A day after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers struggled with field goals against the Cleveland Browns, the team signed former USF player Ryan Benjamin Monday after releasing veteran long-snapper Morris Unutoa.

Despite winning 17-3, the Bucs were only successful on one of four field goal attempts with one kicked getting blocked and another one that never even got off the ground.

Benjamin initially signed with the Bucs after the 2001 draft. He was the lone long-snapper until he was joined by Sean McDermott, who won the job.

After getting released by the Bucs, Benjamin signed with the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears.

Benjamin, a River Ridge high school product from New Port Richey, was a four-year letterman at USF.

Originally walking on as a defensive tackle, Benjamin snapped in 44 games without an errant snap.

ESPN’s Kiper has plenty of praise for Bulls

After USF’s upset against Southern Mississippi Saturday night, there was one man who was impressed: Mel Kiper Jr.

He saw the victory as “significant” as the Bulls move into Conference USA play next year.

He called head coach Jim Leavitt “one of the up-and-coming, big-time head coaches in college football”, who has “done well with the Bulls, certainly benefiting from the presence of blue-chip senior Marquel Blackwell.”

USF has defeated Northern Illinois, Florida Atlantic, Southern Mississippi and North Texas, the latter winning the Sun Belt conference and going on to a bowl game last year.

Also, ESPN.com, has USF ranked No.10 in its Top 10 Mid-Major poll. The poll consists of teams not in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC.

The Bulls weren’t ranked last week but returned to the poll after their 16-13 win against Southern Miss. The Bulls were in 6th place in the Mid-Major Top 10 before their to 42-3 loss to Arkansas.

Host USF 2nd at Beacon Woods Invitational

In the 25th annual Beacon Woods Invitational, the USF women’s golf team came in 2nd out of 13 teams.

Host South Florida finished 24 shots behind Tulane, which set a tournament record with a 54-hole total of 864.

South Florida shot an 888 total, with Jill Crowe finishing at No. 6, Katie Ruhe at No. 7, Fany Schaeffer at No.14 and Kelly Martin at No. 18.