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CINCINNATI - Ask most USF fans about a school record broken early in Saturday's 45-23 loss to Cincinnati, and they'll point to Andre Hall bolting 46 yards on the second play. It gave him the Bulls' single-season rushing mark (1,029), surpassing Dyral McMillan 's 1,017 in 1999.
A more telling 5-year-old record fell an hour later, when the Bearcats kicked a field goal for a 17-10 lead in the second quarter, and USF set the school record for points allowed in a season. The mark was 248 points, but by the time Cincinnati and quarterback Gino Guidugli were done, the Bulls' 2004 total was 275, with two games remaining against bowl teams.
There are worse defenses in Conference USA and in the Big East, which awaits the Bulls next season, but none statistically in USF's short history.
This year's Bulls will have the school's worst record since a 4-7 inaugural season in 1997. Never before had a USF team suffered three 20-point losses; never before has a USF team allowed four teams to score 40 against it. The Bulls had yielded only one 40-point game in each of the past three seasons since moving to Division I in 2001.
The most glaring statistic to show the ease with which Cincinnati sliced through the Bulls defense is the length of its six touchdown drives; the shortest went 68 yards. By comparison, USF gave up six total touchdown drives of 60 yards or longer in its final seven games last season. With two games left, the Bulls have given up 24 such drives in 2004.
"We had to have a much better defensive plan," coach Jim Leavitt said after the loss. "I was disappointed with the plan we had. Of course, players have to execute it, certainly. ... A lot of that's coaching there, but let's face it, they're a pretty good team."
USF's defense has been limited by injuries, recently a broken arm that will sideline starting cornerback D'Juan Brown the final two games. Senior safety Javon Camon , a defensive co-captain, said the Bulls' collapse came down to "simple mistakes we made that turned out to be big plays."
Co-defensive coordinator Rick Kravitz declined comment after Saturday's loss, as he did after a 41-9 loss at Louisville, and the Bulls' other defensive coordinator, Wally Burnham , explained it as a senior quarterback exploiting a young defense that couldn't keep up. Even in losses, Leavitt has credited his players' effort, and the same has been true for his coaching staff.
"Obviously our plan wasn't right, didn't work," he said. "You can say that's on the players or the coaches. I choose to say it's us. We've got to do a better job with that. Our coaches work their tail off, let me tell you. We work the hours and all that, but we've got to be smarter."
STILL ALIVE: USF's slim bowl hopes generally cling to the Bulls landing an at-large berth from a bowl not among the five contractually tied to Conference USA, and any scenario requires USF to win its final two games, at home against Memphis and Pittsburgh.
If the Bulls can pull that off, however, there still is a scenario that puts USF in a C-USA bowl because the conference would have just five bowl-eligible teams. If Southern Miss (5-4), which has dropped three straight, loses to Alabama-Birmingham (7-3) and California (9-1), it won't take up a bowl slot, and the Bulls also need Tulane (4-5) to beat TCU (5-5) then lose to Louisville (8-1).
If that happens - and of the six games that need to fall USF's way, perhaps three would be upsets - the Bulls would make their bowl debut, likely at New Orleans or Fort Worth, Texas.