South Florida vs Florida State Preview

Finally, a real game for the University of South Florida football team. It's about time.

After their world cupcake tour in their first three weeks of the 2009 season, the Bulls will trek to Tallahassee, Fla., for a high noon showdown against Bobby Bowden's Florida State squad. The Wofford-Western Kentucky-Charleston Southern trifecta is done and dusted, and now coach Jim Leavitt will truly begin to see what kind of team he has.

This matchup with the Seminoles can be divided into two parts: Survival on offense and determination on defense. When South Florida has the ball, the Bulls can no longer expect to score now that Matt Grothe, their senior leader and their spiritual center, won't be able to dissect the FSU secondary, a leaky outfit that hemorrhaged yards and points in a season-opening loss to Miami on Labor Day. Saturday's game--instead of offering Grothe a challenge worthy of his skills following three cupcake games--will put backup B.J. Daniels into the thick of the fray. USF will need to post a significant point total if a victory is to be expected, so it stands to reason that Daniels will have his work cut out for him as he makes his first collegiate start in the cauldron known as Doak Campbell Stadium.

When Florida State has the ball, the Bulls need to do exactly what FSU will try to do to against B.J. Daniels: Prevent big plays, force field goals in the red zone, and make a quarterback slowly inch the ball up the field with little margin for error. Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder lit up Miami's secondary in week one, obliterated BYU in week three, and is now set on shredding South Florida in week four. There's a legitimate chance that the junior gunslinger will be able to have a field day against USF's back line of defense, if only for the fact that the gulf between FCS opponents (Wofford and Charleston Southern) and Florida State is so pronounced. The Bulls, after their cupcake tour, might have trouble dealing with the speed and size of Florida State's receivers in the early stages of this contest. The adjustment process could really catch up with Jim Leavitt's roster. It will be up to George Selvie--the still-healthy superstar on this ballclub--to either get to Ponder or draw double-teams that free up his teammates for sacks. Without a standout performance from Selvie, the Grothe-less Bulls won't have much of a chance to tally a win in Tally.

Challenges make good teams better. South Florida knows it possesses a fair share of ability; now, for the first time in 2009, the Bulls will really get to find out what they're made of. They can only hope that three weeks of glorified scrimmages did enough to prepare them for the opponent they'll face this coming Saturday.

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By Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer