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Stage Set For Bulls Homecoming Romp

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 17, 2008

TAMPA - Matt Grothe has brought the "Grohawk" out of retirement. Defensive leaders Brouce Mompremier and George Selvie are back in the starting lineup for the University of South Florida.

It seems just like old times for the Bulls.

OK, so Grothe's new (old) ''do is only a year old, but there's another similarity to last season when USF faces Syracuse on Saturday: The Bulls are coming off a disappointing five-point home loss.

Last season, the Bulls pounded Syracuse, 41-10, after a 38-33 loss to Cincinnati. This year, the Bulls have had 16 days to stew since losing to Pittsburgh 26-21.

"Everyone is ready to get back on the field," Grothe said. "It's been such a long time since we played and even longer since we've won a game."

At noon (WTFS, Ch. 28) on WFTS, Channel 28, No. 19-ranked USF (5-1, 0-1 Big East) hosts Syracuse (1-5, 0-2). It's the Bulls' homecoming and, boy, have the Bulls scheduled the perfect homecoming opponent.

The Orange rank last in the Big East in total offense, rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense and second-to-last in passing offense, scoring offense and passing defense. Nationally, SU ranks among the 15 worst teams in passing offense, total offense, scoring offense, rushing defense, total defense and scoring defense.

The Orange has lost nine consecutive games against Division I-A opponents and under Coach Greg Robinson, Syracuse is 2-21 in Big East play (USF men's basketball fans can relate, with the Bulls' 7-43 Big East record).

In the three previous meetings with Syracuse, the Bulls have dominated. Syracuse has led for exactly 4 minutes, 12 seconds of the 180 minutes and USF has exceeded 500 yards in offense in the last past two meetings, including a school record 582 last season.

"We've had good game plans going into them," Grothe said. "I thought we could hit some stuff and we were able to do that. Last year started off well and we kept it going into the second half.

"We know we can move the ball on anybody, but it's just a matter of if we're going to take care of the ball and come out with the attitude we're going to do it. If we do, then we have a good chance to put up a good amount of points and help out our defense."

The Bulls own the Big East's top offense and rank 25th nationally, but USF coach Jim Leavitt said the offense has "been inconsistent."

"We've been inconsistent a little bit," Leavitt said. "At times we've done extremely well, I've been really, really happy. We sure played awfully good against NC State [520 yards] and then struggled against Pittsburgh [245 yards]. At times, we've done very well. I've been, overall, pretty happy with how they've played."

Grothe said the Bulls have had mixed results.

"At times we've done well, at times we haven't," said Grothe, who leads Big East quarterbacks in total offense. "I don't think we've put ourselves in the best situation. It's not always about scoring points, but helping the defense out.

"At times throughout the year, we've put our defense in some bad situations and dug us even more of a hole."

Mompremier, a senior linebacker, and Selvie, a junior defensive end, return to the starting lineup since both were injured Sept. 20 at Florida International.

"Nobody had run on us until we played Pittsburgh," said Selvie, who was limited against Pitt with a high ankle sprain. "I thought we did pretty good [before], now we've got everyone healthy. We should be great again and do what we did the first part of the season."

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928 or bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com..

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