Friday, October 31, 2008

The Bulls get Trick, no Treat in Cincy


By JC De La Torre

At the start of this season, many fans of the University of South Florida Bulls felt their team was ready to challenge for the Big East title and the BCS bowl that comes with it. Unfortunately, the season hasn't turned out that way as the 23rd ranked Bulls fell to the unranked Cincinatti Bearcats to fall to 6-3 on the season. The Bulls are now 2nd to last in the Big East with a disappointing 1-3 record.

Matt Grothe had by far his worst game as Bull, completing only 41% of his passes and tossing 3 picks. Cincinatti QB Tony Pike played with a broken arm, but had one of the best games of his career, going 20 for 28, for 281 yds and tossing two scores.

Cincinatti took the lead midway through the first on a 2 yd score by John Goebel. The score was set up by a Matt Grothe pick. South Florida answered a minute later, as a Grothe to Carlton Mitchell 33 yd pass and a 32 yd run by Moises Plancher set up the Bulls with a 1st and goal at the 1. Plancher would plunge in from there to tie it at 7.

Cincinatti came right back down the field, capping a 7 play 49 yd drive with a 32 yd Jake Rogers field goal. After a USF punt pinned the Bearcats at their own 9 yd line, Cincinatti went 91 yds on 12 plays in 4:12, finishing with a sparkling Pike to Marshawn Gilyard 26 yd score to give the Bearcats a 17-7 lead that they would take into the second half.

The second half would be no better for USF, as they managed only a field goal while Cincinatti's defense picked off Grothe 2 more times and Pike found Connor Barwin on a one yd score to put the game away.

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