USF Bulls Play Calling Questionable In 31-10 Loss To Miami

The Miami Hurricanes pushed around the South Florida Bulls for 60 minutes on Saturday and beat them 31-10.  The football game was more lopsided than the score indicated.

The Hurricanes (9-3) ran for 240 yards, rushed for 161 and held the home team Bulls to a total of 161 total yards.  If not for an eight minute touchdown drive to open the second half, the Bulls (7-4) didn't do anything all afternoon, except frustrate a sell out crowd at Raymond James Stadium.

The Hurricanes took the opening kick off and marched 81 yards on 12 plays. They scored the game's first touchdown and took a 7-0 lead.  Quarterback Jacory Harris hit tight end Leonard Hankerson for an 11-yard touch down to cap the drive.

Javaris James scored on a five-yard run to make it 14-0 with two minutes left in the first quarter.

The Bulls got on the board late in the second quarter with an Eric Schwartz field goal, but Miami was able to put up another touchdown before the half ended and took a 21-3 lead into the locker room.

When the Bulls made it 21-10, on a 12-yard pass from quarterback B.J. Daniels to A. J. Love, there was short-lived hope they were going to get back in the game. 

The Hurricanes dashed that hope with a third quarter touchdown and a fourth quarter field goal to close out the scoring.

The Bulls didin't help themselves in this one with play calling that has to be questioned.  On 20 first down plays, they threw the ball once and rushed 19 times. 

On their first play from scrimmage, the bulls threw an incomplete pass.  They chose to run the ball on their next 19 consecutive first down plays for an average of less than three yards/carry.

It just didn't seem like they made an attempt to keep the Hurricanes off balance.  They put themselves in the hole most of the game and were able to convert only 5 of 13 third downs.

Even though the Hurricanes were able to rush for 240 yards, they made sure they threw the ball eight times on first down.

In USF's two best wins this year, they kep't their opponents off balanced on first down and made an attempt to throw the football.  In a 17-7 upset of FSU, they threw the ball eight times on first down.  In their 30-19 upset of West Virginia, they threw it five times on first down.

From the way they approached yesterday's game, it was hard to tell what their offensive plan was.  Although Miami was clearly the better team, ultimately Jim Leavitt has some explaining to do for an offensive plan that lacked creativity and failed to keep Miami off balance.

USF closes out their season nest week, on the road against 6-5 Connecticut.