Bulls plotting a road ahead

An undefeated season, a Big East title and a trip to a BCS bowl have all waved goodbye to the University of South Florida.

Now the bowl talk around USF involves whether the Bulls will return to the St. Petersburg Bowl, make another trip to the PapaJohns.com Bowl, or perhaps make the program's first appearance in the International Bowl.

But wait. There remains one important step the Bulls say they can't overlook. When they run onto the field this afternoon at Raymond James Stadium to face Louisville, they still won't be bowl eligible.

So that's the revised focus of a team coming off a 31-0 drubbing at Rutgers nine days ago.

"We just have to remain focused on the goals we have left and that we can still achieve - a bowl game and to win out," said senior receiver A.J. Love.

USF becomes bowl eligible with a win against Louisville, Miami or at Connecticut in its final three games. On paper, the Cardinals look like the best bet, leaving USF determined to take care of business today and eliminate any doubt about playing in a bowl game for the fifth consecutive season.

"Saturday is real big," said quarterback B.J. Daniels. "It's real big motivation for our team. We want to go to a bowl game. This is the first step."

To get there, the Bulls must avoid stumbling up and down the field like they did in their loss to Rutgers, committing four turnovers in the first half and gaining just 159 yards of total offense.

USF coach Jim Leavitt is depending on Daniels, who has been a roller-coaster ride for Bulls fans, to direct the way with a steady hand. Daniels is expected to have leading receiver Carlton Mitchell (ankle) back, which should help against a Louisville defense ranked last in the Big East in points allowed (24.7).

"As you can see, we're an up-and-down team of late," Leavitt said. "We're trying to get a feel for B.J. It's the most important position on the team. Overall, I think he has done some really good things.

"That's still a process right now. We feel like we've got a pretty good handle on where we want to go. Now it's just getting there."

After starting 5-0 for the third consecutive season, the Bulls are just 1-3 in their last four games. The same issues that have cropped up in the past have hurt the Bulls once again, including turnovers, too many penalties and failure to execute at critical junctures.

"If I had the answer we probably wouldn't have had that happen," Love said when asked why the trend has continued for a third consecutive season. "Of course, everybody is disappointed. We expected to win that (Rutgers) game along with the other two we lost."

But the Bulls didn't, leaving them with more modest goals than they would have preferred entering the season's final quarter.

Offensive coordinator Mike Canales said when the sun rose the morning after the Rutgers game, he started to look forward. He brought the offense together for a meeting Monday, stressing that while the second half of the season hasn't gone the way the Bulls wanted, there are still important milestones to reach.

"If we can rebound this week, I think it will set the tone for the rest of the season," Canales said. "That's what we talked about."

We'll find out how well they listened this afternoon.