I don't feel battered and abused like I did last week and I'm very happy escaping with a win. But we are a hail mary away from another gut punch. But I'm glad we finally did the punching.
If you told me that USF, as a home team, would have 20 more plays, 65 more yards, 9 more completions, 5 more first downs, and sacked us 5 times ... I'd have said we lost by 2-3 TDs. But then something weird happened...
We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half.
I enjoyed watching King grow and gain confidence in himself throughout the game. There were a few times in 2014 you saw this with Greg Ward but never from the first half to the second like we saw with King. A lot of that credit goes to Mulbah Car.
Car again dazzled and ran even harder after his fumble. He learned from that mistake and ran with 2 hands and ran hard. Player of the game for me - his 2nd half play (16 for 126 - 7.9 ypc) allowed King to improve and put pressure on USF to respond.
We had 315 yards in the 2nd half after an anemic 82 in the first. That's encouraging.
Today is the most important day of King's season. He will get to watch video with Major and Brian and see his mistakes - letting the pocket collapse on him, taking sacks, bad throws, etc. I'm interested to see improvement vs ECU. He won't face the same level of defense but seeing his decision making improve will be a great sign.
We were fantastic on 1st down on defense. USF had a total of 35 first downs and made 3 big plays on 1st (33, 38, and 20 yards). On the other 32 first down snaps, we limited USF to an average of 2.25 yards.
Q1: 9 1st downs / 31 yards
Q2: 10 / 48 yards (33 on 1 play)
Q3: 8 / 22 yards
Q4: 8 / 62 yards (38 & 20 yard plays)
12 of their 35 first down plays went for a loss or no gain.
The excellence on 1st down allowed us to put them in bad situations on third down. And we were fantastic on 3rd down, too, giving up just 7 of 23 (30%).
We forced 9 punts on the day - the most of the season. That's remarkable in a way because USF went for it on 4th down more than any opponent we've faced.
Special teams is definitely the ugly. We are a complete mess. The penalties, fumbles, and missed assignments continue to pile up. Hopefully Major makes it a priority in the off-season as it could cost us another game soon.
The throw that got Postma benched was a bad, telegraphed throw, no doubt. But there's no reason for that route to ever be run in the first place. It's 3rd and 10 and we run a 5 yard quick out into a soft zone. Not a route you run when trying to pick up 10. Beyond that, we were on the left hash and the route has Bonner go outside the numbers on the right. That's a long damn throw for such little real estate. I went and looked at it again and it was another play where he was only given one option. It was a quick drop and as Postma gets set, Bonner pivots toward sideline (while the 3 other WRs are still running downfield). It wasn't a good play call at all.
I don't think Postma has been good but he ran the play he was given. Bad throw, yes, but that's not all on him.
We dodged a bullet in Tucson when RichRod decided to start Dawkins instead of Khalil Tate. Tate has come on since then and led a resurgence of that program. Zona's new QB has run for 926 yards on just 69 carries - averaging 13.4 ypc. That's insane. He's also throwing for 17 ypc - crazy numbers for a guy that didn't get a start til game 6. He didn't play in the 2 games prior but came in on first drive vs Colorado after Dawkins was hurt. Tate went 12/13 for 154 yards and a TD and ran for 327 yards on just 14 attempts (23.3 ypc) and 4 more TDs. Tate's 327 is an FBS rushing record for a QB.
South Florida was in the top 5 in rushing offense coming into this game but we completely shut them down. The plan to contain Flowers worked and thanks to Mulbah, we nearly doubled them in rush yards (255 / 137). Before the game, the Bulls averaged 305 on the ground (5.25 ypc). We held them to 2.5 ypc.
Our 255 rush yards moved us into the top 50 in rushing.
Despite our giddiness, we are still T-71 in the country in scoring. Our output yesterday raised our average ppg by .075 and now tied with LSU, Nevada, and USM at 27.375.
If you told me that USF, as a home team, would have 20 more plays, 65 more yards, 9 more completions, 5 more first downs, and sacked us 5 times ... I'd have said we lost by 2-3 TDs. But then something weird happened...
We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half. We outplayed a good team in the second half.
I enjoyed watching King grow and gain confidence in himself throughout the game. There were a few times in 2014 you saw this with Greg Ward but never from the first half to the second like we saw with King. A lot of that credit goes to Mulbah Car.
Car again dazzled and ran even harder after his fumble. He learned from that mistake and ran with 2 hands and ran hard. Player of the game for me - his 2nd half play (16 for 126 - 7.9 ypc) allowed King to improve and put pressure on USF to respond.
We had 315 yards in the 2nd half after an anemic 82 in the first. That's encouraging.
Today is the most important day of King's season. He will get to watch video with Major and Brian and see his mistakes - letting the pocket collapse on him, taking sacks, bad throws, etc. I'm interested to see improvement vs ECU. He won't face the same level of defense but seeing his decision making improve will be a great sign.
We were fantastic on 1st down on defense. USF had a total of 35 first downs and made 3 big plays on 1st (33, 38, and 20 yards). On the other 32 first down snaps, we limited USF to an average of 2.25 yards.
Q1: 9 1st downs / 31 yards
Q2: 10 / 48 yards (33 on 1 play)
Q3: 8 / 22 yards
Q4: 8 / 62 yards (38 & 20 yard plays)
12 of their 35 first down plays went for a loss or no gain.
The excellence on 1st down allowed us to put them in bad situations on third down. And we were fantastic on 3rd down, too, giving up just 7 of 23 (30%).
We forced 9 punts on the day - the most of the season. That's remarkable in a way because USF went for it on 4th down more than any opponent we've faced.
Special teams is definitely the ugly. We are a complete mess. The penalties, fumbles, and missed assignments continue to pile up. Hopefully Major makes it a priority in the off-season as it could cost us another game soon.
The throw that got Postma benched was a bad, telegraphed throw, no doubt. But there's no reason for that route to ever be run in the first place. It's 3rd and 10 and we run a 5 yard quick out into a soft zone. Not a route you run when trying to pick up 10. Beyond that, we were on the left hash and the route has Bonner go outside the numbers on the right. That's a long damn throw for such little real estate. I went and looked at it again and it was another play where he was only given one option. It was a quick drop and as Postma gets set, Bonner pivots toward sideline (while the 3 other WRs are still running downfield). It wasn't a good play call at all.
I don't think Postma has been good but he ran the play he was given. Bad throw, yes, but that's not all on him.
We dodged a bullet in Tucson when RichRod decided to start Dawkins instead of Khalil Tate. Tate has come on since then and led a resurgence of that program. Zona's new QB has run for 926 yards on just 69 carries - averaging 13.4 ypc. That's insane. He's also throwing for 17 ypc - crazy numbers for a guy that didn't get a start til game 6. He didn't play in the 2 games prior but came in on first drive vs Colorado after Dawkins was hurt. Tate went 12/13 for 154 yards and a TD and ran for 327 yards on just 14 attempts (23.3 ypc) and 4 more TDs. Tate's 327 is an FBS rushing record for a QB.
South Florida was in the top 5 in rushing offense coming into this game but we completely shut them down. The plan to contain Flowers worked and thanks to Mulbah, we nearly doubled them in rush yards (255 / 137). Before the game, the Bulls averaged 305 on the ground (5.25 ypc). We held them to 2.5 ypc.
Our 255 rush yards moved us into the top 50 in rushing.
Despite our giddiness, we are still T-71 in the country in scoring. Our output yesterday raised our average ppg by .075 and now tied with LSU, Nevada, and USM at 27.375.
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