Leavitt: First things first, but a Big East title may be in the Cards

It was different scene following Saturday’s win over Syracuse. Coach Jim Leavitt marched into the media conference room, many expecting him to list his disappointments even though the Bulls outgained the Orange in yards 514 to 250.

He didn’t.

Instead, he said something else.

“Now let’s play for a championship,” he said.

Leavitt added many other things needed to happen for USF to make a bid at the Big East Championship – such as No. 7 Rutgers losing out the rest of its season and the Bulls winning out the rest of theirs – but Leavitt also said, “Stranger things have happened since the beginning of time.”

Leavitt is correct: it’s an outside chance, but just days before the Bulls play at No. 10 Louisville, Leavitt claims the team – which pulled its biggest upset in team history in 2005 with the 45-14 win over Louisville at Raymond James Stadium – had just one concern at Wednesday’s practice: the Cardinals.

“(The team’s) not thinking about a championship,” Leavitt said. “They’re not thinking about that at all. I promise you that. That’s a fact, and I’m 100 percent sure of it.”

“There’s no added pressure (to win out the rest of the season for the championship), because if Rutgers wins out, it doesn’t really matter anyways.”

Leavitt added that his team also isn’t concerned with what bowl it will be attending next month.

“They are not thinking about any bowl games,” Leavitt said. “We know we’re going to a bowl game. Where, I don’t know, but we’re going.”

This and that: Free safety Carlton Williams was favoring his right ankle while leaving practice Wednesday and had removed his left shoe before practice concluded. … Despite making a 56-yard field goal Saturday, kicker Delbert Alvarado stayed behind after practice to work on extra kicks of 30-plus yards.