Bulls Must Make Most of Drives Against Run-Heavy Georgia Tech
USF GAME NOTES
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, SEPT. 5, 2018 – USF's high-powered offense knows it must make the most of opportunities Saturday because there might not be many against a triple-option Georgia Tech team that wants to keep the ball away from opponents.
"Anytime you play an offense like this, you just know and understand you average probably about six or seven possessions per game," offensive coordinator
Sterlin Gilbert said Wednesday. "We know the importance of when we've got the ball in our hands, we've got to go put points on the board."
USF (1-0) did that often early in the season opener, jumping out to a 24-0 halftime lead against Elon before utilizing its depth after the break. The challenge gets much tougher this week against Georgia Tech's defense, which surrendered 146 total yards (69 passing) in a 41-0 victory over Alcorn State last week.
Georgia Tech allowed just two of 11 third-down conversions in the first game under new defensive coordinator
Nate Woody. Using his effective 3-4 scheme, Woody previously helped Appalachian State lead the Sun Belt Conference in total defense three times in his five seasons with the program (2013-17).
"It's a little different scheme from what we saw last weekend, but (we'll) just put a solid plan together," Gilbert said. "It's just trying to go out and execute at a high level and be efficient with what we're doing."
USF wasn't wasteful with its possessions in the first half of the season opener, scoring on four of six drives with three touchdowns.
Blake Barnett threw all three of his touchdown passes before the break and turned in the
top scoring debut by a USF quarterback in less than three quarters of action.
Despite Barnett and many of his teammates seeing their first action as Bulls, USF produced its third straight game with 500-plus yards. Under Gilbert, the Bulls have accomplished the feat in eight of the past 13 games.
"It really just sets a platform," Gilbert said. "… There were a lot of unknowns going into (Elon). You go back, evaluate, assess and look at, and just continue to trend upward is the goal and what we have in mind."
Jean-Mary to Face Former Mentor
Second-year USF defensive coordinator
Brian Jean-Mary will be taking a trip down memory lane Saturday at Raymond James Stadium.
Also USF's assistant head coach, Jean-Mary was the linebackers coach at Georgia Tech from 2004-09 and served under head coach Paul Johnson in Jean-Mary's final two seasons with the Yellow Jackets. Jean-Mary was a part of Georgia Tech's ACC Championship team in his last run with the program.
"I have the upmost respect for (Johnson). He gave me an opportunity to stay at Georgia Tech after being there for four years and he really didn't have to," Jean-Mary said. "I was a young coach. He didn't know much about me and he took a chance on me. I'll always be grateful to him for allowing me to go work under him. I learned a lot of things from him."
Part of learning consisted of trying to find ways in practice to defend Johnson's triple-option approach that keeps producing big results. Georgia Tech and USF are two of only four teams nationally to rank in the top 10 in rushing offense in each of the past three seasons.
"What they do is unique. They preach toughness and executing in their scheme, and it works for them," Jean Mary said. "I know he's a guy that believes in what he does and doesn't try to get too cute."
Georgia Tech currently ranks second nationally in rushing after racking up 439 yards on 54 attempts last week. Dual-threat quarterback TaQuon Marshall threw the ball just 18 times against Alcorn State, completing half his attempts for 104 yards (1 TD, 1 INT), but Jean-Mary said the Bulls must be ready for the air attack.
"They're going to try to take some shots over our head and they're going to do some things that might be out of the ordinary for them to put them in position to win the game," Jean-Mary said. "We can't just say we're going to go out there and stop one aspect of their game because they have a quarterback who is very confident putting the ball in the air."
When that does happen, USF will be looking to add to its takeaway trend that continued last week with two interceptions out of only 12 pass attempts by Elon. USF ranked second nationally with 20 interceptions a season ago and piling up more picks against Johnson's Georgia Tech offense would be quite the achievement.
"He's going to have an answer to everything, but it still comes back to who executes the best," Jean-Mary said.
Bulls Bits
- QUICK SCORES: Even if Georgia Tech eats up the clock Saturday, USF has proven it doesn't need much time to make it happen. It was business as usual last Saturday for the Bulls' up-tempo offense, which produced three scoring drives in under two minutes against Elon. Coordinator Sterlin Gilbert's 2017 group had 33 scoring drives (25 touchdowns) in less than two minutes and 17 scores (15 TDs) in a minute or less.
BRING THE HEAT: Saturday's forecast for Tampa includes lots of humidity and a high of 90 degrees, which running back Trevon Sands thinks is an advantage for the Bulls in the noon game. "It's going to pay off. Summer time, spring, all the time we've been in that sun," he said. "We're Florida boys, so we're used to that heat. That heat is something we take advantage of and it works to our favor." The Bulls also like playing at Ray Jay, where they've gone 17-3 in the past four seasons. Learn about USF Athletics' plan to keep fans cool HERE.- CRONKRITE READY TO ROLL: Offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert expects to have Jordan Cronkrite (Miami) back in action Saturday after the junior running back missed the season opener for precautionary reasons. Learn more about Cronkrite, who was listed atop the season-opening depth chart HERE.
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
USF posted its second straight 10-win season in 2017 (10-2) by winning its second straight Birmingham Bowl with a 38-34 victory over Texas Tech. USF is one of just 15 teams nationally to win 20-plus games in the last two seasons (21-4) and posted a program-record 20 straight weeks ranked in the top 25, reaching as high as No. 13 in Week 8 of the 2017 season. The Bulls have won five of their last six bowl appearances and made nine (6-3) total bowl appearances in 21 seasons, including a current run of three straight bowls. USF won a program-record 11 games in 2016 (11-2) and has posted 14 winning seasons. The USF program, which first took the field in 1997, reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2007 and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and had 28 first-team all-conference selections.
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