raginbull76

In watching a clip of the post game press conference, It looked as though he did not take any responsibility for it. I believe that he did state that on the 4th and 24 pass, all a player had to do was knock the ball down and the game is over. Absolutely correct. What I would like to know is how much did he stress this to the team when he had the time to do so?

If I remember correctly, two seasons ago, Taggert seemed on the verge of losing his job. And then, presto! He let "Flowers be Flowers" and off we were to the races. He basically changed on a dime, so to speak, and what a nice season 2016 turned out to be because of it. Whether true or not, I heard that the players pleaded with him to change his vaunted LOL "shift" offense. Million dollar salaried coaches should know enough not to try to put square pegs in round holes. They should also know enough to keep the players aware of clock management in a game like yesterday. I had so much high hopes with Strong coming here. But up to this point, I'm not impressed. A respectable high school coach could have won those first seven games vs. weak opponents. Our first real opponent and we are defeated for the wrong reasons.

Well spoken. 'Kinda reminds us of Willie Taggert and his "Shift Offense," so to speak. At least he learned his lesson and now is making more money at a higher profile job.

I think you might be right! That makes it worse! Strong should have screamed "make sure you just knock the ball down on a long pass" over and over again until the timeout was over.

I was familiar with the Texas situation. But, he certainly did not walk into a mess here. He took over a team with a lot of talent led by a dynamic quarterback with an upcoming schedule that was one of the weakest in the country. He coached a penalty plagued team through seven adventurous wins against over-matched opponents before being largely responsible, in my opinion, for this fiasco of a loss. Unfortunately, look for a possible repeat performance on the road next Saturday vs. UConn.

Probably because a lot of these guys are successful failures and spend a lot of their time planning where they are going to go next to further inflate their egos instead of concentrating on the tasks at hand.

This is an overrated team that just lost to the only above average opponent that they have faced all year. After watching them make just every game vs. cupcakes an adventure, is anybody really surprised at this result? Lots of talent, but led by a surprisingly " C" level head coach, who obviously isn't too good at clock management, nor knowing when to use a critical timeout out to get his team ready for a 4th and 24 to seal the victory. Don't blame the players, coach. It's on you!

Strong, first of all, should have went for a field goal earlier in the game, although that had no barring on the outcome. In close games, do two things: 1. Always take the points. 2. Keep your second half timeouts for the end of the game. Charlie Strong did not take the points. Charlie Strong did keep his timeouts for the end of the game. However, with Houston facing 4th and 24 with about a minute remaining, would it have made sense to call a timeout and remind your players that all you have to do is knock down the ball and we win? Would it not have made sense to give the defense a quick breather and make sure they are organized? Sorry, this team is really 0-1, not 7-1. This was the first team that we played all season that could be considered above average. It is apparent to me that Strong is an overrated coach. He was lucky to have Terry Bridgewater among others at Louisviille. He could not succeed at Texas with all the talent in that state. Quinton Flowers has digressed with him at the helm. Something is wrong here. In all my years of supporting and watching USF football, this was the worst loss ever. And it falls on the coaching staff, especially Strong.

We will learn a lot about our Bulls this upcoming Saturday afternoon vs. Houston. Let's face it . This is the first relatively decent football team that we have played. It's great that we are 7-0 and ranked. But, as the old saying goes, "Where's the beef?" I think that UCF is a very good football team. Better than many people realize. I couldn't even begin to make a prediction about that game until I see if we can remain focused for four quarters vs. Houston and therefore take care of business.

Very simply put, look at the competition these numbers are put up against. UCF is high scoring and undefeated too. But they have quality wins against Navy and Memphis. Even a weaker team on their schedule such as Maryland is far better than anyone we have played thus far. We have not played one team that compares to any of those. Stonybrook? ECU? San Jose State? etc. Again, the combined record of our opponents thus far is 18-53. Don't get me wrong. I am thrilled that we are 7-0. You can't play sloppy games against inferior competition week in and week out and realistically consider ourselves a top 20 team. The Houston game is our first real test of the season. Hopefully, we pass it with flying colors!

True, Woodie was terrible, but we still win both the Tulane and especially the ECU game if he were still here. It took him a while to realize it, but CWT finally understood that letting "Flowers Be Flowers," so to speak was the key to winning ball games. It hasn't looked as though Coach Strong has let him improvise as much. Our 7-0 record is as soft as it gets at this level of football. Give Houston a good drubbing this upcoming Saturday and my opinion changes big time! This is perhaps the most talented team in the history of USF football. But we have not played like it as of yet.

Houston 34-24 Flowers MVS 410

I thought that Charlie Strong was a solid upgrade as a head coach. But, this team still would be undefeated with this schedule if Taggert was still here. (No knock on him, by the way.) In fact, they might have even played better. Our opponents thus far have a combined record of 18-53 if I am correct. I am not saying that Strong is not a good head coach. But someone really does have to wear "green goggles" to think that he has done a good job thus far. A very "sloppy" team as some football analysts have pointed out. Those lofty offensive and defensive numbers are misleading when you consider the quality of the competition. Our first "real" football game of the season is Houston this upcoming Saturday. The good news is that it is a home game. If we lose this one, then we know that our unblemished record through seven games was truly a mirage. If we win this one in grand fashion, then perhaps our guys really do play up to the level of the competition. What a great thing it would be for our USF Bulls, fans and alumni if both us and UCF head into Thanksgiving weekend both undefeated.

