A young West Virginia team growing in confidence, maturity and visibility headed to Tampa in December 2006 and beat South Florida 28-13. Patick White ran for 177 of the team’s 305 yards and scored on runs of 65 and 76 yards. Last year, it was different as a Bulls team going through a metamorphosis similar to the one the Mountaineers enjoyed a year earlier held WVU to 132 yards rushing and White just 17 on 15 carries. His longest run? A brief 10 yards.

According to defensive tackle Richard Clebert, USF, it seems, was determined not to let this happen again.

“Well, last year I remember that all of our practices were like we had to focus and be disciplined. The thing is that somebody would think that Pat White would have the ball and someone would get nosey and go for him and he’d break for 80. We learned from our mistakes (from ’06) and we can’t do that. It’s not really a statistical game. It’s just playing your part and helping the whole defense out and getting a W. That’s the goal for us.”