Inside Slant
The second half of the season clearly did not go the way South Florida would have preferred.
The late struggles that marked the Bulls' finishes in recent years continued this season when they won only two of their final seven regular-season games after starting out 5-0.
But with the 7-5 record, the Bulls qualified for their fifth consecutive postseason appearance, and they are headed to the International Bowl in Toronto with the intent of finishing on a high note.
Don't try to tell coach Jim Leavitt that the matchup with Northern Illinois isn't a big deal.
"Playing in a bowl game is always special," Leavitt told the Tampa Tribune.
The extra practice time and game experience should pay dividends for all the Bulls returning in 2010, but especially for quarterback B.J. Daniels, who played like a typical redshirt freshman in taking over for injured senior Matt Grothe in third game of the season. Daniels was up some games, down for others, and that led to some frustrating moments.
In 12 games, Daniels ran for a team-high 798 yards but completed only 53 percent of his passes for 1,766 more. He had 12 touchdown passes against nine interceptions.
The game in the Rogers Centre, the 46,374-seat facility formerly known as the SkyDome, could be an entertaining one.
If Daniels is on his game, the Bulls can score. In the last two wins over West Virginia and Louisville, he produced 781 yards total offense and the Bulls put up 64 points.
The Huskies, on the other hand, averaged 31 points a game in going 7-5, beating Purdue on the road and losing to Wisconsin by only eight points and at Toledo by one.
