HT: Bulls need big game to stop slide

[Brad]

USF AT UAB / 7:30 P.M. ESPN2

Bulls need big game to stop slide South Florida's defense has given up 83 points in its last two games, and its QB is struggling.

BY ALAN DELL CORRESPONDENT

TAMPA -- The defense that the University of South Florida football program had been built on is missing. On the other side of the ball, the quarterback is misfiring at an alarming rate.

Such is the state of USF football as the Bulls head into their nationally televised game tonight at 7:30 on ESPN2 at Alabama-Birmingham. South Florida is a 16- to 18-point underdog.

It seems like only yesterday when people around the country were wide-eyed about the seven-year-old USF football program. The optimism was a reason the Bulls were invited into the Big East Conference, which they join next year.

Now the Bulls (2-4 overall, 1-3 in Conference USA) face the prospect of sliding into the program's first four-game losing streak. They've been saddled with injuries and the defense has given up 83 points in its last two games. But the biggest problem for the second straight year is at quarterback.

Against Louisville in a 41-9 loss, USF sophomore quarterback Pat Julmiste looked lost, missing on 12 of his first 13 passes and completing 3 of 20 attempts, which set a school single-game record for futility. He will start because he is the best the Bulls have.

UAB (5-2, 3-1) will try to rebound from a loss to its perennial nemesis, Tulane, which upset the Blazers 59-55 in a wild shootout.

Alabama-Birmingham's other loss was to Florida State. It is 3-0 at home.

The Bulls' defensive woes surfaced in the second half of their 42-35 loss to Army when the Cadets scored touchdowns on all their possessions except the final one when they ran out the clock.

"I'm not discouraged by a lot of things. The only thing that hit me was the second half of Army. I can't really explain that," USF head coach Jim Leavitt said. "That was the thing I struggled with more than anything else and our players know that."

Last season, the Bulls offense struggled, but they had a defense that could score points and pull out games. They also had two receivers in Elgin Hicks and Huey Whittaker, who made big plays and rarely dropped a pass.

The linebacking corps this year is still looking for a leader. The secondary, with the exception of free safety Javon Camon, has been a patchwork unit because of injuries.

Louisville quarterback Stefan LeFors riddled the USF defense, completing 21 of 26 passes for 242 yards. The Bulls will face another quality quarterback in UAB's Darrell Hackney, who threw for 1,600-plus yards last year before an injured sidelined him for the season and kept him out of the Blazers' 22-19 victory over South Florida.

USF's only sub-.500 record came in its inaugural season in 1997 when it went 5-6. It defied the experts for the next six seasons. This year, even Leavitt, the eternal optimist, concedes things are different.

Alabama-Birmingham notes

MONTGOMERY, Ala. -- On just one play in UAB's first game of the season, receiver Roddy White and quarterback Darrell Hackney showed why they are among the nation's most productive passing duos.

White was running his route when he noticed Hackney scrambling away from pressure. The roommates knew what to do.

"I just took off to the end zone," White said. "He tucked it in and threw it, and I knew we were on the same page then. I didn't know what he was going to do and he didn't know what I was going to do, and we still hooked up together."

They haven't stopped since, putting Alabama-Birmingham (5-2, 3-1 Conference USA) into contention for its first bowl bid entering tonight's game with South Florida (2-4, 1-3). Hackney, the nation's fifth-rated passer, is finally healthy and is leading the league in yards passing after missing the final five games last year with a dislocated thumb.

Hackney has completed 56.7 percent of his passes with 18 touchdowns, both career highs, and has thrown just four interceptions.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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