The season is over for USF. 5-7 and 1-6 in Big East play ended the Bulls run of 6 straight bowl games and handed the program its first losing season since 2004, the year before they joined Big East play.
The offense was inconsistent most of the year, defense was hot and cold, and the penalties and sloppy play hurt the team throughout the year. Here is a breakdown of the offensive and defensive statistics from the 2011 season. You will when comparing the numbers to the 2010 season, what happened to this team and where the Bulls have to improve in 2012 if they want to get back to winning and back to a bowl game.
Offense
The USF offense was more productive this season thanks to the new comers such as Darrell Scott, young receivers such as Andre Davis, and the return of others such as Sterling Griffin. Daniels made progress in his second season and the numbers do reflect it.
USF averaged 29.2 points a game this season, compared to 24.1 last season. Having more weapons on the field and a better understanding of the offense in Fitch's second season helped the Bulls get on the scoreboard more. Of course, we have to take into consideration the schedule as well. Facing UTEP, FAMU, and Ball State inflated the numbers, but on paper, it was an improvement.
The passing game improved as well. This season, USF averaged 248 yards a game through the air, including 15 passing touchdowns and 6.9 yards per pass play. Compared to 164.5 yards a game through the air last year, 13 passing touchdowns, and 6.6 per pass. The passing attack was better this season due to the familiarity with the play calling and number of weapons on the field. Last season, USF was depleted at the receiver. This season saw the return of Love, Griffin, and young freshman come along and help produce. The number that is not improving however is the yards per pass play. 6.9 and 6.6 are short passes, showing the passing style that USF is going with. From short hitch routes to bubble screens, the Bulls passing attack was always short, underneath passes, never throwing deep down the field on a consistent basis, making it hard to get more plays and stretch the field.
The rushing attack was better this season as well. The Bulls averaged 183.2 yards a game on the ground and total 22 rushing touchdowns (4.6 yards a carry as well). In 2010, they averaged 144.8 yards a game on the ground, had 19 rushing touchdowns, and 19 rushing touchdowns.
What changed this season was Fitch allowing Daniels to run more and the addition of Darrell Scott in the backfield as well. Daniels could escape more due to the confidence the coaches had with Eveld and Floyd ready to back him up and Scott giving USF a real north and south running back. With Murray adding speed as well, the USF rushing attack improved this season and helped carry the bulk of the offense at times.
Defense
The Bulls defense was not as sharp as they were in 2010. USF lost several key players to the NFL, such as Mistral Raymond and Terrell McClain, but they did play well at times, shutting down the running game. The secondary, despite the talent and experience, didn't live up the big expectations and injuries slowed them down as well.
The defense allowed 22.7 points a game this season, compared to just 20 points a game last season. The Bulls were outscored in the 4th quarter 70 to 101 this season as well, showing the lack of depth late in games.
The rush defense allowed 107.3 yards a game this season, including 11 touchdowns. In 2010, they allowed 125.5 yards a game and 8 rushing touchdowns. The rush defense was helped out by the number of sacks and tackles for loss the team racked up on the season, giving opponents negative rushing yards for large parts of games.
The pass defense was not as great this season. They allowed 244.5 yards a game through the air, including 16 touchdowns. In 2010, they allowed just 192.3 yards a game, but did allow 18 touchdowns. USF could not get off the field, allowing offenses to throw for first downs when the defense had them deep and kept drives alive.
Penalties were a huge factor this season as well. USF committed 60.1 yards of penalties a game, compared to just 46.1 a game last season. Flag allowed opponents to stay on the field and killed drives for the offense, making life hard for the Bulls. A key example was the personal foul call on Ryne Giddins late in the game against WVU. It was a bad play by Giddins that allowed the Mountaineers to stay alive and win the game in the closing seconds.
The numbers don't lie. The offense was better, but the numbers were scwed due to weak opponents early. The defense allowed too many yards and penalties hurt both sides of the ball for the Bulls, explaining the story of their season. We will begin breaking down each unit to see what each player did this season, both good at bad.
This just shows that this team was so ready on paper to be a winning team. They just failed to convert those results into wins.
ReplyDeleteWell said. On paper that have the talent, speed, etc. to win, but so many games they fell short, either by mistakes or failing to make a play when they needed. It was one of the most frustrating and disappointing teams to watch in recent history.
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