As we look forward to the 2014 USF Football season, we'll spend part of the summer looking back with the Voice of the Bulls Jim Louk. Louk has compiled his list of the 10 most influential Bulls in program history. As the radio voice for Bulls football since its inception in 1997, Louk has personally witnessed every game in the program's history and worked closely with coaches and players. Yet, his list may not line up perfectly with yours. Discussion and debate is welcome. Join the discussion by sending your list or feedback to @USFJimLouk and use the hashtag #USF10.
We'll list these 10 players in no particular order in the coming weeks leading up to 2014 USF training camp. Selected players may or may not have huge statistics or have been a part of the big plays we all remember. But, because of their talent, their effort or even their timing, they influenced the USF program greatly during our first 17 years of football.
First installment: Hugh Smith
Second Installment: Chad Barnhardt
Third Installment: Bill Gramatica
By JIM LOUK
Voice of the Bulls
TAMPA, JULY 18, 2014 - You want to start with the numbers here, but that would probably be a mistake. Let's just get them out of the way. Matt Grothe had 8,669 passing yards and 2,206 rushing yards for a team and conference record 10,875 total yards. Pretty good, and he should have had more. He led the Bulls to 28 wins, including their first bowl victory.
Because his career was cut short, he leads USF in surprisingly few all-time passing categories. That's OK. Numbers can't describe Matt Grothe's Bulls career properly anyway.
Grothe was a meteor over the USF Football landscape. His on-field career lasted barely three years; from Sept. 9, 2006, when he rescued the Bulls late in a game against Florida International, to Sept. 19, 2009, when it all ended with shocking suddenness against Charleston Southern.
He got to play right away, early in his freshman season. His first win should have tipped us off to the essence of Matt Grothe.
He made his first start against Florida International, early in a season that would see the Bulls end up with nine wins. But this game had been a disaster. The Bulls were down 20-7 at the half, and were still trailing by six with a couple of minutes to go. Then Grothe hit Taurus Johnson for a score and USF escaped, 21-20. Artistic? Hardly. Grothe just seemed to will the Bulls to a win.
It wouldn't be the last time.
There were ups and downs over the next couple of years. The Bulls hit No. 2 in 2007, and No. 10 in 2008, but they couldn't find a way to finish in the top 25 either year. But those seasons were so memorable; they seemed to take on Grothe's personality; daring, exciting, at times unpredictable, and occasionally a little frustrating. Grothe seemed to revel in the USF-UCF games more than anyone else. He had a certain swagger that we hadn't seen before in the young program. He didn't seem to care very much if you liked him, but he did expect to be respected. I can't recall the Bulls ever taking the field with Grothe at the helm and feeling that USF couldn't win that day.
Early in his senior season, with the Bulls already up 28-0 on Charleston Southern late in the first half, Grothe suffered a knee injury, and it was over. Just like that, we knew we'd never see number 8 again.
In my mind his legacy remains incomplete. The Bulls still had some great success in 2009, most notably when they went to Florida State and won behind B.J. Daniels. But what would have happened if Grothe hadn't been denied those last 10 games? How might things have changed?
As mentioned in the introduction, making this admittedly subjective list of influential Bulls is often about timing, and Grothe's timing was exceptional. USF Football was starting to flex its collective muscles; starting to understand how good it could be. No matter how skilled, a shrinking violet quarterback wouldn't have fit in. Matt Grothe was a perfect match for a program that was finding the next level, and absolutely believed they should be there.
USF returns 16 starters (10 offense, 4 defense, 2 specialists) for Willie Taggart's second season at the helm, which kicks off on Aug. 30 vs. Western Carolina at Raymond James Stadium. The Bulls 2014 non-conference schedule features home clashes vs. Big Ten foe Maryland (Sept. 6) and ACC opponent N.C. State (Sept. 13) as well as a road game at perennial Big Ten power Wisconsin (Sept. 27). USF will welcome UConn (Fri., Sept. 19), East Carolina (Sat., Oct. 11), Houston (Sat., Nov. 1) and UCF (Fri., Nov. 28) to Raymond James in American Athletic Conference action.
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