Over the weekend, USF was shutout 49-0 in a demoralizing loss to Wisconsin. This is only the fourth shutout in program history and eyes are now on head coach Charlie Strong and how he will adjust his game plan for the upcoming game against Georgia Tech.

After the loss, many were quick to assign the blame on quarterback Blake Barnett, who only threw for 109 yards with 2 interceptions. Looking at the raw stats may lead one to assume that Barnett was the sole man holding his team back from putting any points on the board, but the film tells another story.

Head coach Charlie Strong touched on how dropped passes hurt their chances early on, “when you start off the way we did and you’d like to get going early, especially on offense you know, we throw the corner route. The ball is dropped. Then we came back to the next series, we throw a post route. The ball is dropped.” USF must find a reliable receiver who will not drop the ball when the game depends on it if they want to beat Georgia Tech this weekend.

“Yes, he will still be our guy” was Charlie Strong’s response to a question asking if Barnett was still the starter during the week two press conference. Strong continued to defend his quarterback “ when he first started off, he was sharp… he looked really good”

USF are +6.5 underdogs in their road match-up against Georgia Tech this Saturday.