So does that mean that they should be ranked in the top twenty for doing so? UCF has beaten Navy, Memphis and Maryland. Being objective, they should be ranked ahead of us as should some other teams. Like I said, we just might be the type of team that plays up to the level of the competition. Hopefully so. We will find out this upcoming weekend. There might also be some truth to coordinators not showing all their cards, so to speak, when they don't have to. But usually, that doesn't seem to be the case with most teams. As for the penalties and lack of concentration at times? That is on the coaches. Could you imagine a post game Alabama locker room if Nick Saban walked into it after a second half performance like we just put on against Tulane?

Our undefeated season thus far is a fraud! (Pardon me Mitt Romney.) It has been achieved against relatively bad football teams. True, we can only play who is in front of us. But a top twenty ranking for a team that somehow finds a way to make games against weak teams interesting? Absolutely not! Right now, I am extremely disappointed in Charlie Strong. This team is undisciplined, and more often than not does not play with great intensity for long portions of each game. Honestly, our head coach is not the reason why we are undefeated at this point in time . The weak schedule is the one and only major reason. Our first real football game is coming up this weekend. One of two things will happen. Either we will find out that our Bulls are a team that plays up to the level of competition and often gets bored when things are going their way big time. Or, as suggested, we are an overrated ball club that has not yet proven anything against anybody. I am not yet ready to give my numerical prediction on our upcoming game vs. the Cougars. But, I think they will beat us by at least two touchdowns unless Strong can convince both his players and coaches to stay awake for four quarters. I can not believe that I feel this way when my favorite college football team is 7-0, but I do! As someone so aptly pointed out yesterday, this season's record is a mirage thus far!

In this morning's newspaper up in the northeast, the question came up as to where Greg Schiano will next land as a head coach. It was written that he had previously turned down two significant offers (Believed to be the Oregon and South Florida jobs) Interesting! In order to keep a coach like Strong in Tampa, home game attendance will have to significantly increase among other things.

For some reason and even to this day, USF has always been known as a "commuter school." It also has never had any sustained success in the two major sports of football and men's basketball. Perhaps as a result, a true "Bulls' Nation" has never developed. It is more apparent now than ever that an OCS is needed to move the program forward. No "Power Five" conference will invite a school like ours to join them with such pathetic attendance figures. Also, why do schools such as Troy get to play teams like Alabama on a regular basis and we schedule teams like UMass? I am sorry but I don't believe the story that "they," meaning Power Five teams, don't want to play us. Right now, we are stuck in a "Catch 22," so to speak. No fans, therefore no OCS and no beginning a tradition that can lead to a real fan basis of alumni and Tampa Bay area residents. I never thought that I would say it, but an on campus stadium is needed now more than ever.

Houston's offense looked horrible on Saturday vs. Texas Tech. Perhaps an off day! It's really UCF that I am worried about. They beat up on Maryland. They look like a good football team thus far. If the Knights beat Memphis then watch out! As you stated, it's very hard for any team to go 12-0, even with a light schedule like USF has. It's too early to predict, but it is entirely possible that both USF and UCF could meet as undefeated teams that Friday after Thanksgiving. Wouldn't that be fun!

This game was one of the best examples that I ever witnessed of competing offenses working together towards a common goal, that being a USF victory. I went to the USF-Temple game last fall. To state that this is a different Temple Owl team is an understatement to say the least! Their defense is nowhere near as bad as the score indicated. I am not so sure that the Alabama defense could have led their team to a victory in a game like this if their offense looked as though they were playing for the other team! True, Flowers had a potential long TD pass dropped. But, he really did not play well and most likely eliminated any possibility of a trip to New York for him at season's end as an also ran in the Heisman Trophy competition. Our defense played great, help or no help from the opposing offense.

Bulls 44-27 Tice Valdes-Scantling 424 total yards Was I wrong the last game! It was good to see the team play like they are capable of doing on both sides of the ball.

I certainly had predicted the outcome of this game wrong. But, with good reason based upon the first two games of this season. Our guys played with good intensity and enthusiasm on both sides of the ball. That's a first for this year. Let's hope it continues. Less penalties and more discipline, though. Manhandling a Big Ten team, even a lower tier one with just three days of focused practice now justifies our being ranked in my opinion.

Based upon the play of the first two games, especially Stony Brook, I am worried about this one. The UConn game was on again, off again! Preparing for a Big Ten opponent with just three days preparation time is not a good thing. Something is clearly wrong with our Bulls thus far and I can't put my finger on it, so to speak. I hope I am wrong, but I see another less than stellar performance by our guys this Friday night. A grinding Illinois running game helps lead the way to a 33-24 victory for the Illini. Please, please prove me wrong!

If we lay an egg at UConn, then this season is over as far as many fans are concerned. Two feeble efforts against two lightweight teams followed by a loss to the Huskies would certainly make those remaining home games at the Ray Jay mostly empty and red. We will learn a lot about this 2017 Bulls team and more importantly about Charlie Strong this upcoming Saturday.

If you remember, Taggart tried to initially install an offense with all kinds of "shifts," which confused the players more than it did our opponents. Remember the McNeese State fiasco? Many of these college head coaches are paid millions of dollars. It seems to me that one of the most important aspects of coaching is to install your offensive and defensive game plans and offenses and defenses based upon the talents of your players. You can't put round pegs in square holes.

It is very difficult for any team to go undefeated, even with a ridiculously light schedule like we have. But, your comment might not have been much of a stretch if our Bulls had lost to Stony Brook. To call this team's performance underwhelming at this point is an understatement. I thought that Charlie Strong was the right guy at the right time to take USF football to the next level. That still could be the case. I guess that it doesn't hurt to remember that Taggert was just about out of a job last season and then looked what happened! Everything started to click! It has to start this upcoming Saturday with UConn, who almost lost to Holy Cross. I will be at that game and look forward to cheering them on. If this one gives us trouble, then this is going to be a long and disappointing season to say the least!