USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said that's not significant, because the Bulls split their carries between several players.

Gregory said Ford was expected to get 20 carries a game this year, but the sophomore has been hampered all season by an ankle injury. The closest USF has come to a 100-yard rusher this season was Ben Williams' 79 yards at Cincinnati.

USF's 14 games without a 100-yard back is its second-longest streak, behind the school record (33 consecutive games, 2000-2003). USF's record in that 33-game stretch without a 100-yard rusher was 24-9 (73 percent). Overall, USF is 30-8 (79 percent) when a rusher gets 100 yards and 56-44 (56 percent) without a 100-yard rusher.

Memphis has allowed four backs to gain 100 yards this season.

There remain plenty of seats for Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl at Tropicana Field, but the question is: How many? Either nobody knows - or is willing to say.

Officials with the St. Pete Bowl, USF, Memphis and Conference USA all said Tuesday they were unsure how many tickets USF or Memphis had sold, and C-USA associate commissioner Albert White and Memphis officials could not confirm how many of the Tigers' 10,000 ticket allotment the school had returned.

Because Memphis has returned some tickets, USF fans who already have upper-level seats may swap those for lower-level seats by bringing their tickets to Tropicana Field's Gate 1 ticket office between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. today through Friday or after 9 a.m. Saturday. For information, call 1-888-326-7297.

Also, all runners who pre-register for Friday's inaugural St. Petersburg 5K run will receive a free ticket to the game.

BELOW .500 BOWLERS

USF is among five teams this season that received a bowl berth despite finishing with a sub-.500 record in conference play.

Former Newsome K Vinny Zaccario says his first season at Memphis couldn't have been any better.

Not only did Zaccario get significant playing time as a freshman walk-on, but now he's also returning to the Bay area for the St. Petersburg Bowl.

"Obviously, I haven't been back home since mid-July, so just coming home is exciting enough," Zaccario said. "But the fact that being a freshman and my first bowl game will be back home and against the hometown team USF that I followed when I was in high school is just awesome."

Zaccario filled in for injured starter Matt Reagan in six games, hitting six of eight field-goals, including the 25-yard game-winner against UAB on Nov. 1. It earned him Conference USA Special Teams Player of the Week honors.

Zaccario is recovering from a right foot and ankle injury suffered in a non-football related incident, and he won't play Saturday.

BULL BITS

USF junior DE George Selvie, who earned first-team Associated Press All-American honors as a sophomore, was named a third-team AP All-American Tuesday. ... USF pass game coordinator/WR coach Mike Canales is a candidate to become offensive coordinator at Illinois, Rivals.com's Tom Dienhart reported. ... USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory is expected to be a candidate for the Army head coaching position, GoBlackKnights.com reported. Gregory was an Army assistant from 1982-97.

Brett McMurphy, Adam Adkins

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