USFbulls24

No chance FSU and Miami welcome another Florida school to compete with recruiting wise.

We just got smacked by Western Kentucky and you're raising the question about putting us in the same conversation as FSU, UF, and Miami? Good grief...

A real contender in the AAC of course.. We were a contender this year and should be just about every year we are still in this conference.

Had a solid year as a conference, but that doesn't take away from what our conference really is. Weak.

Can you name another coach given a big raise and an extension coming off a losing season, not only a losing season but having lost 7 of his last 8 games that season? That extension was absolutely horrendous. The way it's gone down with Taggart is the way the business works.

No way he gets the job. He's still got a career record of 30-42. Never won a bowl game. Never won a conference championship. How in the world would an SEC program sell that to their fan base? Can't blame him for taking the opportunity to interview for a job in the best conference in college football though.

Was going to say I think we're safe for now. Those with openings are being very aggressive at this point as they should be since most regular seasons are over and his name would've been linked stronger and more often if he was a threat to be taken away. Harlan needs to give Willie a 2 year extension and a pay raise. Make the buy out for 2016 and 2017 a huge amount of money so that if a P5 does come and grab him they'll have to pay us for it.

1) USF2) 48 - 173) Marlon Mack4) Rodney Adams5) 550

Pat Forde betting Justin Fuente will be Virginia Tech's next head coach. Virginia Tech (9) – Leaving: Frank Beamer. Arriving: The Dash is betting the mortgage on Memphis coach Justin Fuente, and betting that it happens quickly next week. Word is that athletic director Whit Babcock has his man, and has for a while now, and Fuente is that man. He’s done a remarkable job at previously moribund Memphis, going 18-6 over the past two seasons. It’s possible that tumbling dominoes at LSU and points elsewhere (namely Florida State) unspring this, but unlikely. A Fuente hiring would also keep Rich Rodriguez in place at Arizona. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/forde-yard-dash--coaching-carousel-edition-072320394-ncaaf.html

Have you watched UCF this year? Lack of talent is a massive problem for them...

Unless the field is totally underwater and we have to play in scuba gear this game will not be close. ucf will come out fired up, but talent will overcome that quickly. We will win by at least 3 possessions.

What bothers me is it took Taggart 5 games into the season to open up the playbook. If he opens up the playbook after the FSU game we could very well be 9-2 right now controlling our own destiny. Very happy with what I've seen so not a major complaint, but man what could've been...

Bulls 31-27 Mack Adams 500

Most definitely wasn't me breaking down QBR saying Bench was better. I have mentioned QBR before, but only regarding the fact that other schools had QBs with worse QBR ratings than Mike White and still found a way to win more games than we did. Which to me was a reflection on the coaching staff and that was this past off-season. I have not criticized Flowers every chance for how he throws the ball. Double check this stuff before you just start firing away. ONCE AGAIN, In my opinion - (This means that it is my view or judgement not necessarily based on fact) I don't see a P5 school coming and getting him after this season. You disagree, cool. That's awesome, no reason to continue with this nonsense. I didn't say a lot of them don't hire coordinators with no head coaching experience. He is a heck of a recruiter I agree. I didn't say that P5 schools don't hire on potential all the time. I also said if we finish strong this year and have another really strong year next year such as a 9 win season then I think a P5 program will be coming for him. I did say Miami would not be able to sell to their fan base another Al Golden type hire with Taggart. A guy who turned a G5 program around to an 8 win season at Temple and then fell flat on his face. They'll get someone who has a double digit win season at whatever level they grab them from, success at a P5, a massively successful P5 coordinator or something along those lines. I also said I guess anything can happen and we will see. Sorry to get you fired up with my opinion that I don't think P5 programs come calling for Taggart after this one season.

