Cincinnati 27, USF 10: Vaguely Disinterested Postgame Thoughts

I'll keep this short since a more detailed review would just cover so much of the same ground we've been covering all season, and I don't like repeating myself.

- I don't really think USF quit, necessarily, but with this defense it's pretty hard to tell the difference between when they're trying and when they aren't. Someone's always open. There's usually a hole or a lane to run through. No one's going to intercept a pass, and normally no one's going to come close to it. At least there was some push up front, not a lot, but some. All things considered, the defense actually did OK. Still, the defense has forced eight turnovers in 11 games, they're easy to pass protect against, and eventually they're going to break.

It's so annoying to see the occasional good play out of the defense, like a pass deflection, or a good tackle, or someone making a play in the backfield. You can tell how much wasted talent there is on this defense. On the other hand, that long pass to Kenbrell Thompkins was horrible. No one saw him at any level of the defense.

- The enthusiasm gap was noticeable, like it has been a number of times this year. Not that the Bulls had a lot to celebrate, but Cincinnati seemed much more into the game, even though their bowl position is basically locked in and they don't have that much to play for, either.

- Was there something going on with USF's equipment last night? There was quite a bit of slipping on the turf. (They played here two years ago, so the condition of the field shouldn't have been a surprise.) The Bulls fumbled the ball seven times, many of them unforced. Cincinnati didn't fumble at all. Each team uses their own footballs on offense -- did USF not treat theirs correctly for the conditions? Matt Floyd had a lot of trouble with the center snaps, even the ones he didn't fumble. He wasn't wearing gloves, although it didn't seem to affect him throwing the ball.

Then Josh Dentel tweeted that one of the heaters on the Bulls' sideline started smoking and may have caught on fire. I was only kidding about Woolard shorting them on the propane to keep them going, but having one of the heaters flame out is a pretty typical USF thing to happen.

- Football will not become a safer game until the players have enough sense not to do things like what Terrence Mitchell did. He knocked himself out of the game just like he did last year, launching himself head-first at a player. This time, it was Drew Frey he was trying to block on an end-around. He bounced off the top of a ducking Frey like a skipping stone and went down hard.

- At least Skip Holtz didn't have any kind of plausible explanation for kicking an extra point at 27-9. There isn't one. Add it to the pile.

- Let's get it all over with. The football season, the decision on whether or not to bring this bozo back for another year, the school getting left out of realignment... all of it. I want to know what to do next. I'm tired of waiting it out.