2004 USF Bulls
2004 USF Bulls
| On June 14, 2004, Doug Woolard became the athletic director at USF. He had held the same post at Saint Louis University for ten years.
Woolard starred in three sports for Carbondale High School and attended college at Southern Illinois in Carbondale. In 1975, at USF President Judy Genshaft said of hiring Woolard, "He has vision and leadership and he has proven experience as an athletic director." |
Twenty-five recruits signed with South Florida on February's national signing day. Highly rated prospects included Miami Edison High School linebacker Brouce Mompremier and Dade City Pasco High School wide receiver Johnny Peyton. State champion Tampa Armwood High School produced other top recruits in defensive end Jarriette Buie, offensive lineman Jake Griffin and wide receiver/defensive back Mike Williams. Other recruits brought familiar names to USF. Sarasota Booker High School running back Terrace Jones, brother of Johnnie, Miramar High School defensive end Josh Julmiste, brother of Pat and Merritt Island High School defensive end Danny Verpaele, brother of Kevin. Head coach Jim Leavitt was very pleased with the class of 2004. "I'm kind of stunned a little bit, overwhelmed by the talent. Never have we had a day of signing like we had today."
The Labor Day season opener against Pittsburgh was postponed until December due to Hurricane Frances. Florida was experiencing an active hurricane season, with four hurricanes hitting the state, and game schedules and travel plans were upset throughout the southeast.
A game at Raymond James Stadium against Division I-AA Tennessee Tech would become the season opener. Pat Julmiste (4 of 6 for 23 yards) started at quarterback for USF, but after scoring a his first career touchdown on a 3 yard run to give the Bulls a 14-0 second quarter lead, he had to leave the game with a sprained knee. Junior running back Andre Hall, a junior college transfer out of St. Petersburg Dixie Hollins High School, had scored the first points of the season on a 2 yard TD run. Ronnie Banks (9 of 17 for 70 yards) came into the game and his interception helped set up a Golden Eagles touchdown. Trae Williams, a freshman cornerback from Plant City Durant High School, returned a pick of Robert Craft (14 of 38 for 129 yards with a TD) 37 yards for the game's final score. The USF defense played well holding Tennessee Tech to 145 total yards and recording five sacks, but the offense generated just 278 yards. The Bulls also had a dozen penalties for 88 yards, had a punt blocked and fumbled a punt return. Jim Leavitt said after the 21-7 victory, "We struggled offensively. Call it ugly, or whatever you what, but it's a win."
The largest crowd to ever watch a USF game, 78,900, came out to watch the South
Carolina Gamecocks roll over the Bulls at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia.
Making his first start, sophomore quarterback Syvelle Newton (13 of 23 for 324
yards with 3 TDs) helped lead USC to 530 yards in total offense. Troy
Williamson had five receptions, and three long TD catches (56, 55 and 73 yards)
for a South Carolina record 210 receiving yards. Ronnie Banks (12 of 22 for
104, 1 INT) started the game, and Pat Julmiste (2 of 10 for 7 yards) came on in
the second half, but the Bulls only score came on a career long 47 yard
Santiago Gramatica field goal as the first half expired. Jim Leavitt said of
the 34-3 trouncing, "We just got beat. We have a ways to go, that's obvious.
We didn't play good enough defense, there's no question about that. They were
throwing at will almost anywhere. That was really frustrating."
It was a coming out party for Pat Julmiste and Andre Hall at Amon G. Carter
Stadium in Fort Worth. Julmiste (22 of 33 for 324 yards with 1 TD) opened up
the scoring with a 1 yard TD run against Texas Christian and passed for 324
yards. Julmiste did fumble twice, both times lead to points for TCU, but he
lead the Bulls on two touchdown drives in final four minutes of regulation to
send the game to overtime. In a wild fourth quarter, the Bulls came back to
tie the game twice with a 3 yard Clenton Crossley run evening things up at 31-
31 with 1:21 left. USF converted a school record fourteen third downs and Joe
Bain (4 receptions for 110 yards) had some key catches. In the first overtime,
Horned Frogs running back Lonta Hobbs scored his third TD of the game (2
receptions, 1 run), then Hall answered for South Florida. Hall equalled the
USF record with his fourth touchdown in the second overtime and his 13 yard run
gave him 119 yards on the night. TCU quarterback Brandon Hassell (11 of 22 for
167 yards with 2 TDs) ran for a 16 yard score, however, a bobbled snap on the
extra point gave the Bulls the win. USF was penalized a school record 18 times
for 104 yards in the 45-44 double overtime victory. Julmiste called the game a
"momentum builder," and added, "We stepped up as a team."
