USFBulls727

This is the craziest thing I've read in five years on this board.

They won't, and we've been in every game since Charlie has been here. Should be a good, competitive game, and I look forward to seeing how they respond to this test.

First FBS team (Elon has a winning record). Again, we went 1-2 against teams with winning records last year. Houston will be the only opponent with a winning record at this point in the season when we play them. It's worth mentioning though, that Illinois and GT are at .500 or below because of us. I think Charlie has only faced 4 decent to good teams since he's been here (feel free to name another opponent on our resume over that time)....Temple 2017, Houston 2017, UCF 2017, and GT this year....and GT being decent is questionable, but there's enough talent there to give them the benefit of the doubt. We are 2-2 against that group. Coaching becomes a little more noticeable when you can't out-athlete the other team. The play-calling and execution absolutely has to be on point against Houston. No room for the customary 100+ yards in penalties either. If we get past Houston, which is definitely possible (Although I wouldn't wager on it), I like our chances to go into the UCF game undefeated. Our offense is really good when it needs to be (see GT). The QB draw from Houston will be a problem though. Pindell ran wild on us, and there's no reason to believe King won't do the same, and he's a more accurate passer. Houston will get their points. Just need to get a turnover or two, and the offense has to be ready from the get-go, which hasn't been the case lately..

Agreed. I doubt anybody is under their bed in the fetal position at the thought of the Houston Cougars. We have barely been better than teams that rank #100 or lower in the FBS. Now we have a decent opponent on the road this week. We are 7 point 'dogs for a reason...

When does Bell get back, and what exactly was his injury?

This game was much like most of our games this year. We barely separated ourselves from a bottom of the barrel team. They couldn't stop that QB draw all night because they were worried about how they looked??? Seriously?? If it wasn't for Skip's humidity excuse, this would about the silliest I've heard.

The way this team consistently looks completely lost early in games, you'd think they don't watch game film of their opponents. Seems they are never prepared from the get-go, and the penalties seem to be something that the staff just can't correct. We will learn the truth about this team starting with Houston.

Similar schedule, but the "Points for/Points against" stat line looks a whole lot different..

Yes, actually I did forget the 4-8 season. He sucked for 2.5 seasons, because we got off to a slow start in year three. It was the Syracuse game midway through year three where the change was made, and he never went back. Whatever his reason for changing, he did, and it worked. He also recruited his *** off here.

The OP wasn't really comparing him to anybody, it was just focusing on Strong, and his 16-2 record. As far as CWT, it was 1.5 years that he had an anemic offense. They turned it around midway through year two, and were pretty much outstanding on that side of the ball the rest of the way. As far as whether or not somebody could have matched the 7 offensive TDs in year one..probably, but the team probably would have sucked no matter who the coach was. There simply wasn't much to work with. Willie recruited well, eventually went with an offense that worked, and turned it around. He left the program FAR better off than when he arrived, and that benefited Charlie greatly.

Willie inherited nothing. He basically built from scratch when he took over for Holtz. He left Charlie a very good situation. Charlie has benefited from a very favorable schedule, which is no fault of his own....just saying he was 1-2 vs. FBS teams who had winning records in 2017. He'll have a few such opponents in the coming weeks. We'll see what that looks like. I don't think I have to name the big wins CJL had here. Charlie may go on to do the same, but there just isn't much to go on yet. Not sure why anybody would be sold on him at this point. It's just a fact that he's beaten a collection of bad teams (not in a very impressive fashion this year), and has done so-so against average to good teams. I'm still waiting to see how things unfold this year, and I' still have hope that he can get us a CC finally. Also not sure why anybody would want him fired. Nothing wrong with a 16-2 record, albeit one without a signature victory (3-4 GT? 7-6 Temple last year?) And as I mentioned before, his only two losses here could have easily been wins. Let's see what he's able to do with in the last six games this year where the schedule won't be quite as easy...

Not if you're 1-5 Tulsa, according to some of the posters in here

Unless I missed something, he wasn't calling on Strong to be fired. As far as the question "Outside of C. last year, is there a game where you can say CCS & this staff got everything they could out of this team?", maybe a couple last year, but not sure there was any such game this year (GT being the closest).

I don't really agree with the part that said "we are average (in terms of talent) outside of the conference. I highlighted the part that said "We're above average talent wise in the American", and responded specifically to that.

Having Milton in place over the last two years is huge for them. We have a QB who hasn't played for the better part of three years. The conservative/vanilla play-calling has something to do with the drop-off for us though.

I believe so too, which means it doesn't necessarily take extraordinary coaching to win games with the caliber of teams that Charlie has been up against. Not knocking him, and I can see why some think we have a bright future with him, but I can also understand his detractors. His brand of football is just butt-ugly sometimes, and hasn't been overly impressive this year, but 6-0 is 6-0. @Houston, @Cincy, @ Temple, and UCF will tell us a lot.

Not saying he should be punished, just saying that he beat ONE FBS team with a winning record last year, and that was Temple at 7-6. None of the FBS teams he beat this year are above .500. It should also be mentioned here that we were respectable in his only two losses, and could have won each of those games.

Taking a closer look at Charlie's 16-2 record here.... * Our opponents combined record at the end of 2017: 64-85 (54-82 against FBS....Stony Brook went 10-3) * Temple (7-6) UCF (13-0) & Houston (7-5) were the only FBS teams we played with winning records. We went 1-2 against them. * The rest of our 2017 opponents: SJ State (2-11) Illinois (2-10) Tulsa (2-10) ECU (3-9) Cincy (4-8) Tulane (5-7) UConn (3-9) Texas Tech (6-7) * Of our opponents this year, only Elon has a winning record I'm not on board with the "Fire Charlie" thing, but I'm also far from sold on him. 6-0 is great, but being one or two plays better than bad teams on multiple occasions is why there are some in here who have doubts about him. After UConn, which is about a sure a win as it gets, the last few games will probably be the toughest stretch he's had since he's been here, and we'll learn a little more about what kind of coach he is. I can't help but compare us to the team in Orlando. There hasn't been much difference at all in the level of recruiting over the past few years between us and them, but there's a huge difference in what we see on the field. These teams that we are barely winning against (ECU, Tulsa, Illinois) get smoked by UCF without a doubt. Frost went 13-0 in his second year and won the conference. Huepel is unbeaten in his first year, and they have mostly looked good in doing it. Hard to tell, but we seem to have regressed a bit in year two with Strong (I could be wrong).

Combined record for UConn opponents: 34-9. Our opponents: 15-23, the only winning record on that list being 4-2 Elon. I watched UConn-Boise this year, and the Huskies looked horrible. I don't think Charlie can possibly come up with a way to NOT blow this team out.

USF 49-7 Cronkite Wilcox 590

UConn?

Agreed

I know. I think Elon & Illinois are the only opponents of our's above .500 right now, and that won't last in Illinois' case....

So you're telling me that ECU, Umass, and Tulsa are sub-par?

Couldn't agree more more with #1. These games are closer than they should be for the reasons you mentioned here, and I doubt this changes. UCF undoubtedly blows Tulsa and ECU out, and the talent level between us and UCF probably isn't all that different. Huge difference in coaching philosophy though...