Setting The Scene | Gameday Central | Game Notes | Scouting The Orange
Date: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008
Location: Tampa, Fla.
Kickoff: Noon Eastern
TV: BIG EAST Network, WFTS ABC (Tampa), ESPN Gameplan, ESPN360 
Radio: WFLA 970 AM (Tampa) & WQBN 1300 AM (Spanish)
Stadium: Raymond James Stadium
Stadium Capacity - Surface: 65,857 - Bermuda
Tickets: GoUSFBulls.com & Ticketmaster.com

The Game
The No. 19/20 University of South Florida football team (5-1, 0-1 BIG EAST) will host the Syracuse Orange (1-5, 0-2) for homecoming at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 18 at Noon Eastern. Both team are searching for their first conference win with the Bulls at 0-1 and the Orange at 0-2.

The Series
Saturday will be the fourth meeting between the two schools. USF leads the all-time series, 3-0. Syracuse is the only league against which USF is undefeated. The Bulls have won by an average of 25.0 points, which is the second-most lopsided series in program history.

The Broadcasts
The game is being broadcast nationally by the BIG EAST Network (formerly referred to as ESPN Regional) with Mike Gleason, John Congemi and Quint Kessenich. 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 84-48 (.636) and is in his 12th season at USF. He is 23-17 in day games, 53-42 on television, 53-15 at home and 12-10 in BIG EAST play.
Syracuse: Greg Robinson (Pacific ?75) is 8-33 overall and 2-21 in BIG EAST play in four seasons at Syracuse.

The Program
The USF program has an all-time record of 56-31 at the NCAA FBS level and an 84-48 overall record. The FBS winning percentage of 64.3 is good enough to rank USF 16th among FBS schools in all-time winning percentage. USF is ranked for the seventh consecutive week, which is the longest-active streak in the BIG EAST. The Bulls have been ranked in 16 of the last 19 regular season polls.

Wrapping Up Pitt
The loss ended USF's five-game season-opening winning streak ... The Bulls' five consecutive wins to kick off the season equaled the second best start in school history joining the 1998 team that also began the season 5-0 ... In 2007 the team started 6-0 ... USF is 1-3 all-time when playing on Thursday night ... The attendance of 50,307 marked the second straight home game ? and the sixth home game in its last seven ? that USF has played in front of better than 50,000 fans ... It was also the third straight home game this season that USF has played in front of better than 48,000 and the sixth straight dating back to last season ... 50,307 is the sixth largest crowd in USF history ... USF's offense went without a touchdown in the first half for the first time since Oct. 27, 2007, when they went into locker room behind 16-0 at Connecticut ... USF LB Tyrone McKenzie, S Carlton Williams, LB Brouce Mompremier, OC Jake Griffin and WR Taurus Johnson all served as captains against Pittsburgh ... It was Mompremier's second straight captaincy ? despite not dressing out ? after suffering a neck injury against Florida International on Sept. 20 ... LB Chris Robinson got his first career start ... DT Keith McCaskill recorded his first career sack in the first quarter when he took down Pittsburgh QB Bill Stull ... PR Marcus Edwards hit the 400 career punt return yardage mark with his nine-yard return in the first quarter ... Edwards is fourth on the USF career list for punt return yards ... TE Cedric Hill's first quarter reception from Matt Grothe marked his 17th straight game with a catch ... CB Quenton Washington blocked his first career punt ... The block led to the Bulls' first touchdown of the game, which was also the first career touchdown for DB Charlton Sinclair as he scooped it up and ran 27-yards for the TD ... QB Matt Grothe's interception in the first quarter ended his streak of 110 consecutive pass attempts without a pick ... DT Terrell McClain forced the first fumble of his career in the second quarter ... The fumble was recovered by LB Kion Wilson marking the first of his career Wilson recovered two fumbles on the night to tie the USF single game record ... He shares the record with five others and is the first Bull to do so since Chris Daley accomplished the feat against Utah State on Nov. 24, 2001 ... DE George Selvie entered the game with 10:22 left in the second quarter ... It was his first action since injuring his ankle against Florida International on Sept. 20 and missing the NC State game on Sept. 28 ... Selvie recorded a tackle on the first play after entering the game ... He finished the game with two tackles including one for a loss of -18 yards ... Grothe rushed for his second touchdown of the season on a one-yard scamper with 9:27 left in the third quarter ... The score also marked his 21st rushing TD of his career, which is the second best total in USF history and three behind career leader Andre Hall, who had 24 from 2005-06 ... Grothe tossed a TD on a 22-yard strike to WR Jesse Hester with 5:57 left in the game ... It was Grothe's ninth touchdown pass of the year and the 38th of his career ... The score was Hester's third touchdown reception of the season and the seventh of his career ... DE Jarriett Buie forced his first fumble of the season and the second of his career.

