So How Bad Is It?

USF: Your Bulls are terrible.

They are an awful team packed with bad players stuffed into a scheme they weren't recruited to play in and topped off with a total lack of trust in each other. They also don't seem to always try very hard. We'll try to pull some game film to talk about effort later this week, but we'll start with the stats:

Bobby Eveld: 6 of 25, 66 yards, 2.6 yards per attempt, 0 TD's, 1 INT, sacked 3 times, two for sack-fumble TD's.

Woof, but let's not put all this on Bobby. The left side of his offensive line got chewed up and spit out by one of the best defenses in America, so he was constantly under pressure. His running game wasn't able to give much support to keep the Spartans from just rushing up the field at will. And for some reason, maybe because they didn't think they had time to make it work, USF didn't call much play action at all to stall the oncoming freight train of home team's front seven.

But Eveld simply doesn't have the arm, size, footwork, or composure in the pocket to be an effective college quarterback. The two sack-fumbles for TD's certainly weren't totally his fault alone, but a more athletic QB probably finds a way to maintain possession as he's going down.

Note: Michigan State keeps the stats for both teams on a board behind one end zone. Looking up at one point at team completion percentage and seeing 7.7% was so bad it gave me a giggle.

Marcus Shaw: 23 carries, 94 yards, long of 24 yards.

I thought Andre Davis was the most-screwed over player on this offense, but that trophy might end up going to #20. No one can question his effort, and he's been effective in making players miss when he doesn't get any blocking at the second level.

We also said before the season that giving a 5'9 running back that's under 180 lbs. more than 20 carries a game would mean the coaches have a death wish for him. When Marcus has 23 of the Bulls 28 rushes by non-quarterbacks, it shows how much faith the staff has in what's behind him.

Hang in there Mr. Shaw. The massages and chiropractor bills are on us after the season.

USF Wide Receivers: Total drops ??

This is where sitting in a press box would make this job easier, as we could chart all the dropped passes by the Bulls. There were many, but some of them are of the "Hey, look, the ball is actually where it's supposed to be!! What do I do now??" variety. Part of being effective in an offense is creating a rhythm, and obviously that's not happening right now.

Marvin Kloss: 2 for 2 FG's, long of 49 yards, 2/3 on touchbacks. Mattias Ciabatti: 9 punts averaging 40.1 yards, 2 inside 20. 5 MSU punt returns totaled 19 yards.

Hey, the kicking game is good! Kloss stepped up and drilled a 49 yarder for his first FG as a Bull after two years handling kickoffs and a redshirt freshman season. He also allowed only one non-touchback on kickoffs, which only went for 14 yards of return. That's outstanding.

Ciabatti is obviously a candidate to lead The American in total punts, so averaging over 40 yards per boot is going to be big for the field position game USF is going to play. And that's not a small thing on a team that's going to struggle offensively all year long.

Defense: Incomplete statistical analysis

Yes, USF allowed only 265 yards to a B1G team on the road and that... seems like, good, right?? But the film shows that Sparty just absolutely SUCKS when they have the ball. They've played 3 QB's for significant chunks of time already, and the entire fan base is begging for the freshman fourth-stringer to get out there. Allowing 4.5 yards per rush and 3.9 per passing attempt would on the surface appear to be a win, but MSU (111th out of 123 in FBS in total offense after playing Western Michigan and USF) is so awful with the ball I don't think it's fair to grade on what would be a very large curve.

This might apply next week to FAU as well (113th of 123), who also is incredibly inept offensively. If we can't beat the Owls... um, 0-12 is in play, friends.