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Has Leavitt Taken Bulls As Far As He Can?

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Jim Leavitt's team is on track to finish among the nation's 10 most penalized for the ninth straight year.

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 5, 2008

TAMPA - So what has gone wrong with the University of South Florida football team?

Too many penalties. Poor clock management. Players yelling at coaches; coaches yelling at coaches. And that was just what transpired during the second quarter of Thursday's loss at Cincinnati.

Since starting 5-0, the Bulls are 1-3 and tied for last place in the Big East.

The Bulls' first preseason national ranking is a distant memory – and unless they close 4-0, including a St. Pete Bowl win, they will again end the season unranked.

Last season, the Bulls reached No. 2 in the nation. They were the darlings of college football. Perhaps it all came too easy and quickly because since then the Bulls have come crashing down.

Since starting 6-0 in 2007, USF is barely a .500 team.

In their last 15 games against Division I-A teams, the Bulls are 8-7. And USF was favored in each game.

Only two teams have been favorites in more consecutive games: Oklahoma (28) and BYU (18). Oklahoma is 23-5 in those contests and BYU 16-2. In other words, they win when they're supposed to.

USF doesn't – and hasn't consistently – under Coach Jim Leavitt.

The Bulls have pulled off some of the biggest upsets in college football in the past (Auburn, West Virginia in 2007, West Virginia in 2006, Louisville in 2005). But when the Bulls are supposed to win, or are the "hunted," they shoot themselves in the foot – that is if a defensive lineman doesn't jump offside first.

USF's last eight I-A wins? They are against teams who are a combined 22-49 record (31 percent) against I-A competition. Only Kansas (5-3 against I-A teams this year) has a winning record.

SportsIllustrated.com's Stewart Mandel, reflecting on voting USF No. 1 last season after its 6-0 start, wrote this week that "I fell for the myth that Jim Leavitt's built-from-scratch program had established itself as a nationally relevant program."

The myth continued this season.

The Bulls returned 17 starters and were expected to compete for the Big East title. They were all but eliminated after three games.

In five nonconference wins, USF averaged 464 yards and allowed 242 yards. In USF's four Big East games, the Bulls averaged 360 yards and allowed 331 yards. So, basically since they stopped playing the Tennessee-Martins and Florida Internationals, the offense is averaging 104 yards less a game and the defense is allowing 69 more yards.

But, hey, at least they're still committing penalties at a record pace. USF is fifth in the nation (8.56 penalties per game) and is on track to finish among the nation's 10 most penalized teams for an unprecedented ninth consecutive year.

Each USF loss seems like the last one. A never-ending Groundhog Day: offense sputters, defense gives up a big play or three, undisciplined play, erratic special teams and poor clock management (has USF ever entered the final two minutes with all three timeouts?).

Even Leavitt's patented halftime motivational tactics appear to be getting stale. Some players admitted the constant head-butting "is nothing new."

Neither is this season. Once again, so much early promise is gone by Halloween. All tricks, no treat.

Make no mistake: Leavitt deserves major, major credit for building USF's program from scratch. Without the program's early success, USF never sniffs getting in the Big East. He also deserves every penny of his new seven-year, $12.6 million deal after working for, well, pennies in the beginning.

Leavitt has done wonders in building USF. But in this world of what have you done for me lately (i.e. Tennessee's Phil Fulmer), the question remains: Can Leavitt's ways lead the Bulls to a Big East title and BCS bowl?

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928.

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