2010 West Virginia Mountaineers Preview: South Florida Bulls

As the fall season becomes more vibrant in the state of West Virginia, the Mountaineers will welcome in Big East play on October 14^th .

The first conference opponent will be the South Florida Bulls in Morgantown as the promising rivalry continues to grow in the sixth meeting in school history.

In the 2009 season, the Mountaineers traveled to Tampa Bay only to return to Mountain State with a 30-19 setback to the Bulls.

While proving to be an obstacle for West Virginia, South Florida jumped out to a 5-0 record; however, they finished their last seven games at 2-5 to end last season. 

Adding to the poor conclusion, Jim Leavitt was fired from his head coaching position in January 2010 after an NCAA investigation regarding his actions with one of his players.

After removing Leavitt, South Florida hired East Carolina Coach Skip Holtz to take over as the program’s second head football coach.

Holtz has 10 years of experience as a head coach while at Connecticut and ECU (while collecting a 72-50 record). He had his most success at ECU while winning the last two Conference USA league championships but falling in three of four bowl appearances with the Pirates.

Holtz will not have an empty cupboard to work with in his first season in Tampa.

The Bulls offense completed the 2009 season with the fifth best offense in the Big East, all while being 71^st in the nation with 365 yards per game.

The points put up by the team, 26 per game, also put them at fifth in the conference and a ranking of 64^th on the national scale.

On the defensive side of the ball, the formerly said cupboard will be well stocked from the previous coaching administration.

The total defense for the Bulls in 2009 ended with the Big East’s third best ranked defense behind Rutgers and Pittsburgh with more than 320 yards per game.  

The South Florida defense allowed only 19 points per game, which was good for second in the Big East and 19^th on the national scene.

As for 2010, the Bulls will not have an easy road to travel as they have tests with games at Miami and Florida in the second and 11^th games of the season. T

he offense going into these challenges will be led by passing and rushing leader for 2009 in sophomore quarterback B.J. Daniels. Daniels collected close to 2000 yards through the air while gaining 770 yards on the ground for a 28 total touchdowns and 9 interceptions in his freshman year.

The defense, bringing only three starters back and coupled with the loss of George Selvie and Jason Pierre-Paul to the NFL, might not be hopeless with the returning talent this year. The defense will have six seniors including tackle Terrell McClain and defensive end Craig Marshall (who had a big game against Florida State).

The Bulls secondary might be the best in the conference with Junior Quenton Washington and Sophomore Kenyon Webster—who played soundly in his freshman season last year in just six games.

As for the matchup of the Bulls and Mountaineers, West Virginia should be able to avenge their loss in 2009 and even the series between the two at three games apiece.

The Mountaineer defense will need to control Daniels to win their fifth game of the season.

I believe that West Virginia will upend the Bulls in Morgantown by a score of 27-17, getting an important Big East win in the books.

NEXT GAME: Syracuse vs West Virginia, October 29^th , 2010