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Bulls Not Handling Rankings Very Well

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By BRETT McMURPHY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 4, 2008

TAMPA - Whether it's the added attention or the heightened expectations, the Bulls have not handled the bull's-eye of being ranked very well.

The No. 10 Bulls were upset by Pittsburgh 26-21 on Thursday, marking their fifth loss in 14 games when nationally ranked during the past two seasons.

And in each loss, South Florida was favored to win, but didn't.

Now the Bulls (5-1, 0-1 Big East) have 16 days before playing Syracuse on Oct. 18 to correct the plethora of mistakes from losing to the two-TD underdog Panthers (4-1, 2-0).

"It's hard to go undefeated in college football," said USF QB Matt Grothe, who was limited to a season-low 129 yards passing. "It's just one game. We have a bye week, a chance to get straight on some things."

The Bulls also need to "get straight" on defense and special teams, which failed on a faked field goal, had a field goal blocked for the third time this season and had a kickoff dribble out of bounds to set up Pitt's winning TD drive.

"Defensively we didn't play very good, offensively we didn't play very good and special teams were not very good," USF coach Jim Leavitt said.

Defensive coordinator Wally Burnham's frustration showed on Pitt's first TD - a 52-yard pass.

"The corner thought we were playing one coverage and the safety thought we were playing another," Burnham said. "And it's becoming an epidemic every week. It's the same thing."

WHAT WENT RIGHT: OK, let's take a minute. With two weeks until Syracuse, USF should be able to get DE George Selvie, and NTs Terrell McClain and Sampson Genus healthy.

WHAT WENT WRONG: In USF's first four games, the Bulls allowed 9.7 yards per completion. In the last two games, USF has allowed 18 yards a completion. ... Of LeSean McCoy's 142 yards rushing Thursday, 101 were gained on runs between the tackles. ... The Bulls, who were 16th in the nation in time of possession (32:07), had the ball for only 23:06.

Brett McMurphy

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