2011 Bowl Game: N/A
Head Coach: Skip Holtz
Odds to win Big East: +275 (second favorite)
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Offense
B.J. Daniels is now a senior and he seems to have learned as he’s gone along. He cut his interceptions in half last season and seemed to be better at making decisions when handing the ball off, as well…After a shaky start, it seems he may go down as one of the better QBs that USF has had in their history. Still, without a successful senior campaign, he may be forgotten anyway, so his mind is focused on making this Bulls team a much better success than last year’s 5-7 squad.
Skip Holtz said that “BJ has come a long way” and commented that his experience has made and will continue to make a big difference. That experience should be bolstered by the fact he has a talented cast of receivers to distribute the ball to.
Junior Sterling Griffin had a team high 43 catches last year even though he missed the final four Bulls’ contests. Also, Florida transfer Chris Dunkley has a lot of potential, and Sophomore Andre Davis should be a good wide out too. At tight end, senior Evan Landi should be able to do big things, as well.
Losing their leading rusher in Darrell Scott is going to hurt a lot and cause the Bulls to go by a running back by committee approach. Demetris Murray will handle most of the duties, but Lindsay Lamar, a former WR, is going to be huge as well…at least if the Bulls plan to get it done on the ground. Last year, they ranked 1st in the Big East in rushing, but without Scott that is all in the air, pun intended. Their passing offense was 2nd in the Big East too. Offense, last year, was not the problem.
Defense
The Bulls have a new defensive coordinator in Chris Cosh. Cosh came from K-State and is going to have to address late game defense for a Bulls team that just gave up too many late gam drives, particularly in the losses to Cincinnati, Rutgers, Miami, and the now Big East – departed West Virginia.
Their linebackers are the best thing they have going defensively (Sam Barrington, Michael Lanaris, DeDe Lattimore), while their secondary has some good players as well, such as cornerback Kayvon Webster, and senior strong safety Jon Lejiste, and junior free safety Mark Joyce. The other cornerback spot is wide open, though.
The DL needs depth. Ryne Giddins could be huge this year, but his greatness has been seen in only flashes so far, so it’s imperative that he can string some good performances together and establish himself as one of the better ends in the Big East. Senior tackle Cory Grissom returns as a starter, as well, but he suffered a broken ankle during the spring drills. He may be ready for the opener. Of all the newcomers, keep an eye especially on Tevin Mims, a JUCO transfer who spent a year at Texas.
Special Teams
The Bulls’ placekicker Maikon Bonani is a good kicker, but it’s hard to forget about his ridiculous 27 yard miss at the end of the Rutgers game last year, which resulted in a 17-20 OT loss. They have a redshirt freshman in Mattias Ciabatti who may be able to take over at punter if Justin Brockhaus Kann is unable to hold him off and retain his role as starter.
Outlook
South Florida is desperate to contend in the Big East, but it just hasn’t happened yet, and though they are on their way to being an improved program, I don’t see it happening this year either, despite being the second favorite behind Louisville. They started so hot last year with the 4 straight victories, including the huge win over Notre Dame, but they just can’t seem to put it together for an entire season.
Their improvement will hinge upon better third down production mostly and their defense must remain strong late in games, as I’ve said already. It seems like an over simplification to boil it down to two things that should both be rather obvious are instrumental in a team’s success, but just because they know what is wrong at USF doesn’t mean they can easily or quickly address it.
