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Hollow Victory For Bulls

The Associated Press

South Florida's Matt Ford scores against Florida International during first quarter.

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 21, 2008

MIAMI - Embarrassed. Disgusted. Junior high mistakes. Worst game ever?

And just think what University of South Florida coach Jim Leavitt would have thought if his Bulls had actually lost Saturday at Florida International.

Never has a victory felt so hollow in so many ways as the 12th-ranked Bulls' 17-9 "victory" against the Golden Panthers, who fell to 1-25 in their last 26 games.

"We played about as bad as we could play," Leavitt said. "I don't see how we could play worse. The defense played pretty good. Offensively, we did about as many bad things as you can do.

"Kicking game ... it's not good. We won the ballgame, but we're not real happy, to be honest with you. It was pretty disgusting."

As scary of a game as the Bulls made it into - USF recovered an onside kick with 50 seconds remaining to seal the win - it paled in comparison to the anxiety USF's players, coaches and fans experienced in the third quarter. USF senior LB Brouce Mompremier was momentarily knocked unconscious when his helmet hit USF senior safety Carlton Williams' hip on a tackle.

While Mompremier lay on the turf, surrounded by coaches and medical personnel, FIU coach Mario Cristobal asked Leavitt if it was OK for both teams to come on the field. They did, and they knelt in prayer at midfield.

"I thought that was a great suggestion on his part," Leavitt said.

Mompremier, who played at Miami Edison, was airlifted to a Miami hospital, where he was in stable condition Saturday night. He had movement in his arms and legs, USF officials said.

When Mompremier was injured, the Bulls led 10-0. Mike Ford's second TD run early in the fourth quarter gave USF a 17-0 cushion, but FIU made things interesting in the final minutes.

With 2:20 remaining, Ford was tackled for a 1-yard loss and a safety. After USF's ensuing free kick, Wayne Younger hit T.Y. Hilton for a 61-yard pass to USF's 2. Julian Reams scored on a 1-yard run and FIU only trailed 17-9. However, USF's Nate Allen recovered the onside kick and the Bulls escaped.

"You can tell kids all day long how they're going to respond and how opponents will respond to rankings," USF defensive coordinator Wally Burnham said. "But they don't believe you half the time. That's kind of how it is. I think defensively we responded pretty well overall."

USF's offense? That was another story.

"We struggled on offense all night," offensive coordinator Greg Gregory said. "Just didn't do anything consistently."

The four-TD favorite Bulls (4-0) had numerous chances to pull away from FIU (0-3), but they managed only 10 points on four trips inside FIU's 10-yard line. Maikon Bonani, the hero last week against Kansas, had a 21-yard field goal blocked, and Matt Grothe was stopped on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-goal inside the 1.

"We didn't execute correctly," Leavitt said. "We go quarterback sneak with 8 inches from the goal line and we can't get 8 inches? We got four seniors on the offensive line.

"Personally, I couldn't have worked harder, maybe I've got to figure out how to work smarter. I've got to figure it out. The mistakes we made offensively. Un-be-lievable. That's junior high stuff. I know our players don't want to do that, we have to figure out how to coach them better.

"We made every mistake you can possible make, could you make more than we did tonight?" Leavitt said. "Boy, you'd have to work at it.

"We just messed around the whole game, I don't know. There's no excuses, there really isn't. If we want to be a real good team, we have to find out a way to change."

And fast. Up next is N.C. State, a dangerous ACC opponent coming off an upset of No. 15 East Carolina followed by the Big East opener against Pittsburgh.

Grothe threw for 136 yards and rushed for 48 as the Bulls outgained FIU 320-189.

Leavitt said he was especially bothered because "what we did to ourselves. That's what really bothers you. To play a team like this and not move through it, it's embarrassing.

"That's as bad as we've played - I'd have to go way back a long time to play a worse game than that one. I don't want to take anything away from FIU, but it was ridiculous.

"We gave up seven points, it was seven too much. We should be better than that. We should shut out a team like FIU, but we didn't.

"I have to go back and look at every play, we were disgusted. We won a game, though. We're 4-0, there's some good things out of that, I guess, huh?"

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

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