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Plancher Thrives In Early Going

By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 7, 2008

Updated: 09/07/2008 12:33 am

ORLANDO - Before kickoff, UCF honored former Knights WR Ereck Plancher, who died March 18 at the age of 19 after offseason conditioning drills, with a moment of silence.

Once the game started, University of South Florida RB Moise Plancher honored his late cousin the best way he could - by performing on the field.

Making only the second start of his career, Plancher rushed for 27 yards on his first carry and capped USF's first drive with a 14-yard touchdown run.

As a freshman in 2006, Plancher won the starting job in the season opener, but he suffered a torn ACL on the first series.

In USF's first two games, Plancher has three touchdowns.

WHAT RIVALRY? Everyone has an opinion whether the USF-UCF series should be continued, but it was evident in the opening quarter the game meant a lot to both teams.

There were three personal-foul penalties - two by UCF - in the opening seven minutes. Another personal foul penalty, called on USF, was waived off by the officials, who were from the Big East Conference.

CURIOUS ABOUT GEORGE: USF junior DE George Selvie, who was second in the nation last year with 14.5 sacks, is finding out what it's like when he's the focal point of offensive game plans.

Facing constant double teams, Selvie does not have a sack through two games.

In USF's first six games last season, Selvie had 11.5 sacks, but has only three sacks in his past nine games dating to last year.

FIRST ROADIES: Six Bulls made the first road starts of their career - sophomore NT Sampson Genus, junior LB Kion Wilson, junior CB Jerome Murphy, senior CB Tyller Roberts, sophomore WR A.J. Love and Plancher.

T.J.'S TIME: USF senior Taurus Johnson recorded his third career 100-yard receiving game with six catches for 143 yards.

He also returned three kickoffs, moving past Jermaine Clemons for third on USF's all-time list with 30 career returns.

ODDS AND ENDS: The Bulls wore all white uniforms for the first time since visiting Kansas in 2006. ... The senior game captains were C Jake Griffin, TE Cedric Hill, FS Danny Verpaele and Roberts. ... Joe Burnett's 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown for UCF was the first allowed by USF since Nov. 26, 2005 (UConn's Darius Tucker, 90 yards). ... The Bulls improved to 8-1 all-time against teams from the state of Florida. The Bulls' only loss was at Miami in 2005. ... USF sophomore RB Mike Ford, who was questionable with an ankle injury, did not play. ... USF lost TE Trent Pupello (ankle), RB Ben Williams (ankle), WR Marcus Edwards (ribs) and LB Lucas Darr (ankle) to injuries.