you've got to fight for everything.

"What does that bowl game have to do with this year? Probably not a lot."

He's probably right. This team has a very good shot at a very good season.

By the way, last season was a very good season, too.

True, USF didn't handle No. 2 very well. But what team thrust blindly into such a spotlight would?

"It happened so fast, none of us really had a chance to realize it," Grothe said. "Somebody said we were No. 2 and it's like, since I was a little kid I'd seen No. 2 teams, and I didn't think, oh, my God, this team is No. 2.

"What matters is being there at the end of the year. Can you tell me who was the No. 2 team six weeks into the season seven years ago? I don't think we really understood what we needed to stay there."

"We lost a bit of focus," McKenzie said.

First-Best Team?

They lost three games in as many weeks, though they had the ball and chances to win all three. But just as things looked bleak, the Bulls closed out the Big East season with three consecutive wins.

"We could have just folded," Grothe said.

Those are the games to build on.

But then came Oregon.

So here they are, back to prove doubters wrong. There are people out there who still see that No. 2 as a joke.

"There's always going to be doubters," said George Selvie, USF's returning All-America defensive end. "We went up to No. 2 so fast, and then we lost it. Everybody is going to doubt us."

Did Selvie really think they were the second-best team in the country?

"We might have been the first-best team in the country," he said.

He grinned.

It was a hungry grin.

"We got a taste of it," Tyrone McKenzie said. "We want it again."

No joke.

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