Friday Five, a commentary on USF football.
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Technical people will take issue with the use of the word “bye” when referring to a college football off week because it isn’t really a bye at all, but it is such a part of the lexicon that it stating it otherwise just seems wrong. And, those folks who pay close attention to calendars will also note that this isn’t being posted on Friday as the title would suggest. Literary people can think of that as a sort of foreshadowing of things to come on future Fridays.
For this Friday’s post-Friday edition of the debut of the Friday Five, we will examine five things the USF football team needs to improve on before beginning conference play against SMU in one week. While this series will be an opinion-based segment, there will be no attempt to persuade or mislead intended. Anything that looks persuasive or misleading should be considered literary errors that you can and should call the author out on in the forum, because everyone loves and deserves more criticism.
1. Figure out that quarterback situation. The Bulls began the season with a starter named with little doubt that he would be the man. After two games of almost-nothing on offense, the coaching staff made a change, giving birth to a quarterback controversy. Further muddying the waters are an outstanding performance by freshman, Jordan McCloud, against SC State. Why does that muddy the waters? Because it was SC State. After limited, but successful action against Georgia Tech, the fan base nearly unanimously demanded that McCloud replace Barnett. After all, McCloud was able to score the first touchdown of the season and was one of the highest rated performers by Pro Football Focus in his 5 passing attempts. Blake Barnett was able to do something similar against SC State, but it was likely overshadowed by McCloud’s five touchdowns. The Bulls lack depth at this position and will need to tread carefully to keep both guys in the fold. The most popular player on any losing team is the backup quarterback.
2. Find a running game. After starting just one game, McCloud leads the team in rushing yards with 85 yards. The would-be feature back in the system, Jordan Cronkrite, has just 46 yards rushing, after starting three games. Granted, he left the last game due to an injury, but that is a far cry from his 1,000 yards plus from last year. Kelley Joiner, who came in to relieve Cronkrite against SC State, managed 64 yards, but 51 of those are on one play.
3. Fix the offensive line. The Bulls came out of fall camps praising the offensive line and the experience they had there. Not only has the unit struggled to start the run game, the line has allowed quarterbacks to be sacked ten times through three games, including a pair against a should-have-been-overmatched SC State. On a team that is underperforming all over the place, the offensive line is probably the biggest problem.
4. Get better on defense. USF’s defense began the season by giving up 435 yards and 49 points to Wisconsin. Statistically, they looked better against Georgia Tech, but clearly Georgia Tech is not a very good team, this season, having lost to the Citadel a week after they should have lost to USF. And, there has been a lot of praise for the defense after holding SC State to 16 points. However, they allowed 378 total yards of offense to an FCS team. That’s way below where they need to be. For perspective, if they allowed an average of 378 yards of offense, they’d have the 71st worst average in the country, behind Marshall. Most of the conference schedule is a lot better than SC State.
5. Learn to stop the run. In 2018, USF finished the season ranked 123rd in rushing defense. They allowed an average of nearly 250 rushing yards per game against a schedule that wasn’t particularly strong running the ball. They’re currently sitting at 81st, allowing 170 yards per game, but that number is buffeted greatly by the 95 yards that SC State mustered. SC State got behind pretty early in the game and running the ball was no longer an option for them. Excluding that game, they’re giving up more than 200 rushing yards per game. Unless the offense does a 180 from where it started this season, the Bulls will need to stop the run to stay in games.
