South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels (7) celebrates in the end zone after running in for a touch down against Florida A&M in Tampa. ASSOCIATED PRESS
TAMPA -- This year's opening-day kickoff couldn't come fast enough for the University of South Florida football team.
It's the only thing that can take the sting away from the 2011 calamity that saw the Bulls lose seven of the final eight games in one of the biggest collapses of the college football season.
The losses were close, and head coach Skip Holtz noted that his team could easily have been 7-1 in that span.
He is right, but the pain of losing has never gone away.
Unlike last season, when USF opened with all the hoopla in traveling to face Notre Dame, the kickoff at 7 p.m. today at Raymond James Stadium is against Football Championship Subdivision Chattanooga.
But it doesn't matter. Last year, USF beat Notre Dame and won its next three before imploding. Now the attitude is steady as you go.
"We just want to get a win, come out of the game healthy and be 1-0. We are not thinking beyond that or looking past anybody," fifth-year senior quarterback B.J. Daniels said.
Led by linebacker Mike Lanaris, most of the senior starters went to special teams coach Vernon Hargreaves and pleaded to play on those units.
Lanaris started 11 games last year and was second on the team with 87 tackles. Against Notre Dame, he had 10 tackles, an interception and a pass block. He will start on three special teams and be a backup on another heading into this game.
Last season, the Bulls ranked 115th out of 120 FBS schools in kickoff return yardage defense, allowing 24.75 yards per return. They were 83d in punt return offense (6.52 average) and 80th in kickoff return yardage (20.67).
"Special teams was a weak point for us last year, and a bunch of us went to coach Hargreaves and told him we want to be on everything," Lanaris said. "A lot of the older guys are taking a lot of pride in that. It's a huge facet of the game, and you will see a lot of starters doing that now. The seniors have a sense of urgency, and we want that to permeate through the team."
Hargreaves says the depth of this year's team allows the Bulls to use starters on special teams. They can be rested because he feels confident in their backups.
"If you look around the country, you will see there are a lot of good teams who put good players on special teams, so I don't think it's anything revolutionary," Hargreaves said. "We are starting to get to that point with depth that allows us to do it. We've made an effort to put the best guys on the field in those areas, and the head coach has put his blessing on it."
Holtz has made a concentrated effort throughout the entire program to improve special teams, adding more coaches and allotting more time to that facet of the game.
"It's an all-hands-on-deck mindset on special teams," Holtz said. "We were not nearly as effective a year ago on special teams as we wanted to be. Now we have more staff involved on special teams and more eyes on the film. We have Demetris Murray (starting running back) on the front line of one of the special teams."
The Bulls have the most senior starters (12) returning in the Big East and are tied for the most returning starters overall with 15. With a veteran quarterback and a deep receiving corps there is a lot of excitement. But last year taught the players to be cautiously optimistic.
Chattanooga head coach Russ Huesman led the Mocs to back-to-back winning seasons in 2009 and '10 for the first time since 1990 and '91. They were 5-6 last year, with five of the losses coming by a combined 12 points.
The Southern Conference Mocs have three preseason FCS All-Americans in defensive end Josh Williams, linebacker Wes Dothard and defensive back Kadeem Wise.
But as Holtz and Daniels say, this game is more about USF, particularly with a much-improved offense that includes junior running back Marcus Shaw, who has shown signs he could have a breakout season.
"We are worried about ourselves and what we can control," Holtz said.
Source: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/09/01/4180962/college-football-preview-usf-bulls.html
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