South Florida

Seen yesterday…We are the Floria State Seminoles…we need to earn the D back.

Listen, this game is a little more personal for Team Sickmon than most. We have to live with these local, delusional USF fans that have won exactly zero recruiting battles all time against FSU, but somehow had come to (rightfully) believe that this was the seminal moment when they could ascend past the Noles on the Florida football ladder. Thank goodness this was not close. Literally, every single dude in a gold helmet was lining up against a player that he knew was not as good as he was…and yet…for 4 minutes of clock time in this easy bake oven of a stadium at high noon…the Noles defense again was getting horse whipped. It is not surprising that our Head Coach decided this was the day that all the normal Southern niceties faded away like a Swede in the snow.

He is fed up. We are fed up. All of these highly recruited defensive collegians are fed up, and solutions are elusive. This is the ultimate bend and break defense. In the last 23 drives against FBS competition where the opponent gets a first down, the other guys scored on 18 of those drives. So, when a smidgeon of adversity hits this group, they fold up like a recalcitrant turtle and roll over to the sideline. The incessant screaming that I get to see on the sideline is clearly not working. I think we may want to throw a wrench in the spokes and mix in some actual instructional coaching. There was a glimmer of Glinda goodness in this one. Nine straight drives in a row for the Bulls came up empty. This group missing Nnadi for much of the game, Sweat, and Derwin still found a spark. The DL simply decided that they wanted to win individual battles. Freddy Jones had his best game as a Nole, and puppy Brian Burns is a terror as a pass rusher. Marquez White and Tavares McFadden are big time corners…so we have some building blocks. However, safety play is a mess, and the LB's are wandering aimlessly out there like Moses' buddies for 40 years. Great players, when their head is clear, make great plays. These guys are not playing, they are thinking. And like Pooh when he pounds his paw against his noggin, not much happens. I think the Head Coach is going to start spending a little more time hanging out with his buddies in the smaller offices this week.

Welcome to the 2016 season Mr. Cook. I walked into the crucible and saw #4 catching warmup tosses with his arms extended for the first time all season. Good sign. Dalvin slamming his foot down for his patented jump cut and sprinting through contact for 75 yards in an instant was also a good sign. Clearly, the USF defensive staff has been learning from our boys, because the entire first quarter they adamantly refused to bring their safeties up. Thank you. I mean it. Thank you. Our beleaguered Trickett troupe was afforded a chance to only block one guy at a time, and it was fun. Brock Ruble stabilized the right side at OT and when Dalvin was not blowing through holes, Jacques was making them. In a moment that brought back the ghost of Greg Jones, he rumbled down the sideline and pointed at his victim before trucking him. The entire Seminole sideline came off their feet at once. What I love is when you think a play with Jacques is nothing, and you look up at the scoreboard and it is 2nd and 5. We took some pressure off of young Deondre this week, and that was good, because it was not his day. He was aiming it on the dumps and was tentative on the deep balls. I think getting lit up for most of his freshman season has made him a little skittish. He needs to trust the boys in front of him, and this week of film study should help that. Auden Tate continues to make a case that he needs more time, and speaking of film study, Ryan Izzo saw lowlights of his horrific blocking last week and took some poor Bull through the back of the end zone and into the wall like a Blind Side trailer. I also think that Sean Maguire must be healthy again, because we have inserted the QB run back into the playbook. Jimbo is not as afraid of what would happen if #12 got injured, and this play was lights out on Saturday. Time and again, when we needed big late down & distance yards, it delivered.

An aside about the University of South Florida football fans. I heard a number of traveling Noles negative comments and some are clearly justified. In fact, the two carloads of idiots that thought it was a good idea to throw items from their passing vehicle at our tailgate probably have some steps to take before they can guarantee a future in purgatory. But, their situation at this University is untenable. When you tailgate on your campus, you have pride in how you look and how you act. They rent a stadium, a parking lot and bus in their students.  All manner of alcoholic beverages can be consumed every game, and their behavior on Saturday is identical to what is displayed on Sunday. It does not make it wrong - they just do not know any other way. This school desperately needs an on campus facility. It will change the very fabric and culture of their program and the University - and I hope they get it...as I would bet that soon after this, the fans will be normalized in collegial decorum.

I understand that Madison Social is producing "Noon Games Suck" paraphernalia. There needs to be a movement to have a gross of every item drop shipped stat to Stan Wilcox's desk. I don't want any more 5 am wake up calls or breakfast casseroles this season (as much as I love them). It is good to think about returning to Doak in October. Should be an interesting stretch with the next two games against fairly immobile quarterbacks and weakish defenses. That new scoreboard operator better keep his head on a swivel and finger on the scorecard, cuz we are missing a D.