Post by rainman on Sept 30, 2007 7:52:23 GMT -5
Bulls are the ‘now’ team in the Big East
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
TAMPA, Fla.— For the first time since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2003, it was a night without darkness here in the city by the other bay.
They canceled what is among the most beautiful of sunsets in the world here so none of the 67,018 fans who paid their way into the house that Raymond James sponsored for the 670,018 or so fans who experienced the performance in plasma, high definition in the 100,000 or so bars that are within 50 miles of Ray-J ever had to go to bed.
It was a night of Captain Morgan and Crown Royal, a night as festive as is St. Patrick’s Day except the only thing that wasn’t green was the beer, a party night that may have even put the best of aptly named High Street parties to shame, much as the South Florida football team put what was believed to be one of the best of West Virginia University football teams to shame.
When the head-splitting morning came and Tampa and St. Petersburg and Bradenton and Brandon and Temple Terrace began to rise, when the Busch Gardens menagerie of African beasts began to roar for their breakfast, confused as they were by the sunlit night, people began to realize that what they had experienced on the wildest Friday of their lives wasn’t a dream.
Their newfound darlings, the University of South Florida, had indeed knocked off the nation’s No. 5 team, West Virginia, and done so by beating them in everything but the post-game rush to the team bus. They had dazzled the Mountaineers with their speed, punished them with their physicality and buried them under an avalanche of crowd noise.
They took everything but their belts from them, allowing the Mountaineers the dignity to leave town without their pants bunching around their ankles, walking through the airport with the same tiny steps and uncertainty they had played with in incurring while their first loss of a 2007 season that was supposed to be unblemished.
“This is a history game,” crowed USF cornerback Nate Allen, whose interception and fumble recovery left his finger prints all over the scene of the crime. “We made history. There’s no feeling like it.”
It was, in all too many ways, similar to the feeling the Mountaineers had experienced three years earlier when they had made history, surmounting an insurmountable Louisville lead in the final quarter as they unveiled not only running back Steve Slaton with six touchdowns, but quarterback Patrick White to lift WVU to national prominence.
All of a sudden, South Florida is the “now” team in the Big East that West Virginia was last year and for part of the year before. The world is the Bulls’ balloon, a wonderful toy.
“USF is for real,” proclaimed safety Louis Gachette.
“We’re going all the way, Big East champs,” added receiver Carlton Mitchell, whose 55-yard touchdown reception on a broken play may have been the game’s key play.
USF should enjoy the riches that the 21-13 victory has brought to it, revel in the warm glow of success, dine in the regal dining hall of victory, for the school, its players, coaches and fans have earned it.
But heed a bit of advice.
Balloons burst.
Ask Slaton and White this morning. Ask coach Rich Rodriguez, who saw an off-hand comment about how his team was like the New York Yankees in that it drew a huge following come back to haunt him when South Florida defensive coordinator Gary Burnham proclaimed in post-game emotion:
“You can tell West Virginia they can take those Yankee hats and stick ’em … you know what I mean.”
It’s great while you win, yes, especially for the first time.
But remember where Notre Dame is today, where Michigan is today.
It’s easier to get to the top than it is to stay there and the higher you go, the further you fall with each loss.
There can be no doubt today the Mountaineers were overrated and over-hyped, something that was easy to overlook when they were beating overmatched opponents. But it should have been obvious something was amiss from the first half of the Marshall game when that crowd held WVU in check.
All season they were lacking the spectacular big plays that had symbolized their rise to prominence, the breakaways by Slaton, the daring inventiveness of White at quarterback.
While the defense grew, the offense seemed to shrink. It needed to play two tight ends and a fullback to outmuscle Marshall. It had to grind it out against East Carolina. And, as the game wore on Friday night, it was obvious South Florida wasn’t going to be pushed around by WVU.
What happened on Friday night was the passing of the torch from WVU to South Florida. The Mountaineers had enjoyed the warmth of the torch’s blame.
