USF's offense aims to contribute more

In the aftermath of Thursday's 31-0 loss at Rutgers, the kind of deflating defeat that can cause turmoil in the locker room if players start pointing fingers, South Florida players and coaches quickly accepted reality.

After watching film, analyzing mistakes and putting the first regular-season shutout loss in program history to bed, the conclusion was unanimous.

"The defense did a great job," offensive coordinator Mike Canales said Monday. "We can't turn the ball over. That has been the demise of us. We have to come out and play like we did against West Virginia and take care of the football and be great with our decisions."

USF committed four turnovers in the first half but remained in the game - trailing 13-0 at halftime - thanks to a defensive effort that Coach Jim Leavitt would gladly take on Saturday against Louisville. The Bulls allowed 354 yards against Rutgers, but considering the defense was on the field for 72 plays compared to 49 for USF's offense, the damage wasn't too much to overcome if the offense had chipped in.

"The defense was in fact extraordinary," Leavitt said. "It could have been really ugly at halftime."

In the first half, Rutgers started three drives at USF's 41-yard line or closer. However, the Scarlet Knights failed to score a touchdown on any of the drives, settling for a pair of field goals and turning the ball over on downs once.

The Bulls' defense, led by linebacker Kion Wilson's career-high 18 tackles, finally allowed a pair of big plays in the second half, but with the offense managing only 159 yards and seven first downs, the outcome was hardly in doubt by that time.

"We just had a lot of missed opportunities," receiver A.J. Love said. "We turned the ball over too many times, and it's hard to win when you do that. We got in the red zone twice and turned it over. There were a lot of things that just went wrong."

Canales said the Bulls returned to practice with renewed focus on offense and a determined attitude to help out the defense Saturday against Louisville.

"It's going to drive me, I know that," Canales said. "It's driven me this whole week. I don't think I've slept much. I'm bound and determined to play strong and put points on the board."

If erasing the memory of Thursday's dismal performance isn't enough motivation, there is also the fact USF still needs one more win to become bowl eligible.

Freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels was 7-for-17 for 129 yards and two interceptions Thursday, another reminder that he has only six career starts.

What did Daniels learn from watching film of Thursday's game?

"We learned that there are a whole lot of things offensively that we can get better at," Daniels said. "The defense did a real good job of holding them out in the first half. We just really didn't help out our defense at all."