South Florida Bulls 2008 Preview

Coach: Jim Leavitt (79-47 including I-AA, 52-30 at I-A) Twelfth Year
Last Year: 9-4, 4-3 Big East, fourth of eight 
Returning Starters : Offense 10*, Line 4 | Defense 6, Line 4

Three Things You Should Know
1) Okay, you already know about George Selvie, but the 6-4/242 lb defensive end is going to present a problem for Jeff Spikes and KU. Selvie set the Big East record last year with 31.5 tackles for loss (139 yards). He also had 14.5 sacks. Expect the Jayhawks to give Spikes some help here.
2) Other than QB Matt Grothe (2670 yards passing at 59.2% with 14 TDs vs 14 INTs), you'll want to make note of running back Mike Ford who had 645 yards, 12 TDs and a 4.7 ypc average. Senior guard Ryan Schmidt (6-5/327) is a standout as well on offense and on the defensive side of the ball linebacker Tyrone McKenzie had 121 tackles last year.
3) The Bulls play at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa which has a capacity of 65,857. USF averaged 53,170 last year with a wide disparity in attendance totals. 37k showed up for a game with North Carolina, but they had 67,000 for the matchup with West Virginia. Something tells me KU should expect a near-capacity crowd.

Trends
Phil Steele says that KU is 2-9 over the last 11 years in their first road game of the season, but one of those wins came last year against Kansas State. Mark Mangino is 2-3 in non-conference road games at KU. USF will be the first time the Jayhawks have played a ranked non-con under Mangino.

The Game
Get ready to rock boys. The winner of this game will be immediately thrust into national title talk ... unless of course if KU is the winner. Then USF gets explained away as over-rated and KU will have to prove themselves against OU. Looking over the Bulls, this game ranks as the second toughest on the schedule (OU 1st). And the Hawks haven't had this challenging of a roadie since 2005 Texas (66-14 L). Ten returning starters for the Bulls on offense means we're going to learn something about the KU defense early on. I'm not sure that the 2005 matchup helps much but that was a defensive battle where KU kept Grothe (true freshman at the time) under check. On the other side, KU's offense is obviously a different animal since the last meeting. Todd Reesing is an unknown for USF, but in this one, the Hawks will likely need a running game and I would expect all three backs (Sharp, Quigley & Crawford) to see action. USF always has a tough d-line and Quigley/Crawford are going to have to step up to provide a B-Mac type performance for KU to be successful.

2008 South Florida Schedule
Sat, Aug 30 Tennessee-Martin
Sat, Sep 6 at UCF
Fri, Sep 12 (14) Kansas
Sat, Sep 20 at Florida International
Sat, Sep 27 at North Carolina State
Thu, Oct 2 (25) Pittsburgh
Sat, Oct 18 Syracuse
Sat, Oct 25 at Louisville
Thu, Oct 30 at Cincinnati
Sat, Nov 15 Rutgers
Sun, Nov 23 Connecticut
Sat, Dec 6 at (8) West Virginia

2007 Results
W Elon 28-13
W at Auburn 26-23
W North Carolina 37-10
W West Virginia 21-13
W at Florida Atlantic 35-23
W UCF 64-12
L at Rutgers 30-27
L 2007 at Connecticut 22-15
L Cincinnati 38-33
W at Syracuse 41-10
W Louisville 55-17
W at Pittsburgh 48-37
L at Oregon 56-21