USF Was Decent But There's Work To Do

"I'm going to tell Doug Woolard (USF athletic director), 'please, let's not schedule anybody like this again. They play very hard, they believe in their system..."

Bulls coach Jim Leavitt after his team's 40-7 win over Wofford




It could have been better, but it could have been worse.

Wasn't great but wasn't bad, nonetheless it was a win and they'll take it.

"We have a lot of work to do -- there were some flashes there," Leavitt said after taking the home-opener in front of a decent crowd of 40,000-plus at Raymond James, despite weather threats that delayed the opening kickoff 30 minutes and the fact that it was, well, Wofford.

Leavitt was right, his Bulls do have work to do but time is on their side.

Saturday they travel to play Western Kentucky in Bowling Green in the Hilltoppers' newly-renovated Smith Stadium.

USF should be able to notch a second win. The Hilltoppers took a terrible bashing at the hands of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday. Monte Kiffin's defense literally took them to the woodshed. Try 83 yards total offense, 49 passing and 34 rushing. What that output got Western was a 63-7 beat down that saw the Vols amass 657 yards total offense.

The Bulls may not be a strong at Tennessee, but they should do well.

Quarterback Matt Grothe functioned well against Wofford, using the short passing game to move his team. He chalked up 155 yards in the air, 44 on the ground and will become the Big East's all-time offensive leader next Saturday, no doubt.

After the fact, Leavitt admitted that perhaps there are bigger games in the back of his mind:

"We didn't work on Wofford as much as we should have. Joe (Tresey, USF defensive coordinator), his defense got turnovers. The defense did a great job, we shut them out for three quarters."

Leavitt said his new and youthful offensive line was "pretty impressive," and it was.

Freshman Kayvon Webster played the entire game in the defensive secondary and fellow frosh Lindsey Lamar caught everyone's eye with his speed on offense, quick moves and a touchdown.

In all, the only negative for the Bulls was strong safety Jerrell Young's broken arm. It will force Tresey to look at a number of options to replace him.

Still, "warmup game" number two awaits the Bulls.

Just call it the second appetizer.