Out of the Halftime Gates
It may be Coach Leavitt's halftime speeches... but whatever it was the Bulls have been potent on offense and stifling on defense in the third quarter this season. The Bulls have outscored opponents 45-7 in the third quarter and have outgained opponents 805 to 281, or on average 134.2 yards to 46.8 yards.

USF Hosting the AFC Champion
The USF football practice facility will host the AFC Champion in Super Bowl XLIII. The AFC team will use the practice fields, training room, locker room and weight room from Jan. 25-31, 2009.The Super Bowl is returning to Tampa and Raymond James Stadium on Feb. 1. It is the fourth time that Tampa has served as the host city and the second time at Raymond James Stadium. It is also the second time that USF has served as a practice facility. After Super Bowl XLIII, USF will be one of only six programs to play their home football games in a stadium that has hosted multiple Super Bowls while they have been a tenant. The others are USC, UCLA, San Diego State, Miami and Tulane.

Defensive Trends
? After six games the USF defense has allowed just five rushing touchdowns ... The defense has given up just 13 rushing touchdowns over the past 21 games and just 15 over the last 24 games ... The USF defense did not give up an offensive touchdown until the fourth quarter of the second game (UCF) ... The USF defense came up 53 seconds short of holding FIU without an offensive score ... Three of the rushing touchdowns came in a blowout win over Pitt in the last regular season game of 2007 and two in the Bulls' loss to Pitt in 2008 ... Additionally, the Bulls allowed just eight all last season and nine in 2006 ... The Bulls have shutout an opponent eight times, but the UTM game did not count even though the UTM points were scored on a turnover by the offense.

? Against UT Martin, the USF defense gave up less than 100 yards of total offense for the just the fifth time in program history and for the first time since limiting FAMU to 85 yards in 2005. UT Martin had 97 yards, 38 through the air and 59 on the ground.

? USF held FIU to just 189 yards of total offense ... It marks the second time this season that USF has held an opponent under 200 yards ... The other instance was against UT Martin, which had 97 yards ... It was the fourth time USF had accomplished the feat in the last 15 games and the ninth time since the start of the 2004 season.

? The USF defense has intercepted a pass in 16 of the last 19 games and has 29 picks during that time... The Bulls were fourth nationally with 23 interceptions in 2007.

? USF has also held two opponents under 10 points, UT Martin had 7 and FIU had 9, this season ... And three opponents to 10 or less points with the inclusion of NC State... It marks the first time USF has held two opponents under 10 points in the same season since 2005 ... USF has held an opponent to less than 10 points on multiple occasions in the same season eight times (1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2008) in 12 years of football ... The program record is five opponents under 10 points in 1998.

? Over the last four years USF has forced 106 turnovers and if you included blocked kicks, the number jumps to 115.

Mr. Clutch
In the biggest of moments against Kansas, junior safety Nate Allen shined the brightest again. With just 41 seconds left on the clock, Allen intercepted a Todd Reesing skinny post and returned it 40 yards to setup the game-winning field goal by Maikon Bonani.

Allen made a name for himself last season by producing momentum-shifting turnovers in crucial moments. Here is the rundown:
2007 at Auburn: Allen has an interception, fumble recovery and forced fumble in the Bulls' upset win at the Jordan Hare Stadium. He was named Nagurski National Player of the Week for his efforts.
2007 vs. West Virginia: In front of a sold out crowd, Allen has a fumble recovery and 44-yard return, plus a second-half interception in the Bulls' 21-13 win over the Mountaineers.
2007 at Pitt: With the score at 20-14, Allen intercepts a pass and returns it 37 yards for a touchdown. The TD keyed a 27-point swing that led to the Bulls 48-37 win over the Panthers.

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 third nationally with 15 players registering a reception... and no one is favored. So far this season five different players have led USF in receiving yards, five have led in TDs and four have led in receptions. Seven receivers have 100 or more yards receiving and five have TD catches.

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 427.8 yards per game, which would equal 5,561 yards over a 13-game season.

? Through six 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:

? The UT Martin game was also the third time in the last 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 UT Martin and UCF offensive outputs 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 the 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 11 of the last 17 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.