Campus Commuter

   I went down to the field in the fourth quarter of the Wofford football game Saturday night and waited for a chance to join the viewing line for running back Eric Breitenstein, who was stretched out on a table with a bag of ice on his knee.
   Breitenstein suffered a torn PCL against Charleston Southern and will be sidelined at least a month until a decision is made about whether he needs season-ending surgery.
   I’ve seen grown men, tough football players, come to tears just thinking about the possibility. When I got to Breitenstein, I didn’t know what to say. Luckily, he went first.
   “So,” he said with a grin, “how’s your day going?”
   Well, actually, I’ve been limping around on a hurt ankle, but thought I’d better not mention it.
   There was no sign of angst from Breitenstein. He was still smiling and occasionally joking. The doctors knew the ligament was torn. He was holding out hope that it was only hyper-extended.
   “That’s Eric,” Wofford head coach Mike Ayers said Monday. “He’s always the glass-is-half-full guy.”
   The Terriers are going to need a strong dose of that Breitenstein optimism. The fullback is the key to the Wofford offense and the sophomore has already shown he belongs in the long line of greats that includes Dane Romero from last year.
   Not to be a glass-half-empty guy, but this is a huge loss.

   Toward the end of practice Tuesday afternoon, every true freshman on the Wofford football team suddenly sprinted off the field and raced toward the Richardson Building to get dressed for a book club meeting.
   First-year students are required to read the same book as part of what is called The Novel Experience program. This year, it’s “One Foot in Eden” by Carolinas-based author Ron Rash. Later in the month, he will be on campus for a teaching and a reading. Tuesday, students had to gather for group discussions.
   Dozens of football players, some in black jerseys from the defense and some in white jerseys from the offense, sprinting off the practice field to examine the subplots of a novel tells you everything you would ever want to know about Wofford.
   Most importantly, school comes first.
   Secondly, they had to run because they also need to know the playbook frontward and backward and need to take full use of every possible minute on the field. The home opener is Saturday.
   Rookie linebacker SeQuan Stanley lagged behind. He stopped at the athletic trainers’ table, had a drink of water and seemed a little shaken up. Position coach and defensive coordinator Nate Woody was worried – not about any possible injury but Stanley being tardy for the book thing.
   “Are you hurt?” Woody said. “You’re going to be late.”
   Woody ordered Stanley to climb into a cart and be driven up to the locker room. They’d check with him later.

   South Florida head coach Jim Leavitt must have felt it was an unimpressive 40-7 win Saturday against Wofford. He dropped the Bulls from his vote for the Top 25.
   Leavitt had USF at No. 18 in the preseason coaches’ poll. This week, even after the 33-point victory, he dropped the Bulls from his list and said he wouldn’t make his vote public again until the end of the season.
   Wofford, meanwhile, stayed in the top 15 of the FCS (Division I-AA rankings). The Terriers are No. 14 in both The Sports Network media poll and the coaches’ poll heading into this week’s home opener with Charleston Southern.

   Long snappers in football are like umpires in baseball. Nobody notices them until they mess up.
   Wofford junior Chris Cummings had a couple of goof-ups Saturday night and suddenly his name was splashed across the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune. Cummings' back-to-back hikes over the punter's head gave the lead and momentum to South Florida in an eventual 40-7 avalanche.
   From the newspaper: If there had been an official player of the game, “Cummings would have been USF’s MVP.”
   Ouch, babe.
   As far as Wofford coach Mike Ayers is concerned, it was a bad 10 minutes for Cummings and nothing more. The former walk-on has been clutch since he took the long-snapping job last season.
   “That’s the first time he’s had a bad snap since he’s been here,” Ayers said. “I have total confidence in Chris. I think he’ll be fine. He’ll probably not have another bad snap the rest of his life.”

   The University of South Florida game notes package includes this quote about quarterback Matt Grothe from ESPN’s Chris Fowler: “A defensive coordinator’s nightmare.”
   Welcome to Nate Woody’s bad dream.
   Wofford’s longtime defensive coordinator will throw his young defense to the wolves Saturday night when the Terriers open the season against a Big East team in Tampa, Fla. Eighteen of the 22 players on the depth chart are underclassmen.
   Grothe, listed as a Heisman candidate, is on target to become the all-time total offense leader of the Big East. Last season, he passed for 2,900 yards and 18 touchdowns while also topping the team in rushing with 591 yards.

   … USF will be without its two top returning running backs. Mike Ford was suspended two games for violation of team rules. He has led the running backs in yardage for the past two seasons. Jamar Taylor, meanwhile, is out at least two months with a sprained knee.

   … The Bulls will honor former running back Keeley Dorsey, who died during conditioning workouts in 2007. This would have been his senior season. USF will have a different player each game wearing Dorsey’s No. 10 jersey. Defensive lineman Aaron Harris will wear it against Wofford.

   … USF is 3-4 all-time against the Southern Conference. The Bulls beat Elon, 28-13, during the 2007. Their last defeat to a Football Championship Subdivision (Division I-AA) team was to Hofstra in 1999.