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The Bull's-Eye Is On USF This Season

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By BRETT McMURPHY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 25, 2008

TAMPA - Kirk Herbstreit has a message for the University of South Florida's football program: The gig is up.

You've been had. The word is out.

You're good - very, very good - and everyone throughout college football knows it.

"The difference from this year and last year's 9-4 season for USF is now they're no longer a cute story," said Herbstreit, an ESPN analyst and a former Ohio State quarterback. "Now they are a legitimate team that everybody wants a piece of.

"Once upon a time, they had only a couple of footballs and, what, a trailer? It was like a fun story. Well, it's not a fun story anymore, when you win nine games and people want a piece of you."

Herbstreit not only thinks the Bulls will win the Big East this season, but he also thinks they should be favored to win it.

"They return 17 starters and a great quarterback Matt Grothe, defensive end George Selvie on the other side," Herbstreit said. "The expectations are through the roof.

"How, as a young program, will they handle those expectations? Will they press a little bit to try to live up to that? Or can they continue to just play their game? Now they have this big bull's-eye on their chest."

The bull's-eyes on the Bulls actually first appeared during last season - Oct. 14 to be exact. That's the day USF vaulted to No. 2 in The Associated Press and BCS polls. USF was 6-0, with upsets against nationally ranked Auburn and West Virginia, but finished the season losing four of its final seven games.

USF coach Jim Leavitt, 79-47 in 11 seasons since starting the Bulls' program, said what happened last season will not have any effect on what happens this year.

"Every team is different," Leavitt said. "Last year it was 9-4, a team that was No. 2 in the nation, a team that lost three in a row, a team that then won three in a row and then got beat bad by Oregon in the Sun Bowl.

"This year, is a whole 'nother team. Not a thing that happened last year is going to have a whole lot to do with this team, win or lose."

Several of the Bulls said last year's experience will benefit them this year.

"Getting up to No. 2 last year and then falling in three straight games will be a driving force for us this year," senior tight end Cedric Hill said. "We keep that in the back of our minds every day we go out to practice because we don't want to get in that predicament again of getting up to the top and then falling back down."

As quickly as the Bulls' ascended to No. 2, their drop was even quicker. In just three weeks, USF went from the nation's No. 2 team to a last-place tie in the Big East. The Bulls rebounded by closing the regular season with three wins before the Sun Bowl loss to Oregon.

"When we got to No. 2 last year, a lot of the guys were like, 'Oh, we're at No. 2' and stuff like that," senior center Jake Griffin said. "I think that kind of affected us a little bit. But we'll be able to deal with 'all that' better this year since we've been there before."

Last year, the Bulls had no idea what to expect. They never had been nationally ranked in the program's history and began the year unranked and largely unknown on the national level.

Last year's success changed everything.

"This summer I was in a Wal-Mart by campus and people stopped me - 'Hey, you play football, right?'" senior strong safety Louis Gachette said. "They wanted my autograph and everything.

"It feels good people are asking about us and talking about us. A couple of years ago, if you said you're from USF, people are like 'Where's that?' when we're right here in Tampa."

Since playing their first game in 1997, the Bulls slowly but steadily have made their gains in the state. Last year, though, the Bulls made a national splash.

And that's carried over to this year.

This month, the Bulls earned their first AP preseason ranking at No. 19 and Selvie was featured in Playboy magazine (fully clothed) as the school's first Playboy All-American.

The school already also sold a record 26,000 season tickets (and counting) and next year's recruiting class currently is ranked among the nation's top 15 by ESPN.com.

And USF won't be leaving the spotlight any time soon.

The Bulls will have at least six games nationally televised by ESPN or ESPN2, including their first ESPN Thursday night home game, college football's equivalent of NFL's "Monday Night Football."

Griffin said the Bulls can't let the added attention and higher expectations affect them.

"I think the less you think about it the better off you're going to be," Griffin said. "If you're worried about the pressure then the pressure's going to get to you. I think we should just go into it like every other season: one game at a time."

Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham believes last year's experience will pay huge dividends for the Bulls, who open the season Saturday at home against Tennessee-Martin.

"Success breeds success," Burnham said. "They realize they can do it. They've been there. They're hungry to get back and show people it wasn't a fluke and hopefully it wasn't."

Coming off consecutive nine-win seasons with basically the entire offense returning intact and several talented playmakers on defense - as strange as this may have sounded just a couple of years ago - anything less than 10 wins this fall actually might be a disappointment.

"Any time you can be in the Top 25 is great," Hill said. "You can't take it and run with it; but you have to embrace it because many teams don't get a chance to be in the Top 25. And by us being a growing program and making history, it makes us very happy and makes us work harder to stay in the Top 25. You could start No. 1 but then at the end you might be 25, so it's important we keep up the intensity and keep up the good work and play hard."