Pat Julmiste (14 of 35 for 150 yards with 1 TD) could not keep it going against Southern Miss. He suffered a school record four interceptions, twice in the final 6:35, in a tight game at RJS. Dustin Almond (14 of 27 for 200 yards) threw two touchdown passes for the Golden Eagles. USF was penalized ten times for 83 yards in a 27-20 defeat.
The second largest crowd to watch USF at home, 36,549, was on hand for the
homecoming game against Army. Andre Hall ran for two touchdowns and the Bulls
lead 14-7 at the half. Even though he sat out the fourth quarter with an
injury, Hall rushed for 200 yards against the Cadets. It was the ground game
that worked this night and TD run by Pat Julmiste put USF up 21-7. Julmiste
finished with 90 rushing yards and his second scoring run made it 28-14. The
Bulls would set school records with 53 rushing attempts for 367 yards. The
defense allowed just 16 yards to the Black Nights in the first half and Craig
Kobel, a senior defensive lineman out of Lake Worth Santaluces High School,
recorded a pair of sacks of Zac Dahman (16 of 27 for 202 yards with 1 TD).
South Florida had two key turnovers and the bottom would fall out. Carlton
Jones ran for five second half touchdowns and also scored on a two point
conversion. Helped by TD runs of 74 and 59 yards, he finished with 225 yards
and set a record for most points scored against the Bulls. Army scored 28
straight points and rushed for 226 yards in the second half. Julmiste (10 of
23 for 116 yards with 1 INT) did throw a late 43 yard TD pass to Joe Bain in a
42-35 defeat. It was the first time USF lost consecutive home games and
the first time Army won back-to-back games since 1997. Jim Leavitt said, "We
used to have a pretty good home field advantage." Senior offensive lineman
Derrick Sarosi summed up the feelings of many. The product of Titusville
Astronaut High School said, "We just had our homecoming. Army, second win in
two years or something like that, it sucks." Leavitt commenting on some tough
games ahead admitted, "It will be interesting to watch the character of our
players and coaches. It will take all we've got."
Up next, a Friday night nationally televised game against fifteenth ranked
Louisville. USF was a 29 1/2 point underdog at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
The Cardinals rolled over the Bulls amassing 517 yards of total offense.
Stefan LeFors (21 of 26 for 242 yards) threw for a touchdown and ran for
another, with backup Brian Brohm (7 of 13 for 103 yards) seeing plenty of
action. J.R. Russell was the favorite target with eight receptions for 111
yards. Pat Julmiste (3 of 20 for 67 yards and 1 INT) had a rough night and the
Bulls set a team record low for percentage of passes completed (14.3%).
Converting just 3 of 11 third downs equalled the school record. About the only
highlight for USF was the first career TD catch by Johnny Peyton. Jim Leavitt
said of the 41-9 defeat, "Obviously, Louisville is a better team." Clenton
Crossley, after the school record tying third straight defeat, added "It's
frustrating, but we have to pick it up and win. We have to keep going."
It was a rainy night in Birmingham, and USF was an 18 1/2 point underdog, for the Bulls first Wednesday night game. Corey White ran for three touchdowns, and Roddy White had 7 receptions for 106 yards, as UAB took a 20-10 third quarter lead. Pat Julmiste (7 of 15 for 186 yards with 2 TDs) ran for a score and heaved a 77 yard TD pass to Johnny Peyton (2 catches for 124 yards) and USF was out in front. Andre Hall rushed for a school record 275 yards with two fourth quarter touchdowns, as USF scored 35 unanswered points, including a school record 28 point fourth quarter. Jackie Chambers, a freshman wide receiver from Miami Edison High School, caught his first career TD pass and Santiago Gramatica set the USF record for career field goals at 37. Terrence Royal, a junior defensive back from Tampa Wharton High School, recorded two of the teams five sacks of Blazers quarterback Darrell Hackney (19 of 37 for 234 yards). Senior Bruce Gipson, a defensive back from Charlotte High School in Port Charlotte, returned an interception for a touchdown. Lee Roy Selmon, Jr. said of the 45-20 victory, "This was huge, but we still have a lot of work to do."
The Bulls won back-to-back games for the first time this season, and got back
to the .500 mark, with a home win against East Carolina. While he fumbled the
ball away twice, Andre Hall rushed for 161 yards with a touchdown. Hall set a
new team record with ten rushing TDs in a season and equaled another record
with his fourth 100 yard game of the year. Pat Julmiste (12 of 16 for 233
yards) was sharp and ran for a pair of scores. Senior DB Sidney Simpson, from
Opalocka Northwestern High School, led the defense with two interceptions and
he returned the second 26 yards for the game's final TD. USF did have ten
penalties for 94 yards, and lost three fumbles, in the 41-17 victory over the
Pirates. In a game that USF amassed 509 total yards, Julmiste said "We came
out as an offense and put it all together."