Maybe you didn't read that I said in my opinion I don't see a P5 school ponying up and begging for his services. Didn't say his buy out is too much for a P5 school to come calling. If you disagree that's wonderful. I have never once said on this board that I want Bench to be our starting QB or that I think he is better than Flowers. You probably had trouble with my post after the Memphis loss as well when I made a post and mentioned Bench. I'll try to remind you of what I said, but I can't help you understand. After the Memphis loss I said we have to throw the football downfield. We have to keep the defense somewhat guessing. That you can't just throw the ball on 3rd and long and have success. That our approach on offense played right into what the defense wanted. I said the playbook has to be opened up for our team to win football games. I then said, If Taggart didn't trust or would not allow Flowers to throw the ball downfield and open the playbook and he would have more trust and allow Bench to throw the football downfield then Bench needed to play to give our team a chance. That is in no way advocating for Bench to play or saying Bench is the better player. That is calling it like it is. It means I was pleading with Taggart to do whatever he had to do in order to throw the football more often and open up the playbook no matter who was the QB. This team would still be struggling no matter who was behind center if Taggart continued the same conservative approach we saw in the first 4 games of the season. At that point we had not thrown the ball enough and it seemed like he wouldn't let Flowers for whatever reasons he had? What have we done since the Memphis game? Thrown the ball downfield and look at the results. Way to bring up a completely irrelevant topic though in regards to the conversation of will a P5 program come calling for Willie.

Fair. Although, you probably can't name more than 1 or 2 other coaches past Al Golden who were given a massive promotion like he was when he had a career losing record in the G5 and it's highly doubtful Miami makes that same mistake again. Their fan base would absolutely melt down. Right now, I just don't see any reason for anyone to worry about Taggart leaving after this year. If we finish 8-4 and win a bowl game, and next year finish 9-3 and win the conference then yes we probably should worry about it. In my opinion, as of now his resume is not impressive enough for a P5 team to pay whatever buy-out he would owe to USF, then pay him $2+ million a season over 5 years to take him away from us. I guess anything can happen though. We will see.

I don't disagree at all that they can afford whoever they decide they can afford. There's no question they'll be offering a higher salary to whoever their next coach is compared to anyone in the G5 ranks. I just really don't see a P5 school coming in and begging for his services.

And look how that worked out. You think Miami will be able to sell that same type of hire to their fans again? No chance.

Absolutely not. He was left with nothing by players leaving. He was in the same spot as Taggart building from nothing. He gets 3 years no matter what.

No one is taking him away from us after this year even if we finish 8-4. What he's done this 3rd year has been awesome, but he would obviously only leave for a better job. What P5 program is going to be able to sell their fans on Taggart who has a career record of 28-42 and 0 conference titles and 0 bowl wins at least as of right now.

Hope it's a big crowd, but thought last night would have been bigger. Will probably be a slow increase in attendance. A lot of people probably still don't trust Taggart. Still have 20+ games of bad taste in their mouth. He'll earn the support back though. He's figured it out.

I didn't read all of them, but I remember one of the reasons being if we kick the extra point and then they score a TD we are set up for a game winning FG instead of a game tying FG. That all means nothing if they score with less than 30 seconds left in the game or no time at all. It's all hypothetical at that point and almost completely out of your control. Going for 2 to put you up by 6 is in your control. You guys have your reasoning and I have mine and we can leave it at that. Either way I agree it is being over discussed and I don't think it was some massive mistake I just personally would've gone for 2 there. Taggart didn't. He probably knows a little more about coaching than me.

Apparently I'm on another planet for thinking we should of gone for 2. I should know better by now than to throw out an opinion of mine saying 95% of coaches in America would've gone for 2. I should also know some of you guys are like lawyers and analyze every single word written and pick it apart so I should be better about saying "In my opinion, or I would think..", or something along those lines rather than a specific statement like that. According to them it makes sense to kick the fg. Doesn't mean coaches would select that option. Just like according to other analytics it makes sense to go for it on 4th down a heck of a lot more than coaches actually do. http://static.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/garber_greg/1453717.html

It's a guess. Sorry for being so exact. If I had to bet I'd say the majority of coaches in america go for 2 there. Better?

Don't remember calling for his head at all. 95+% of coaches in America go for 2 there. It's okay to point out that we think he made a mistake in that scenario. A mistake that didn't mean anything in the end, but still.