Now South Florida must try to see if it can bask in the same warm glow or if it will be burned by the heat the torch emits.
By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
TAMPA, Fla.— For the first time since the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2003, it was a night without darkness here in the city by the other bay.
They canceled what is among the most beautiful of sunsets in the world here so none of the 67,018 fans who paid their way into the house that Raymond James sponsored for the 670,018 or so fans who experienced the performance in plasma, high definition in the 100,000 or so bars that are within 50 miles of Ray-J ever had to go to bed.
It was a night of Captain Morgan and Crown Royal, a night as festive as is St. Patrick’s Day except the only thing that wasn’t green was the beer, a party night that may have even put the best of aptly named High Street parties to shame, much as the South Florida football team put what was believed to be one of the best of West Virginia University football teams to shame.
When the head-splitting morning came and Tampa and St. Petersburg and Bradenton and Brandon and Temple Terrace began to rise, when the Busch Gardens menagerie of African beasts began to roar for their breakfast, confused as they were by the sunlit night, people began to realize that what they had experienced on the wildest Friday of their lives wasn’t a dream.
Their newfound darlings, the University of South Florida, had indeed knocked off the nation’s No. 5 team, West Virginia, and done so by beating them in everything but the post-game rush to the team bus. They had dazzled the Mountaineers with their speed, punished them with their physicality and buried them under an avalanche of crowd noise.
They took everything but their belts from them, allowing the Mountaineers the dignity to leave town without their pants bunching around their ankles, walking through the airport with the same tiny steps and uncertainty they had played with in incurring while their first loss of a 2007 season that was supposed to be unblemished.
“This is a history game,” crowed USF cornerback Nate Allen, whose interception and fumble recovery left his finger prints all over the scene of the crime. “We made history. There’s no feeling like it.”
It was, in all too many ways, similar to the feeling the Mountaineers had experienced three years earlier when they had made history, surmounting an insurmountable Louisville lead in the final quarter as they unveiled not only running back Steve Slaton with six touchdowns, but quarterback Patrick White to lift WVU to national prominence.
All of a sudden, South Florida is the “now” team in the Big East that West Virginia was last year and for part of the year before. The world is the Bulls’ balloon, a wonderful toy.
“USF is for real,” proclaimed safety Louis Gachette.
“We’re going all the way, Big East champs,” added receiver Carlton Mitchell, whose 55-yard touchdown reception on a broken play may have been the game’s key play.
USF should enjoy the riches that the 21-13 victory has brought to it, revel in the warm glow of success, dine in the regal dining hall of victory, for the school, its players, coaches and fans have earned it.
But heed a bit of advice.
Balloons burst.
Ask Slaton and White this morning. Ask coach Rich Rodriguez, who saw an off-hand comment about how his team was like the New York Yankees in that it drew a huge following come back to haunt him when South Florida defensive coordinator Gary Burnham proclaimed in post-game emotion:
“You can tell West Virginia they can take those Yankee hats and stick ’em … you know what I mean.”
It’s great while you win, yes, especially for the first time.
But remember where Notre Dame is today, where Michigan is today.
It’s easier to get to the top than it is to stay there and the higher you go, the further you fall with each loss.
There can be no doubt today the Mountaineers were overrated and over-hyped, something that was easy to overlook when they were beating overmatched opponents. But it should have been obvious something was amiss from the first half of the Marshall game when that crowd held WVU in check.
All season they were lacking the spectacular big plays that had symbolized their rise to prominence, the breakaways by Slaton, the daring inventiveness of White at quarterback.
While the defense grew, the offense seemed to shrink. It needed to play two tight ends and a fullback to outmuscle Marshall. It had to grind it out against East Carolina. And, as the game wore on Friday night, it was obvious South Florida wasn’t going to be pushed around by WVU.
What happened on Friday night was the passing of the torch from WVU to South Florida. The Mountaineers had enjoyed the warmth of the torch’s blame.
Now South Florida must try to see if it can bask in the same warm glow or if it will be burned by the heat the torch emits.