Andre Hall set more records at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. Hall broke the team's single season rushing record, had his record fifth 100 yard game and tied the USF record for touchdowns in a season at 12. Unfortunately, Hall had 128 of 155 rushing yards in the first quarter and Cincinnati quarterback Gino Guidugli would steal the show. After Bulls defensive lineman Craig Kobel recovered a fumble in the end zone to make it 17-17 late in the second, the Cardinals scored 28 unanswered points. Guidugli (30 of 36 for 377 yards) completed 83.3% of his passes, a record for a USF opponent, and threw for three TDs. Hannibal Thomas was the leading receiver with ten catches for 162 yards. The Bearcats had 577 total yards, another record for a USF foe. Pat Julmiste (14 of 32 for 143 yards with 1 TD), who was sacked five times in the 45-23 loss, said afterwards "When we don't execute as a team, you see what the results are." Jim Leavitt added, "We just have to get a lot better, period."
The home game against Memphis and the season finale versus Pittsburgh were
moved back to an 11 a.m. start to accommodate television, making this the
earliest kickoff in school history. This was also the final Conference USA
game for USF. The story was the running backs with Andre Hall rushing for 134
yards and his fourth straight 100 yard game. The real story was DeAngelo
Williams rushing for a Memphis record 263 yards, the most ever by a Bulls
opponent. Danny Wimprine (12 of 20 for 142 yards) tossed a TD pass and the
Tigers lead 16-0 at the half. Pat Julmiste (18 of 36 for 191 yards) ran for
two second half touchdowns to equal the USF record for TDs scored by a
quarterback in a season at 9. The Bulls were within 16-7 late in third
quarter, before two long Williams scoring runs put it out of reach. Memphis
out-gained the Bulls 470 to 431 in total yards, but converting just 1 of 5
fourth downs killed any USF bowl hopes. Jim Leavitt said of the 31-15 defeat,
"Could we have played better? I certainly hope so. I think so. Our biggest
nemesis this year is we haven't played very good defense."
The re-scheduled Pittsburgh game became the first December game for USF and brought the nineteenth ranked Panthers to town. The Bulls would suffer their third straight blowout defeat and the second three game losing streak of the season. Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko (19 of 28 for 411 yards with 5 TDs) set records for passing yards and touchdowns against USF. Wide receiver Greg Lee caught eight passes for 153 yards and three scores. Linebacker Malcolm Postell intercepted Pat Julmiste (12 of 21 for 130 yards) twice and returned one pick for a touchdown. The Bulls were penalized a dozen times for 104 yards in the 43-14 defeat. Alex Herron, a senior center from New Smyrna Beach High School, said of the worst home loss in school history, "It's rough to go out your senior year like this. Before the season, we were definitely going after the conference championship. Things didn't work out like that."
USF finished with the worst record in school history at 4-7 and for first time had a losing record at home (2-4). The defense struggled and allowed the most points in team history, 351, including a record five games giving up more than forty points. They intercepted just four passes, which was the second fewest in Division I-A. The school also lead the nation in penalty yards.
The highlight was the play of All-Conference USA first teamer Andre Hall. He had set team records for carries (210), rushing yards (1,357), average per carry (6.5 yards), rushing touchdowns (11) and total touchdowns (12). Hall was second in C-USA in rushing yards and tenth in the nation. His average per carry was fourth in Division I-A. Johnny Peyton lead the team in receiving and set the freshman receiving record with 469 yards. Another plus was a school record four national TV games.
USF has a senior class of twenty players, many of who made an impact with the team. Clenton Crossley had a USF record 21 touchdowns, Santiago Gramatica left as the school's all-time leading scorer and lineman Derrick Sarosi started all 44 games of USF career. Alex Herron, Lee Roy Selmon Jr, Craig Kobel, Cedric Battles and Allynson Sheffield were among those who would be missed.
During two seasons, the Bulls went 8-8 in C-USA. Before the team moved up to the Big East in 2005, Jim Leavitt discussed the disappointing 2004 season. "When we started this program, I told people there's a promised land out there, but as you build a program you may go through a mine field along the way. This year was the first in eight years that we hit some struggles. Trying to find ways to gets things to happen with a young group is not easy. I know this football team will be very strong next year."
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| 2004 USF Bulls Results |
| 2004 USF Bulls Statistics |
| 2004 Conference USA Standings |
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age 25, he became the varsity basketball coach at his high school alma mater and three years later became the athletic director. In 13 seasons, he compiled a 265-93 coaching record, before taking a the position as assistant director of athletics at Washington State University. In 1994, he was named athletic director at Saint Louis where he was instrumental in the formation of Conference USA.