Will South Florida’s program suffer due to Leavitt’s lawsuit?
Posted by Anthony Stalter (03/16/2010 @ 10:25 am)
It was inevitable that former Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt would sue South Florida in an effort to recover the money he lost when he was fired on January 8. After all, he wasn’t going to leave millions of dollars on the table and just walk away into the dark of the night to never return.
But even if the situation was inevitable, this isn’t a situation that USF desired to be in. The program knows it had recourse to fire Leavitt and avoid paying him for the final five years left on his contract after allegations emerged that he slapped walk-on player Joel Miller. But the school would prefer to move on and start new head coach Skip Holtz’s career without this dark cloud hanging over its head.
Still, it’s a situation USF has to deal with and it’ll be interesting to see what kind of effect it’ll have on the program this year. Miller is still on the team, as are several of the witnesses that attest to Miller’s side of the story. Can the Bulls still be a power in the Big East if Leavitt’s lawsuit makes it to court? What will the media coverage of the story be?
With exciting quarterback B.J. Daniels set to enter his second season, South Florida has plenty to look forward to in 2010. But as his lawsuit can attest to, Leavitt isn’t going away quite yet.
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College Football Week 11 Picks and Predictions
Posted by Anthony Stalter (11/11/2009 @ 3:15 pm)
After two strong weeks in which I went 8-0 straight up and 7-1 against the spread, I crapped the bed last week. I went just 2-2 straight up and 1-3 against the spread. My only saving grace was that I predicted Ohio State to beat Penn State outright, but the refs took care of any opportunity LSU had of covering.
No. 25 West Virginia at No. 5 Cincinnati, 8:00PM ET, Friday
The Bearcats received a scare last week from Connecticut, which scored 35 second half points in order to erase a 30-10 halftime deficit. While Cincinnati held on to beat the Huskies 47-45, the narrow win raised some doubts about whether or not the Bearcats should be ranked in the top 5. Tony Pike continues to battle a forearm injury, which means sophomore Zach Collaros will once again be counted on to keep Cincinnati’s BCS hopes alive. The Bearcats might have trouble running against a decent West Virginia front seven, but Collaros should have opportunities to methodically drive the ball down the field on an inconsistent Mountaineer secondary. I see this game being close early, but Cincinnati will pull away and hold on to victory in the second half.
Odds: Cincinnati –9.
Prediction: Cincinnati 34, West Virginia 24.
No. 16 Utah at. No. 4 TCU, 7:30PM ET, Saturday
I’m a little surprised to see that TCU is a whopping 19.5-point favorite in such a marquee matchup. I fully expect the Horned Frogs to take care of business at home, but the Utes have a good enough defense to somewhat contain quarterback Andy Dalton and TCU’s trio of running backs in Joe Turner, Ed Wesley and Matthew Tucker. Plus, Utah can grind it out on the ground with running backs Eddie Wide and Sausan Shakerin, so they have the ability to keep TCU’s potent offense on the sidelines and have a chance to win in the fourth quarter. In the end, I think freshman quarterback Jordan Wynn will succumb to the pressure of TCU’s aggressive defense, but this one will be close throughout.
Odds: TCU –19.5.
Prediction: TCU 30, Utah 24.
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South Florida upsets No. 18 Florida State
Posted by Christopher Glotfelty (09/26/2009 @ 4:24 pm)
The undefeated South Florida Bulls entered Saturday’s competition against Florida State well aware that the Seminoles would be fired up on their home turf. While the Seminoles sought to prove their worth among the nation’s elite, their opponents were simply trying to justify their football program within their state. With senior quarterback Matt Grothe out with a knee injury, the Bulls looked to redshirt freshman B.J. Daniels for help. Daniels, who is coincidentally a Tallahassee native, was stellar in his debut performance. Rushing for 126 yards and throwing two touchdown passes, Daniels led his squad to a 17-7 victory at No. 18 Florida State.
It was the first time since Nebraska’s Steve Taylor ran for 139 yards against the Seminoles in 1986 that an opposing quarterback rushed for over 100 yards against them.
The Seminoles couldn’t keep the South Florida pass rush, led by defensive ends Jason Pierre-Paul and George Selvie and tackle Craig Marshall, off of Ponder. The Bulls sacked him five times and forced the crucial fumble in the fourth quarter.
South Florida stopped the Seminoles on four plays from the 3-yard line early in the second quarter. USF then needed just five plays to cover 99 yards to get the game’s first touchdown.
Another huge pass play, this one a 73-yard scoring pass from Daniels to Sterling Griffin, gave USF a 14-0 lead at the half.
The Bulls could have been ahead by more at halftime, but Eric Schwartz missed a pair of 37-yard field goal tries.
It was the first time since the third game of the 2008 season, a 12-3 loss to Wake Forest, that the Seminoles went scoreless in the first half.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden can’t be too pleased. While his team is ranked in the Top 25, I’m sure he wasn’t expecting a 2-2 record at this point in the season, let alone suffering a loss to the unranked Bulls. Nevertheless, this is a nice story for B.J. Daniels, who was overlooked by his hometown team. Now that he’s found a place with the Bulls, hopefully he’ll see more time on the field after his fine play today.
