Colleges

UCF once took a pass on Leavitt

By GREG AUMAN
Published September 18, 2006

TAMPA - How's this for a new footnote to the USF-UCF rivalry?

One day after his team pulled out a 24-17 win at Central Florida, USF coach Jim Leavitt said that 13 years before he launched the Bulls program in 1996, he tried to get a job on the Knights staff.

"I got turned down for a job at UCF," said Leavitt, who tried to get a job on Lou Saban's staff in December 1982, when he was a 26-year-old special-teams coordinator at Morningside College, a school in Iowa. "I was there the day he drove in from up north, and he said he already had his staff filled."

UCF was a Division II program in 1983, and Leavitt stayed at Morningside five more seasons before taking an internship at Iowa in 1988.

"I wanted to come back to my home state," he said. "(USF football) didn't exist. (UCF) was my nearest option, but he had no job for me. Little did they know I'd end up the head coach at South Florida."

SUPERFROSH: Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Grothe, after passing for 302 yards and rushing for 73 on Saturday, is ranked 11th in Division I-A in total offense, and No. 1 among Division I-A freshmen. Grothe's 71 rushing yards per game are good enough to rank fourth in the Big East.

When the Bulls play at Kansas on Saturday, Grothe will go up against the No. 2 freshman in total offense, quarterback Kerry Meier. Meier, like Grothe, has six touchdown passes in three games, but he has seven interceptions, which ties him for the Division I-A lead.

MORE RANKINGS: Junior cornerback Trae Williams had two interceptions against UCF, giving him four this season, tying him for the Division I-A lead. ... Senior Ean Randolph ranks third in Division I-A on punt returns, averaging 27.1 yards. ... USF is tied for 27th in total offense (408.3 yards per game) and alone in 27th in total defense (261.3 allowed).

[Last modified September 18, 2006, 02:40:12]