Burnt at Sun Bowl
(January 2, 2008)

For the University of South Florida going to the Brut Sun Bowl was a big step and the school sold about 4,500 tickets to the game.

The Bulls landed in El Paso the day after Christmas and sombreros were the attire of the day. Among the festivities that week was talent show. Cornerback Ryan Gilliam, who had transferred from Oregon two years earlier, did a humorous impression of a Jim Leavitt press conference. Place kicker Delbert Alvarado showed off his beat-boxing skills and running back Mike Ford played the drums. On the El Paso hospitality, head coach Jim Leavitt said, "The whole week was pretty amazing, a lot of fun. But the best fun, of course, is winning the game."

USF purchased a couple of billboards in town proclaiming "The Bulls are proud to be in El Paso" and "Join the Stampede." The were also holiday greetings in Spanish. Athletic director Doug Woolard commented, "We owe a lot of thanks to the Sun Bowl for the experience they provided all of us."

Oregon lead 8-0 after the first quarter, then Matt Grothe tossed a highlight film touchdown pass to Taraus Johnson to tie things up 11-11 in the second. Going onto the locker room, the Ducks were up 18-14.

South Florida was dominated after the break. The Bulls turned the ball over five times in the second and Oregon scored 31 unanswered points. Game MVP Jonathan Stewart rushed for a Sun Bowl record 253 yards with a touchdown. Red- shirt freshman Justin Roper (17 of 30 for 180 yards) threw four TD passes in his first career start, as the Ducks out-gained the Bulls 533 to 353 in total yards. Matt Grothe (18 of 35 for 197 yards with a TD) left the game early in the fourth quarter with a concussion and Grant Gregory (6 of 11 for 39 yards) came into the game. Both Grothe and Gregory had two interceptions and each had a pick returned for an Oregon score.

The final score was Oregon 56, USF 21. The Bulls allowed the most points in team history and the most in Sun Bowl history. The game also saw a record number of penalties, Oregon was flagged 13 times for 138 yards and USF 8 times for 64 yards.

On his team's collapse, Jim Leavitt said, "Second half, I can't explain what happened. I don't think I could mess up that bad at halftime with my motivational speeches, I obviously did." Delbert Alvardo added, "We got beat on offense, defense and special team. That's usually not going to be a good result." Matt Grothe simply said, "It wasn't fun."

Leavitt was also reflective, "When you lose like that, you've got to be careful not to define your whole team by 30 minutes of football. It's not the end of the world. If people said this wasn't a positive season, I'd be real disappointed. Nine wins, that's decent. Getting to the Sun Bowl, our guys deserved it. I think it was a heckuva season."