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Setting The Scene | Gameday Central | Game Notes
The University of South Florida football team (6-4 overall, 1-4 BIG EAST) will attempt to break a three-game losing streak at home against UConn (7-3, 3-2) on Sunday, Nov. 23 at 8 p.m. Eastern. The contest will be broadcast live from Raymond James Stadium to a national audience by the ESPN and ESPN360.com.
The Series
Sunday will be the sixth meeting between the schools with USF holding a 3-2 lead in the all-time series. USF fell 22-15 at UConn last season, but has won both home meetings - 2006 and 2001 - with the Huskies.
The Broadcasts
The game is being showcased to a national audience by ESPN with Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore. USF's radio broadcast with Jim Louk, Mark Robinson and Mike Pepper can be heard on 13 affiliates statewide and nationally on Sirius satellite radio. In addition, 1300 WQBN will broadcast the game in Spanish with David Cuevas and Victor Rodriguez behind the microphones. Both USF radio broadcasts can be heard on GoUSFBulls.com.
The Coaches
USF: Jim Leavitt (Missouri ?78) is the only coach in USF history. He has a career record of 85-51 (.625) and is in his 12th season at USF. He is 54-45 on television, 52-13 at Raymond James Stadium and 13-13 in BIG EAST play.
Connecticut: Randay Edsall (Syracuse, ?80) has been at UConn since 1999 and owns a 57-58 overall record and 14-17 record in BIG EAST play.
The Program
The USF program has an all-time record of 57-34 at the NCAA FBS level and an 85-51 overall record. The FBS winning percentage of 62.6 was good enough to rank USF 16th among FBS schools in all-time winning percentage entering 2008. USF dropped out of the polls on Nov. 2, which ended a program-best streak of 10 consecutive weeks ranked. The Bulls have been ranked in 18 of the last 23 regular season polls.
Individual Trends
? Junior WR Jessie Hester is first on the team with 47 receptions this season... Hester has caught a pass in 19 consecutive games, and was riding a streak of nine in a row with multiple catches until he only had one reception against Syracuse.
? Sophomore RB Mike Ford has 17 rushing touchdowns in 20 career games... He also has one receiving touchdown... On average in his career, he scores a rushing TD once every 8.1 times he gets a touch, or every 54.9 yards. ? Senior TE Cedric Hill had caught a pass in a team-high 19 consecutive games, dating back to the Auburn game in 2007... He had the streak snapped against Cincinnati on Oct. 30 ... He has multiple receptions in 12 of his last 17 games.
| Spreading it Around |
Take spread in a literal context and you'll understand the wealth of receivers contributing every game for USF. The Bulls are among the national leaders with 16 players with a reception this season... and no one is favored. So far this season five different players have led USF in receiving yards, seven have led in TDs and five have led in receptions. Eight receivers have 100 or more yards receiving on the season and four are over 300. Seven players have a TD catch. Below is game-by-game breakdown of the leaders in receiving yards, receptions and TDs:
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| Game |
Yards |
Receptions |
TD |
| UTM |
Bogan |
Love |
Hester |
| UCF |
Johnson |
Johnson |
Hill |
| KU |
Love |
Johnson, Hester |
Johnson, Love |
| FIU |
Love |
Love, Hester |
-- |
| NC State |
Edwards |
Hester |
Mitchell |
| Pitt |
Love |
Hester |
Hester |
| Syracuse |
Mitchell |
Love |
Johnson |
| Louisville |
Johnson |
Hester |
Busbee, Kelly |
| Cincinnati |
Mitchell |
Mitchell |
-- |
| Rutgers |
Hester |
Hester |
Johnson |
Through 10 regular season games, USF is on pace to break several of the offensive records it set last season. Below are the USF records compared to the 2008 projections:
| Total Offense - Records vs. 2008 Projections |
| *Indicates Record set in 2007 |
Records |
2008 |
| Plays |
991* |
936 |
| Plays per game |
76.2* |
72.0 |
| Total Yards |
5,383* |
5,416 |
| Yards Per Game |
414.1* |
416.6 |
| Yards Per Play |
6.8 |
5.8 |
| Points |
451* |
382.2 |
| Points Per Game |
36.5 |
29.4 |
| First Downs |
277 |
299 |
| First Downs Per Game |
21.5 |
23.0 |
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Player To Watch
Junior WR Jessie Hester is in the midst of one of the greatest receiving seasons in USF history and he is coming off a near-record game. Hester had 10 receptions, one off the school record, and 110 yards. Both totals were career highs. He leads the team with 47 receptions for 507 yards. His receptions total is the fourth-best in school history. The program record is 62 by Hugh Smith in 2002. His yards are outside the top six and 155 off a record. More on Hester |
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Johnson in Elite Company
Senior WR Taurus Johnson entered elite USF company by reaching 100 career receptions on Oct. 25 against Louisville ... He currently has 104 receptions, which is tied for the third-best total in program history ... Only four players can claim 100 career catches and only Johnson and Hugh Smith (1999-02) can claim 100 receptions, 1,000 career yards and 10 TD catches ... Now TJ can chase both records ... Smith owns the USF record for receptions with 131 ... The career TD record is 14 by DeAndrew Rubin (1999-02) ... The career yards record is 1,523 by Smith ... Johnson currently has 1,345 yards ... Johnson is on pace for 43 receptions, 590 yards and 6 TDs this season ... If he holds true to that pace, he will set personal highs in each category and break the school receiving yards record ... The Cape Coral native has already tied the program record for 100-yard receiving games with career total of four.
Williams Hits the MILLENNIUM
Senior RB Ben Williams eclipsed 1,000 career rushing yards, making him the ninth Bull to do so ... He joins teammate Matt Grothe on the list ... Williams needed 259 carries to reach the milestone ... Next up for USF should be Mike Ford, who already has 934 yards during his 19-game career
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Beasts of the Big East
The Bulls lead the BIG EAST in total offense (416.6), first downs (23.0), third-down conversions (44.6), and opponent penalties (66.3). The Bulls rank second in pass efficiency (137.0), PAT kicking (97.2%), and scoring offense (29.4). Individually, Matt Grothe leads the league in passing average (236.2), total offense (275.5) and passing yards (2,362).
Offensive Trends
? USF set a program record with 5,383 yards of total offense in 13 games in 2007. It is going to make a run at that record in 2008. The Bulls are averaging 416.6 yards per game, which would equal 5,416 yards over a 13-game season.
? The UT Martin game was the third time in the previous 13 games that USF racked up 300 yards on the ground. The Bulls had exactly 300 against UTM. The other two instances were at Florida Atlantic (302 on 10/06/07) and at Syracuse (346 on 11/10/07).
? The offensive outputs against UT Martin and UCF marked the third time in USF history that USF had posted 500 yards of total offense in back-to-back games. The NC State game marked the fourth time in 13 games that USF has surpassed 500 yards of total offense. The other two occasions were against UCF (543 on 10/13/07) and Syracuse (582 on 11/10/07).
? USF racked up 520 yards of total offense against NC State, which marked the third time this season the Bulls surpasses 500 yards, tying the program record for the most games with 500+ in a single season... The 2001 teams also accomplished the feat three times.
? USF has posted 400 yards of total offense and scored 30 or more points in 12 of the last 20 games.
? This season marks the first time in program history that the Bulls have scored at least 30 points in their first three games... USF scored 30 or more points in seven consecutive games from the final six games of 2001 to the opener of 2002... USF has only scored 30 or more points in three consecutive games on three previous occasions... The aforementioned instance from 2001-02, another three game streak in 2002 and a four-game streak in 2007.
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