Selvie said the Bulls welcome the expectations and national notoriety the program received in the past year.

"It's a great honor to be ranked No. 19 in the preseason, but you have to stay up there," Selvie said. "It's not where you start, it's where you finish. So we're looking to go through the season and get better and take it one game at a time and try to win every game.

"We have to stay focused on our main goal, which is to win every game, win the Big East championship and go from there."

The Bulls win the Big East? Kirk Herbstreit expects nothing less.

The Bulls will meet expectations if ...
• The offense, which returns 10 starters from last year's unit that set school records for most points and most total yards in a season, is even more potent than 2007. And it would be almost impossible for them not to be better. Six of the top seven RBs and 11 of the top 13 WRs from last year return along with QB Matt Grothe.

• USF can handle a big Bulls-eye on its back. With the first preseason ranking in school history, the Bulls no longer will be able to sneak up on anyone. USF probably won't be in an underdog role until the season finale at West Virginia.

• Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham knows what he's talking about. Despite the losses of NFL draft picks Mike Jenkins and Trae Williams at cornerback, Burnham said the secondary will be the strongest part of the defense. If so, USF's first season with at least 10 wins is a real possibility.

COUNTERPOINT

The Bulls will fall short of expectations if ...

• The defense can't stop the run. USF's Achilles' heel in past years has been stopping power running attacks and the defensive line will be tested with converted offensive lineman Sampson Genus starting at nose tackle.

• It seems like it's mentioned every year, but it still is true: The offensive line must avoid injuries. Arguably the best offensive line in school history, it's also dangerously thin. If more than one starter is sidelined with an injury, the offense's production could severely be hampered.

• USF wilts under the pressure from the unprecedented expectations. An early upset loss could snowball into two or three losses and a team expected to challenge for the Big East title instead could drop to the middle of the conference.

USF Projected Starters

OFFENSE

Chamberlain - 16 Ed Alcin, So. WR (6-2, 185), Countryside - 51 Lucas Darr, So. LB (5-10, 202), Dunedin - 42 Theo Wilson, Jr. CB (6-0, 207), Durant - 41 Jason Fox, Jr. OL (6-0, 280), Gaither - 2 Carlton Mitchell, So. WR (6-4, 210), Gibbs - 1 Jerrell Young, Fr. S (6-2, 210), Indian Rocks Christian - 58 Darryl Dudding, Sr. LS (6-2, 261), Jefferson - 44 Trent Pupello, So. TE (6-2, 276), Lakewood - 72 Joe Herzhauser, So. OL (6-4, 276), Newsome - 79 Chaz Hine, Fr. OL (6-4, 292), Northeast - 51 Armando Sanchez, Fr. LB (5-11, 215), Plant - 68 Mike Walsh, Fr. LS (5-10, 205), Plant City - 74 Mark Popek, Fr. OT (6-7, 305), Seminole - 29 Colby Erskin, Jr. WR (5-9, 185), Tampa Bay Tech - 36 Ilia Petrov, So. P (5-11, 203), Wesley Chapel - 73 Danny Tolley, Jr. OG (6-6, 300), Wharton - 37 Joel Miller, Fr. RB (6-0, 185),

COACHING STAFF

Head coach: Jim Leavitt (12th season, 79-47)

Assistants: Larry Antonucci (director of football operations), Pat Burnham (director of player personnel), Wally Burnham (associate head coach/defensive coordinator/linebackers), Mike Canales (pass game coordinator/wide receivers), Troy Douglas (defensive backs), Carl Franks (running backs/recruiting coordinator), Greg Gregory (offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), John Hendrick (defensive line), Kevin Patrick (defensive ends), Rich Rachel (director of high school relations), Larry Scott (tight ends), Mike Simmonds (offensive line), Jared Davis (graduate assistant), Mike Lube (graduate assistant)

IF YOU GO

Tickets: Call 1-800-GoBulls (1-800-462-8557) for season tickets or group sales; (813) 287-8844 for single-game tickets or go to GoUSFBulls.com or ticketmaster.com.

Stadium: Raymond James Stadium (65,857)

Directions: Located about a mile north of I-275 on Dale Mabry Highway.

ON THE AIR

Radio: WFLA, 970 AM (Tampa/St. Petersburg); WORL, 660 AM (Orlando); WFLL, 1400 AM (Fort Lauderdale); WSTU, 1450 AM (Stuart); WPSL, 1590 AM (Port St. Lucie); WZEP, 1460 AM (Defuniak Springs); WKLF, 1430 AM (Lakeland).

Correspondent Gregg Becnel contributed to this report. Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com.

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