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St. Pete Bowl Notebook

The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 19, 2008

USF, MEMPHIS LOSE STARTERS

University of South Florida starting RG Matt Huners and Memphis senior TE Brett Russell have been ruled academically ineligible for Saturday's St. Petersburg Bowl.

Huners actually graduated in the spring of 2008, but he did not meet the requirements this fall in his postgraduate work.

A senior, Huners had started all 12 games this season and 25 in his career. He has graded out as USF's best lineman the past two seasons. At last weekend's team banquet, Huners received the Coaches Award, for "recognition of the player who makes a substantive yet recognized contribution; a person whose bravery is unknown or unacknowledged."

Without Huners, the Bulls' starting offensive line this week has been tackles Jacob Sims and Marc Diles, guards Zach Hermann and Ryan Schmidt and center Jake Griffin.

Memphis coach Tommy West said sophomore Deven Onarheim will start in place of Russell, who started all 12 games this season.

THE BIGGER THEY ARE ...

Since 2000, 10 bowl games have featured a team favored by 13 points or more on the opening line. USF (St. Pete Bowl) and Missouri (Alamo) are the 11th and 12th teams. Of the last 10 big bowl favorites, only Hawaii lost. In 2002, the Warriors were 14-point favorites, but lost to Tulane 36-28, ironically playing at home in the Hawaii Bowl.

Year Bowl	Favorite (Spread) Underdog	Result
2008 Alamo	Missouri (131/2) Northwestern	TBD
2008 St. Pete	USF (13) Memphis	TBD
2007 Rose	USC (14) Illinois	USC 49-17
2005 New Orleans	So. Miss (151/2) Arkansas St.	USM 31-19
2004 Fiesta	Utah (15) Pittsburgh	Utah 35-7
2003 GMAC	Miami, Ohio (14) Louisville	Miami 49-28
2002 Hawaii	Hawaii (14) Tulane	Tulane 36-28
2002 Holiday	Kansas St. (181/2) Arizona State	KSU 34-27
2001 Cotton	Oklahoma (13) Arkansas	OU 10-3
2001 Orange	Florida (14) Maryland	UF 56-23
2001 Holiday	Texas (13) Washington	UT 47-43
2000 Alamo	Nebraska (141/2) Northwestern	Neb 66-17

WILL THE BEAT GO ON?

USF has won 12 consecutive games against non-BCS teams, while Memphis has lost seven in a row against BCS teams.

"A win against USF would be really important for us and for our league," Memphis coach Tommy West said. "I think it will help Conference USA. We've not been good over the past couple of, three years against the BCS schools."

USF, Cincinnati and Louisville all left Memphis behind in Conference USA in 2004, but West said there is "no animosity" between the schools.

"I'm glad they got into the Big East and the BCS," West said. "So really there is no animosity that way. People are always, 'Well, are you mad at them for leaving?' No - because we would do the same thing."

MEMPHIS' LOSING STREAK VS. BCS TEAMS

Date	BCS opponent	Result
Oct. 10, 2008	Louisville	L 35-28
Aug. 30, 2008	Ole Miss	L 41-24
Sept. 1, 2007	Ole Miss	L 23-21
Sept. 30, 2006	Tennessee	L 41-7
Sept. 3, 2006	Ole Miss	L 28-25
Nov. 12, 2005	Tennessee	L 20-16
Sept. 5, 2005	Ole Miss	L 10-6
Sept. 4, 2004	Ole Miss	W 20-13

USF'S WINNING STREAK VS. NON-BCS TEAMS

Date	Non-BCS opponent	Result
Sept. 20, 2008	Fla. International	W 17-9
Sept. 6, 2008	UCF	W 31-24
Aug. 30, 2008	*Tenn. Martin	W 56-7
Oct. 13, 2007	UCF	W 64-12
Oct. 6, 2007	Florida Atlantic	W 35-23
Sept. 1, 2007	*Elon	W 28-13
Dec. 23, 2006	East Carolina	W 24-7
Sept. 16, 2006	UCF	W 24-17
Sept. 9, 2006	Fla. International	W 21-20
Sept. 2, 2006	* McNeese State	W 41-10
Sept. 17, 2005	UCF	W 31-14
Sept. 10, 2005	*Florida A&M	W 37-3
Nov. 27, 2004	Memphis	L 31-15

*-Division I-AA opponents

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