NJ.com Roundtable: Bulls' eye

[Jim Johnson]

Roundtable: Bulls' eye

by Star-Ledger Staff

Tuesday October 16, 2007, 5:00 AM

1. What makes South Florida so good?

TOM LUICCI: Two things: Quarterback Matt Grothe and a fast, athletic defense that features the nation's sack leader (George Selvie), a big-play linebacker (Ben Moffitt) and two corners who have a chance to play on Sundays (Trae Williams and Mike Jenkins).

Grothe leads the Bulls in both rushing and passing, with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano saying that's "by design and creation." It probably means the Knights will assign a "spy" to Grothe to cut down on his running.

Selvie has 11.5 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss, both national-leading numbers, and USF is No. 5 in the country in passing efficiency.

This isn't an explosive offense (averaging 393.5 yards per game) but Grothe makes it all work. It's confounding that he isn't a serious Heisman candidate yet with the year he is having, because he's the leading candidate for Big East Offensive Player of the Year at the moment -- in a league that features Ray Rice, Pat White, Brian Brohm and Steve Slation. That's saying something.

AD: The right mix of talent and leadership. Greg Schiano mentioned today that it becomes obvious that Ben Moffitt is the leader of South Florida's defense just by watching them on tape. You can have all the talent in the world but the on-field guidance is invaluable in reaching that next level.

Having Grothe, who was the Big East Freshmen of the Year, endure some growing pains to go along with his great games helped him become of the nation's top quarterbacks. He's doing everything on the offensive side because he's grown into his responsibilities. It's simply a bunch of guys who have come to realize what it's going to take to be great, not just a promising team that eventually falls short. One of the things that stood out to me in their victory over West Virginia was a sense of focus, which usually isn't that obvious on television. The reactions on defense were quick and precise -- it looked like a professional team in terms of approach, but obviously much slower. Except for George Selvie, of course. That guy's just a beast.

2. Are they a legit No. 2 team?

TL: No question. There's even a case for making USF No. 1 the way this season has played out. The strength of schedule is there. The Bulls have a quality road win at Auburn, which beat Florida and just won at Arkansas. They've beaten a top 10 team in West Virginia. They manhandled a North Carolina team that beat Miami and gave South Carolina all it could handle.

If this team was named "West Virginia" and not South Florida, it would be No. 1 right now. Just as if Ohio State was named "Indiana" instead, there is no way the Buckeyes would be No. 1. So much about the polls is perception. The traditional powers all have an advantage. It's tougher for the new guys on the top 10 block to get the national respect they deserve.

AD: If not them, who else? Right now, you can't put the SEC trio ahead of them, even though I think all three might be better. LSU beat South Carolina, which beat Kentucky, which beat LSU. I think either of those teams could take down South Florida, but you can't put any of them above the Bulls while they're fresh off recent losses. One of them is going to separate from the pack as a one-loss team and make the argument for playing a tougher schedule, but unless South Florida stumbles its way to an undefeated season, they're No. 2 to stay (because Ohio State is going to cruise to an undefeated season with no formidable opponent on the way).

3. Some have called them the Rutgers of 2007. Is that a fair analogy?

TL: Even though they are entirely different teams, it is. But South Florida has played a better schedule after six games that Rutgers did at a similar point last year. It's not even close. The Knights' only quality win to this point was at USF -- by two points.

Neither team started the year in the top 10 but both cracked the top 10.

And now USF has a showcase game on Thursday night on ESPN, just as Rutgers did against Louisville last year.

One other difference: If USF gets by Rutgers, the Bulls have a better shot at going 12-0 than Rutgers did after beating Louisville.

AD: I think South Florida's success is a little less shocking. Rutgers entered last season as a longshot top 25 team, receiving a handful of votes in the preseason poll. The Bulls weren't a highly-regarded team in the rankings either, but their name was thrown around as one of the potential dark horses in the conference race, if not -- and it's still crazy to say this -- the national title picture. Both teams had a star on the rise, whether it was Ray Rice or Matt Grothe.

It just felt like, whether at Big East Media Day before this season or in the preseason chatter, there was a hint that this team could be great. Not good, great. I don't think anyone outside the message-board group was saying the same thing about Rutgers last season.

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