Bulls comfortable on the road

Posted Sep 29, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Sep 28, 2011 at 11:21 PM

It has been nearly a month since the University of South Florida football team had to leave the comforts of home, after hosting its past three games inside the friendly confines of Raymond James Stadium.

However, when the Bulls have had to hit the road lately, they’ve had little trouble finding an extreme level of comfort.

USF enters Thursdayt’s nationally televised Big East opener at Pittsburgh having won its past five games away from home dating to last season. The victories include conference wins at Cincinnati and Louisville, places the Bulls had never won previously, as well as the program’s first win against Miami, a bowl-game triumph against Clemson in Charlotte, N.C., and a win at Notre Dame in the 2011 season opener.

So what have been the keys to USF’s success lately?

“Whatever it is,” defensive coordinator Mark Snyder said, “let’s keep the magic in the water and keep drinking it.”

Players and coaches point to a few different factors.

Snyder puts plenty of emphasis simply on preparation, an area in which he offered a tip of the cap toward coach Skip Holtz. But Snyder, who was head coach at Marshall prior to joining the Bulls’ staff, also is a big believer in how a team travels and the importance of making sure to avoid unnecessary distractions before it’s time to take the field.

“We’ve had no plane issues, no hotel issues, not bus issues since we’ve been here,” Snyder said. “A lot of it’s how you travel and a lot of it’s how you prepare your team to travel, and I think both aspects thus far have been outstanding.”

Many of the players say they relish the opportunity that comes with a road game, having a chance to rise to the occasion in a hostile environment.

“I think we enjoy the challenge of going into an opponent’s home, an opponent’s backyard, so to speak,” senior offensive lineman Chaz Hine said. “It’s just something you want to step up to the challenge, you want to impress people, you want to break stereotypes of the team and just impress people, and that’s really what we’ve been trying to do.”

Added junior linebacker Mike Lanaris: “It’s kind of just us versus the world, backs-against-the-wall mentality, and that’s always fun. We’ve always kind of enjoyed that and we’re looking forward to going up to Pitt and trying to get some things done up there.”

Holtz knows it will be no small task to get a sixth straight win away from home and said one of the most important things is the Bulls’ ability to stick together. Trips the past two years to Vero Beach for a portion of fall camp were geared toward building team camaraderie, a boost on the road.

“As crazy as that sounds, you don’t have the crowd behind you to turn and kind of put the wind into your sail. You’ve got 70 guys standing there on the sideline in a uniform and you’re going to have 70,000 cheering for the other team,” Holtz said. “So I think it’s really important, the support factor, the togetherness factor, the camaraderie, the unity, as you’re playing for each other.”

The Bulls believe that camaraderie is in place, and it’s a big reason they have confidence their four-game winning streak to open the season can be extended to five.

“You just feel like when you’ve got your family around you, you feel confident no matter where you’re going,” senior offensive lineman Jeremiah Warren said. “If you’ve got people who you love, people you’re willing to fight for, willing to battle for, you feel confident no matter where you are.”