It's hard to believe South Florida hasn't won a Thursday night game since 2002 considering how many promising teams they have had over the past 10 years. Last Saturday they needed a miracle to beat Nevada's Pistol offense in high altitude Reno by a point. USF's talented D had a hard time defending the Pistol early on getting ran over for 278 yards and giving up 271 yards through the air. However after getting acclimated to the altitude and making adjustments in defending the Pistol. USF clamped down and only allowed 10 points in 3 quarters, creating 3 turnovers in the process. The Bulls were able to move the ball at will against Nevada's swiss cheese D and scored two long touchdown passes to end the game winners by 1. Not a very impressive performance but winning a game in Reno against the Pack's amazing offense is never an easy task.
USF this year is getting the job done by being solid up front on both sides of the football. On the O-line they have yet to give up a negative yard play. On the Defensive front they are very experienced with 3 returning line backers and a D-line that is anchored by experienced DT Pork Chop Grissom and DE Ryan Giddens. The Linebacker position is led by Dede Lattimore who had nine tackles and 1 huge sack on Saturday. At the skill positions QB BJ Daniels has been tremendous in avoiding sacks and throwing extremely accurate deep passes connecting on several of them this past weekend. His favorite target has been Andre Davis who caught 12 passes for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns in Reno. At running back Lindsay Lamar and Demetris Murray have been pounding the rock successfully. Now with that said this has been done against very pedestrian defenses. On Thursday night however the Bulls face probably the best and deepest defense in the Big East in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers defensive front is loaded with talent anchored by DT Scott Vallone and returning Big East defensive player of the year LB Khaseem Greene. Their defensive Backfield has also been solid with DB Brandon Jones returning an INT for a touchdown and a punt block for a touchdown. Through the first two games Rutgers has held their opponents to a total of 12 points against scrub competition. The problem with the Scarlet Knights obviously doesnt lie with the defense but rather with the offense. 2nd year QB Gary Nova has been very inconsistent behind an inexperienced oline and receivers who cannot hold on to the football. If it wasnt for a solid running game behind Jawan Jamison who reminds many of Ray Rice, Rutgers would be completely inept on offense.
On Thursday night these two schools take the field at Raymond James to get one up on the Big East Championship. While Rutgers has the better defense, not being able to put up points against a pretty good USF defense on the road is going to kill them. BJ Daniels being a 5th year senior will not be as erratic as he has shown in the past in this game. I expect him to be composed and focused in this one and most likely connecting on some deep balls to his explosive receivers. If there is a weakness in the Rutgers defense it is in the secondary and the experienced Daniels has the ability to expose them. This is a big game for Skip Holtz and his program on national tv and I fully expect him to have South Florida pumped and ready to win in convincing fashion.
It's hard to believe South Florida hasn't won a Thursday night game since 2002 considering how many promising teams they have had over the past 10 years. Last Saturday they needed a miracle to beat Nevada's Pistol offense in high altitude Reno by a point. USF's talented D had a hard time defending the Pistol early on getting ran over for 278 yards and giving up 271 yards through the air. However after getting acclimated to the altitude and making adjustments in defending the Pistol. USF clamped down and only allowed 10 points in 3 quarters, creating 3 turnovers in the process. The Bulls were able to move the ball at will against Nevada's swiss cheese D and scored two long touchdown passes to end the game winners by 1. Not a very impressive performance but winning a game in Reno against the Pack's amazing offense is never an easy task.
USF this year is getting the job done by being solid up front on both sides of the football. On the O-line they have yet to give up a negative yard play. On the Defensive front they are very experienced with 3 returning line backers and a D-line that is anchored by experienced DT Pork Chop Grissom and DE Ryan Giddens. The Linebacker position is led by Dede Lattimore who had nine tackles and 1 huge sack on Saturday. At the skill positions QB BJ Daniels has been tremendous in avoiding sacks and throwing extremely accurate deep passes connecting on several of them this past weekend. His favorite target has been Andre Davis who caught 12 passes for 192 yards and 2 touchdowns in Reno. At running back Lindsay Lamar and Demetris Murray have been pounding the rock successfully. Now with that said this has been done against very pedestrian defenses. On Thursday night however the Bulls face probably the best and deepest defense in the Big East in the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers defensive front is loaded with talent anchored by DT Scott Vallone and returning Big East defensive player of the year LB Khaseem Greene. Their defensive Backfield has also been solid with DB Brandon Jones returning an INT for a touchdown and a punt block for a touchdown. Through the first two games Rutgers has held their opponents to a total of 12 points against scrub competition. The problem with the Scarlet Knights obviously doesnt lie with the defense but rather with the offense. 2nd year QB Gary Nova has been very inconsistent behind an inexperienced oline and receivers who cannot hold on to the football. If it wasnt for a solid running game behind Jawan Jamison who reminds many of Ray Rice, Rutgers would be completely inept on offense.
On Thursday night these two schools take the field at Raymond James to get one up on the Big East Championship. While Rutgers has the better defense, not being able to put up points against a pretty good USF defense on the road is going to kill them. BJ Daniels being a 5th year senior will not be as erratic as he has shown in the past in this game. I expect him to be composed and focused in this one and most likely connecting on some deep balls to his explosive receivers. If there is a weakness in the Rutgers defense it is in the secondary and the experienced Daniels has the ability to expose them. This is a big game for Skip Holtz and his program on national tv and I fully expect him to have South Florida pumped and ready to win in convincing fashion.
As far as props go I was thinking that with split carries with Daniels and Lamar and also facing a solid run D that it would be a good investment to bet D Murray under 64.5 rush yards tonight. Thoughts?
As far as props go I was thinking that with split carries with Daniels and Lamar and also facing a solid run D that it would be a good investment to bet D Murray under 64.5 rush yards tonight. Thoughts?
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