I read a southern Florida football writer's evaluation of USF [he is concentrating on them but not associated with the school, and likes comparing the various Big East schools] and he was breaking down the Bulls position group by position group. I was surprised to read how much they had lost off their starting line-ups from last year, and how much the "optimism" was based on back-ups and relatively untried people with on-paper talent, but not-so-much game-tested talent.
Every ballgame against a good opponent is a danger, but USF seems to have a lot of unanswered questions. When you have a LOT of unanswered questions, it is usually true that some of them will REMAIN unanswered through the first several games, if not the entire season.
Kelly should have us ready to win this. I can imagine us doing some sputtering around, especially if we turn the ball over, but we should be prepared for what Holtz can do. The USF fans on the site located above were pretty calm and loyal actually; I've heard a lot worse even on this site. They were placing almost all their eggs in two baskets: BJDaniels and their defense. Daniels just went boom. They have to be somewhat depressed by that. And although they're not admitting it, the defense has replacement questions in several areas.
No relaxation for us on this, but no depression either.
p.s. The writer, and many folks down south, seem to still envision Notre Dame as a Pittsburgh-style pound-you type team. The writer admitted that while USF does fairly well against that sort of team, they do not do well against a spread offense throw-it-around team. Their safeties, who they are very proud of, played deep last year, and stopped long strike touchdowns, while giving up huge amounts of yardage underneath. Well, guess where Kelly throws it, guys. The writer admitted that when they play a passing team, they must change their defensive strategy or they'll get hosed. He also noted that they, because of a near prevent-strategy back there, were among the worst in the nation at getting other Offenses off the field. Hmmmm....well, at least Skip Holtz will know that ND throws it around [and in his vulnerable 8-12 yard area] even if no one else down there does.
