South Florida came into Saturday?s football game looking to tire the Utes with the no-huddle offense. The Bulls were going to spread the Utes out with four and five wide receivers and completely dominate the Ute defense.
?They have a lot of talent, because they come from Florida, which is a great football state,? said U running back Adam Tate.
However, the talent did not produce great results. The Bulls were dominated by the Utes’ defense throughout the game, despite careless penalties committed by the Utes.
South Florida quarterback Marquel Blackwell characterized the Utes defense by saying, ?They came to play, and they embarrassed us.?
In the first half, the Bulls only had 137 yards and a horrible rushing total of ?4 yards. After the first half, both teams knew who was going to win. Seven of South Florida’s possessions were comprised of three plays or less.
?They took themselves out of the game,? said Ute safety Antwoine Sanders.
Tiring out the Utes was the Bulls’ gameplan, considering their no-huddle offense. To be effective with the no-huddle offense, however, a team must continue to get first downs and keep the defense on the field for as long as possible.
However, the Bulls only held the ball for 7:11 and only had eight first downs in the first half. ?The no-huddle offense did not faze us, because we prepared for it all week,? Sanders said.
Blackwell threw 55 balls, which is not unusual for him; however, it felt as though he was throwing pointless passes in the second half.
?It was frustrating throwing all those passes, but I was playing to the end of the game,? Blackwell said.
The lack of running from South Florida hurt the Bulls the most by letting the Utes put only six players in the box and having five defensive backs.
Much credit must go to the Ute defense for taking the Bulls out of their game.
?This is what we wanted to do, and what we prepared for all week,? said defensive back D’Shaun Crockett, who made his first career start at cornerback on Saturday.
Crockett led the team with 9 total tackles, while fellow defensive back Dave Revill had the only interception for the Utes, which he ran back 47 yards for a touchdown.
?Everything we did was disappointing. We got embarrassed, and I was very disappointed,? said South Florida coach Jim Leavitt.
The Ute defense frustrated the Bull offense and must continue to frustrate offenses all season going into conference play.