Inside the South Florida Locker Room

Football 9/27/2000 12:00:00 AM

Sept. 27, 2000

Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Dave Campbell appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.

Here is what they were saying in the South Florida locker room after Baylor had defeated the Bulls, 28-13, at Floyd Casey Stadium last Saturday night

Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt: "It's pretty easy to see what happened. We just can't fumble the football. If you take away a fumble or something, the whole game changes.

"Baylor was better than us because they didn't do those things (like fumbles and get personal foul penalties). We gotta hold on to the football better. I think the only people who stopped our offense was ourselves. I'm frustrated. We have to play more disciplined football. Part of that is holding onto the football. The personal fouls are what drive me up the wall. You can't have that.

"We had a lot of guys who had great efforts. We came in expecting a win, and we didn't win. We lost."

Quarterback Marquel Blackwell: "Not to take anything away from Baylor -- they played a great game -- but we hurt ourselves. It doesn't matter about the stats (he had great ones). It doesn't matter about nothing. We didn't win, so it doesn't matter. I'd take 50 yards throwing and 10 yards rushing if we win. I put this one on me."

Center Joey Sipp: "We shot ourselves in the foot. We'd drive down close to the goal, then fumble. You take away the four fumbles, it's a whole different game. We knew that our offense was clicking tonight. Marquel would bounce back and start another drive, then we'd fumble again."

Here is what some of the sportswriters who covered the game had to say:

Jerry Hill, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD: "Coming down the tunnel before Saturday's game, Baylor receiver Reggie Newhouse leaned over to freshman quarterback Guy Tomcheck and said, 'Give me the ball. I'll make you look good.'

"Tomcheck is obviously a good listener.

"Making his first start, the redshirt freshman completed 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns in leading the Bears to a 28-13 win over the South Florida Bulls before an announced crowd of 21,157 at Floyd Casey Stadium.

"And Newhouse certainly did his part in making him look good, hauling in seven passes for 136 yards and giving Baylor (2-1) a little cushion with a 9-yard TD catch in the fourth quarter."

John Werner, WACO TRIBUNE-HERALD: "Guy Tomcheck should have been the most nervous guy at Floyd Casey Stadium Saturday night. After all, it was his first collegiate start and anything could have gone wrong. But Tomcheck played better than anyone could have expected. Some might call it brilliant.

"Tomcheck hit 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns to lead Baylor to a 28-13 win over South Florida. 'It didn't surprise me one bit,' Tomcheck said. 'I didn't expect to go out there with any less numbers.' "

Dan Noxon, DALLAS MORNING NEWS: "Baylor rolled snake eyes last week when quarterback Greg Cicero broke his collarbone and was lost for the season. The Bears' lucky number came up this week, though, when coach Kevin Steele handed the offensive reins to redshirt freshman Guy Tomcheck.

"Tomcheck, from Colleyville Heritage, completed 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards -- with no interceptions -- and he became the first Bears quarterback in four years to throw three touchdown passes, leading Baylor to a 28-13 victory over South Florida before 21,157 at Floyd Casey Stadium.

"The victory was Baylor's first against a team other than North Texas is nearly two years."

Brett McMurphy, TAMPA TRIBUNE: "They claim everything is bigger in Texas, and there will be no argument from the University of South Florida. The Bulls committed several huge blunders, allowing Baylor to escape with a 28-13 victory.

"Falling to 0-3 against Div. 1-A opponents, the Bulls (2-2) continued to be plagued by turnovers and mental mistakes when stepping up a class. Saturday at Baylor was no different.

"The Bulls lost four fumbles, committed 13 penalties for 99 yards, including a back-breaking personal foul penalty on a missed Baylor field goal when USF trailed by eight late in the fourth quarter. 'Our mistakes were critical,' senior cornerback Anthony Henry said. 'Every time we made a mistake, they capitalized. They weren't the better team. We just made too many mistakes.' "

Randy Riggs, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN: "Hey, they'll take it.

"It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't exactly Nebraska lined up across from them. But after Baylor's hard-luck Bears held off upstart South Florida 28-13 Saturday night, they acted like they'd won the Super Bowl, massing by the edge of the stands to celebrate with students who bothered to show up among the announced crowd of 21,157 at Floyd Casey Stadium.

"A win is a win. And since Baylor is 2-1 for the first time since 1996, albeit getting against a four-year-old program making the transition from NCAA Div. 1-AA to 1-A, coach Kevin Steele was not about to rain on the parade.

" 'We're not crazy. We understand that we start Big 12 play now, and that's a mouthful," Steele said. "I don't want to make too big a deal out of it, but we've got a group of ecstatic guys because not a single one of them has ever been 2-1 before in college football. I want them to enjoy this.' "

Whit Canning, FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM: "As they walked down the tunnel at Floyd Casey Stadium last night, sophomore Reggie Newhouse turned to redshirt freshman Guy Tomcheck -- about to start his first game at quarterback for the Baylor Bears -- and spoke of impending achievements.

" 'We're going to make big plays tonight,' Newhouse said. 'Just give me the ball, and I'll make you look good.'

"The scheme worked well enough as Tomcheck -- filling in for starter Greg Cicero, who is out for the season with a broken collarbone -- hit 20 of 28 passes for 223 yards and three touchdowns. Newhouse, true to his word, caught seven balls for 136 yards and the clinching score as the Bears (2-1) fashioned a 28-13 victory over South Florida (2-2) in front of 21,157 fans.

"That may not sound like a lot, but the crowd made up for its lack of numbers with an impressive post-game delirium -- serenading the Bears as if they had just rolled over Nebraska."

Neil Hohlfeld, HOUSTON CHRONICLE: "The way the Baylor Bears celebrated after a difficult 28-13 victory over South Florida on Saturday night, you might have thought they hadn't won at home for nearly one year.

"Oh, that's right. This was the Bears' first win at Floyd Casey Stadium since they defeated North Texas on Oct. 2, 1999. . .So the Bears didn't mind that South Florida outgained them 409-370, that Bulls quarterback Marquel Blackwell passed for 236 yards and ran for another 132 and that four South Florida fumbles made the victory possible.

"No, all that mattered were the first words out of the mouth of Baylor coach Kevin Steele after the game. 'Overall, the only thing to say is that we're 2-1,' said Steele, who was 1-10 in his first season at Baylor in 1999.

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