USF offensive coordinator Greg Gregory didn't speak with the media after Thursday's 24-10 loss to Cincinnati, in which the Bulls offense drove inside the Bearcats' 10-yard line twice in the fourth quarter but came away with no points. He did answer questions after USF's first practice since the loss on Tuesday night. Here's the interview in its entirety:

GA: First, just wanted to talk to you about the game. I know it had to be frustrating there at the end, getting down the field twice, moving it, but stalling inside the 10.

GG: Oh, yeah. We just didn't make a couple of plays in that 6-to-10-yard area. It's a very difficult area. They (Cincinnati) struggled the one time they had it in the 6-to-10 and had to throw it. It's a tough area to throw and we didn't execute a couple of plays. We really didn't. The same play we've executed a number of times, I don't want to say we busted it, but we allowed them to disrupt the play. Didn't give ourselves a chance on that one. The first time, we let them disrupt our fourth-down play. What should have happened, (tight end  Cedric Hill) was running a corner route and then our No. 2 receiver (thought to be Marcus Edwards) is coming underneath. Ced got vised, and our No. 2 didn't come under. Matt had to throw to the corner. The last (offensive) play of the game, we were just were off a fraction.

That was very frustrating down there, because you're in a situation where you're almost locked into throwing. That's why I wanted to run the football the first time, when it was first and goal at the 6 (actually 7) and we ran. We didn't get but 1 on that one, then the next one, when I'm looking at it, I know we're in four-down territory. We'd been running the ball, getting 3-4 yards a crack running the football, and I'm saying if we can get 3 or 4 and get it down to the 2, the pressure's really on them. We've got two downs from the 2. Are we going to run, are we going to play-action pass, are we going to show pass? They stuffed us on that play. They just stuffed us. That's what the thinking was, try to pop one through there. We had popped that play through consistently most of the night.

GA: I would think you were pleased with the running game in that game, given who you were missing.

GG: Very pleased. In that game, when I go back and look at it, we shot ourselves in the foot. We had first down, Matt (Grothe) throws the ball into the ground on a sure first down to (Richard) Kelly, twice, in the flats. We had six drops. We haven't had that many drops all year. Every one of them except one would have resulted in a first down.

You look back, and I think the first series was kind of indicative. We bust up a good run, then we run a play and have a motion penalty on a play that we had a 10-yard gain down to their 29. Two plays later, on a base protection we've used all year, we have a guy go completely the wrong way. We don't even go that direction, ever, he goes completely the wrong way, Matt gets rushed by a guy that doesn't even have a block on him, gets away from him, throws one up and gets intercepted. That interception should have never occurred. We should have been on the 29-yard line, first down.

The penalty changed that. We don't have many penalties (on offense). I think we only had two in that game, the one on the goal line and the one on the first series. That killed us down there on the goal line. That first series we didn't have to throw. The second time, we knew we had to throw. You have four shots down there, about the 9, 10-yard line (actually two from 13, two from the 8),  you know, you've got to make a play. We didn't make a play. We have to find better schemes and we have to execute them. That's the bottom line.

GA: This is the second time you guys have had a frustrating loss and 16 days to think about it ...

GG: Believe me, we're all looking for answers. We scrutinize ourselves as coaches. We scrutinize our execution, why certain players might not be executing as well as they can. What's the reason? We try to analyze that. I have great confidence in our players. I really do. I believe they can come back. They look at the film, they see the plays are there. I know they do because I sit in there with them. They see they're there. We made mistakes in that game we haven't made all year. We haven't dropped balls like that all year. We had three first-down throws, I mean, just didn't make good throws, ball's on the ground three times.

GA: For you, this offense leads the conference in yards and points per game, and yet there's a sense of disappointment that you could be doing more.

GG: We're all disappointed. We have to be more consistent. We'll keep working. We're never going to stop working. We'll find answers. You don't have to worry about that. You work at it. You can't cry over spilt milk. You can analyze, try to analyze why, but you better learn from it. You better learn from it or you're not going anywhere.

GA: From an attitude standpoint, do you feel good about the way the guys have come back this week?

GG: Like I told you, I have great faith in the players. I think the players have a tremendous amount of intestinal fortitude, perseverance. They actually can get over losses faster than coaches sometimes. It's our job to get over it and move forward. We're the ones that will pull them. They're not going to pull us. We've got to pull them where we want them to go. That's our job. We've got to get over it and move on.