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Bumbling Bulls Do Little Right

Tribune photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER

University of South Florida's wide receiver Theo Wilson 21 fumbles the ball against Rutgers during the 3rd quarter.

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By GREGG BECNEL

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 16, 2008

TAMPA - Turnovers, penalties, special teams failures and a suspect defense were the familiar culprits in the University of South Florida's 49-16 loss to Rutgers at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday.

USF committed a season-high six turnovers, had 10 penalties for 100 yards, missed a field-goal attempt, had a field-goal attempt blocked, botched a point-after attempt, gave up a big kick return right before the half and couldn't stop Rutgers' offense in the second half.

"It's hard to win when you can't get anything going your way," said quarterback Matt Grothe, who threw three interceptions against RU and has thrown eight in the past three games.

"We ask Matt to do a lot. I don't think it was his decision-making Saturday," offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said. "One ball got away from him - the interception they ran back for the score."

Trailing 28-16 late in the third quarter, the Bulls were driving when a fumble near midfield deflated USF's hopes of a comeback and opened the floodgate for Rutgers' offense.

"When it was 28-16, I felt OK," Bulls coach Jim Leavitt said. "And then our defense just couldn't stop them. And that's all there is to it. What happened to us in the second half? I'll be honest with you, I don't know.

"I think the most disappointing thing was we stopped competing in the second half. That is the first time I've seen our team do that in a long time."

Players and coaches had trouble explaining USF's plummet from a Top 10 team to one near the bottom of the Big East.

"Our kids responded for a half, and that's been our tale all year. We just haven't been able to put four quarters together," defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. "We couldn't finish the game. Maybe that's coaching, maybe it's playing, maybe it's a combination."

Rutgers scored touchdowns on four of its five second-half possessions.

"It hurts a lot. We don't want to give up that many points. Our goal is like 14 a game. And 49? That's ridiculous," defensive end George Selvie said. "I can't explain what's going on. We got talent out of this world. We just need to pull together and play together."

USF's final four possessions ended with three turnovers and a punt.

"In the second half," Grothe said, "it just all came unglued."

Kind of like USF's season.

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