TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Defense Again Can't Close Deal

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOSH COOK

Tribune correspondent

Published: October 26, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For George Selvie and many on the South Florida football team, it was like seeing a terrible television show for the second time.

And in this case, the rerun was just as bad.

That's because the 14th-ranked Bulls blew a late lead Saturday in losing 24-20 to Louisville.

It was an all-too-familiar ending for a team that gave up 14 fourth-quarter points to UCF on Sept. 6 before winning the game in overtime, and a touchdown to Pittsburgh with 1 minute, 14 seconds to play Oct. 2, when the Bulls dropped their Big East opener.

"It's happened two or three times this year," said Selvie, a junior defensive end who had four tackles for loss and two sacks. "Our defense, we need to stop doing that.

"It hurts. It was resting on us, on the defense's shoulders and we didn't step up.

South Florida rallied from a 14-3 deficit to take a 20-17 lead on Matt Grothe's 15-yard touchdown pass to Ben Busbee with 9:22 to play.

But in somewhat similar fashion to the Pittsburgh game, the Cardinals subsequently drove downfield on their next possession and scored what would be the winning touchdown - a 24-yard pass from Hunter Cantwell to Scott Long.

"For them to go down and score just like Pitt, we've got to get that corrected," defensive backs coach Troy Douglas said.

In that game, the Bulls took the lead with 3:43 to play, only to see the Panthers score with 1:14 remaining to win.

"It's very disappointing. If you can't hold a lead you don't deserve to win," defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said.

"That's two times it's happened. We've struggled in the fourth quarter before. I have to find out what's happening ... but it's bad."

Equally as bad were South Florida 14 penalties for 109 yards.

"We made some stupid mistakes," Selvie said.

The last was definitely the most costly.

Leading by four with 1:19 to play, Louisville lined up for a 37-yard field goal attempt. Cardinals kicker Ryan Payne missed the field goal wide right, but USF's Tyrone McKenzie was flagged for holding. The penalty gave the Cardinals an automatic first down and allowed them to run out the clock.

"He said he didn't do it," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said. "I don't know, I'll have to watch the film, but I hope that's a great call, because if not then we've got the ball with 1:20 to go.

"Lord have mercy, that's something," Leavitt added, shaking his head.

But according to Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe, it was something he and his coaching staff had seen on film.

"They committed a holding penalty, there's no doubt 27 McKenzie pulled up," Kragthorpe said. "We've seen it in film and we knew they'd try to do it again."

Through its first eight games, USF (6-2, 1-2) is averaging 8.6 penalties for 64.3 yards per game.

"We can't have that, it's that plain and simple," Burnham said. "That's just undisciplined."

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT