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Bulls right themselves, but the final pass sails

By PETE YOUNG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published September 24, 2001

South Florida was on the cusp of completing the seminal scoring drive of its brief history Saturday at Memphis.

Instead, the final pass of the Bulls' last-minute, 87-yard march skirted off the fingertips of Huey Whittaker, and USF absorbed a painful and confounding 17-9 loss.

"We thought we were going to score, get the two-point conversion, go into overtime and win," coach Jim Leavitt said. "I always thought we were going to win."

It was the Bulls' second road defeat decided on the final play. USF (1-2) lost its opener 20-17 at Northern Illinois on a last-play field goal.

This one was even more frustrating. It came against a future Conference USA foe and a team the Bulls outplayed for three quarters after almost getting blown out of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in the first.

The Bulls gained 400 yards, but they trailed 17-9 with 1:06 left and no timeouts when they got the ball on their 11 after a Memphis punt.

Quarterback Marquel Blackwell (25-for-61, 276 yards, 3 interceptions) engineered a heady 10-play drive in which USF deftly stopped the clock after each play, by running out of bounds, getting the first down or failing to complete a pass. A pass interference penalty put the ball on the Memphis 2 with one second left, but Blackwell's lob to the 6-foot-5 Whittaker was too high.

The USF defense executed a Jekyll-and-Hyde turnaround during the game. In Memphis' first five possessions, fooled by misdirection and gadget plays, USF allowed 262 yards and 17 points. In Memphis' final 13 possessions, the Bulls yielded a mere 63 yards.

"They used every play they could think of in the first quarter," Leavitt said. "They had us running. But we just settled down and went back to basic defense."

USF's only touchdown came on a forced fumble by Anthony Williams and 15-yard return by Shurron Pierson just before the half that cut it to 17-6.

The Bulls play their home opener against North Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday at Raymond James Stadium. Seven of USF's final eight games are at home, including Oct. 20 against Southern Utah, which originally was scheduled for Sept. 15.

INJURY UPDATE: Wide receiver DeAndrew Rubin (turf toe) did not start and played intermittently. Leavitt said Rubin's right big toe was bothering him so much in warmups it was X-rayed before the game. Rubin finished with one catch for 6 yards and three punt returns for 25 yards.

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