USF's Victory Shows Bulls Are Ready For Some, But Not For Others

The final score read the way it was supposed to.

University of South Florida 40, Wofford 7.

The Saturday night contest against the Terriers was supposed to be a warmup of sorts for the Bulls—it was.

The game against 1-AA Wofford was supposed to be a chance for USF coaches to see how their guys would do when the hitting was for real.

It did.

So what did we learn and what do we know about these 2009 Bulls that we didn't prior to this opening victory?

Let's set the table with the fact that Wofford, is indeed, a good little team, a nice little 1-AA team, that should do pretty well when it picks on guys its own size.

The Terriers were tough, gritty, grind out their system, and play hard.

Other than that, Saturday night at Raymond James proved that they were simply over matched for a 60-minute haul. Sure, they were okay for 15 minutes, but these college games are marathons, not sprints.

So what did the 60 minutes of football show about Jim Leavitt's USF team?

Well, there was good and then not-so-good.

It wasn't so good that it took USF a half to figure out how to put the clamps on Wofford's running attack.

USF never did figure out how to stop Terrier power-runner Eric Breitenstein, who was a bit of a Frankenstein to the Bulls. He topped all runners with 121 yards on 13 carries.

It wasn't really great that USF had multiple turnovers including an interception thrown by Matt Grothe when his team was on the two-yard line, looking to score a touchdown.

It wasn't great that USF didn't show much of a vertical passing attack, as Grothe was content to pick at Wofford with an assortment of short throws.

But the weaknesses shown on Saturday night were offset by a bunch of good things.

Overall, Grothe was Grothe. He accounted for 199 yards total offense, 155 passing and 44 rushing.

Mo Plancher stepped up and showed he's a reliable runner who can take care of the football. Plancher rushed for 78 yards and a pair of touchdowns to take some of that load off Grothe.

USF's young offensive line did quite well and that has to please their coaches.

USF's defense finally found its groove in the second half. Wofford scored on its first possession of the game, but never again.

In the final 30 minutes, the Bulls defense just flat-out beat up the Terriers, physically.

Young players stepped up for USF, particularly freshmen Kayvon Webster on defense, and Lindsey Lamar on offense.

Lamar is a bottle rocket of a back. He showed brilliant bursts of speed, powered his way through a tackle to score a touchdown. Impressive for a 160-pound back.

Webster played the entire game on defense AND special teams—beyond impressive.

Carlton Mitchell and Dontavia Bogan stepped up and showed they're probably the go-to receivers for Grothe.

There were a lot of positives.

And afterwards, Leavitt confessed: "We didn't work on Wofford as we should have..."

Who can blame him?

USF was supposed to put up 40 points and it did.

Answers to questions?

Sure, USF is now ready for Western Kentucky and Charleston Southern, two teams that got the bejeebers beat out of them Saturday.

Yes, the Bulls are ready for two more "practice" games against lesser teams with lesser talent.

Are the Bulls ready for "prime time" teams like Florida State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Cincinnati?

Not yet.

But "prime time" is out there, waiting.