I’m sure most of you have seen the quote from USF Coach Jim Leavitt that accurately described what happened to the Bulls.

“They just whooped us,” South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said in describing the Panthers’ 41-14 destruction of his team before a homecoming crowd of 50,019 at Heinz Field.

There would be no way to spin this as it being close or just a couple plays making the difference. Right? Right?

Helllll00oooo B.J. Daniels. Your late entry for Mr. Delusional 2009.

“I feel like we beat ourselves: penalties, missed opportunities and not completing drives … I don’t think they contained us,” said redshirt freshman quarterback B.J. Daniels, who had 104 yards total offense. “I feel it was us, in terms of 11 guys on the field. There were a lot of things we could have done better. The scheme was there. We just didn’t execute.”

As a team, the Bulls had nine penalties for 71 yards, including four on the opening two drives.

On the opening kickoff, an illegal block by Nate Allen set the offense back to its 10-yard line.

…

Daniels said the offense needs to get back to executing to turn things around.

“I feel like if we did everything we were coached to do and take advantage of our opportunities then we would be sitting here with a win,” he said.

Two facts regarding penalties. The USF Bulls are the most penalized team in the Big East. It’s not like penalties are an aberration for them.

Second, the nine penalties were very equitably split amongst squads. The Special Teams had 2, The Defense had 4 and the Offense had 3. All three of the offense’s penalties came in the 1st quarter and the Bulls had 7 of their 9 penalties in the first half. Even trying to blame the penalties for a small amount of the loss is a complete farce when your team commits them all the time.

The cliche is, “you are what your record says you are.” At this point in the season the stats also tell you what your team is. The Bulls are a sloppy undisciplined team. They have athleticism, speed and potential playmakers but do little with it. So, while the Bulls players and coaches may somehow convince themselves that they lost the game with mistakes, they really did little differently. They just ran into a team that was better than them, that didn’t let them get away with that kind of play.

Especially delusional is the offense.

“They were giving us a six-man box and we kept getting the third-and-medium, third-and-short, but we couldn’t execute,” USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales said. “We were trying to find a niche. We felt like we were getting 3, 4, 5 chunk of yards at a time.

“Then something bad happens, a mistake or a penalty. It stops your mojo. It takes away your rhythm and the next thing you know, it’s all out of whack. It’s so frustrating.”

Redshirt quarterback B.J. Daniels, USF’s leading rusher, did most of the work on keepers. He carried 15 times for 50 yards. Otherwise, the carries were divided between Jamar Taylor (five for 28), Mo Plancher (five for 23) and Mike Ford (two for 4).

“I believe we have playmakers everywhere on this team,” Plancher said. “I just think we’ve got to come out with more fire and play with more discipline. Whatever play is called, we should be doing much better than we’re doing.”

Well, at least we know that on the offensive side, the whining about beating themselves originated with the OC.

Despite Pitt not stacking against the run. Instead guarding against passing and B.J. Daniels taking off, the Bulls still had no run game.

Of course, the supposed strength of USF was the defense. Er, not so much. Now, they are confused.

“This shouldn’t be happening,” said USF senior defensive end George Selvie, shell-shocked after watching the Bulls give up 486 yards to the Panthers. “We didn’t put any pressure on Pittsburgh. They had their way.”

The Bulls (5-2, 1-2 Big East), losers of two straight games, were undressed in the first half. Pittsburgh (7-1, 4-0) scored on all five of its possessions, rolled up 297 yards and built a 31-7 advantage at the break.

The second half was merely a formality. Overall, Pittsburgh converted on 11 of its 16 third-down opportunities.

Thinking about it, the inability for USF to get off the field when it was 3d down was very reminiscent of what happened to Pitt’s defense against NC State. Well, except that it wasn’t just one guy making plays.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I saw a Bulls team that simply quit in the 4th quarter. Pitt beat them down on both sides of the ball and whether Pitt made them or USF did it on their own, they still quit. The question is, do they stay that way?

Offensive coordinator Mike Canales said the Bulls “can’t buy a break” with missed opportunities and penalties negating big gains but the players must decide how they will respond to the recent adversity.

“We need to start leaning against each other. Our backs are against the wall a little bit,” he said. “You say, ‘Hey, who are we?’ Are we going to lie down, or are we going to come back and fight. I think you’re going to see fighters.”

Recent history has suggested otherwise. Of course, if they don’t, they could well miss bowl eligibility. They need two more wins and their remaining games are against WVU, at Rutgers, Louisville, Miami, and at UConn in December.

The only thing they salvaged from the game with that final score against Pitt’s 3d string defense was avoiding their worst loss ever in the Big East. So, at least they had that.

The last couple games have been a painful reality check for USF that they are still no where near “arriving.” They can be a good team, but not a consistent one.  They haven’t done it for more than half-a-season to this point in their history.