USFBulls727

Good call

I looked at their message board, and was surprised to see how many posters on there predicting a win. Maybe they meant with the +21 points?

They (FAU) received a $16 million donation to go toward the building of their IPF. I agree that they could eventually become a problem. Will be interesting to see how long Lane hangs around. I agree with you on FIU as well. I can see that program eventually folding... http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/fau-owls/fl-fau-groundbreaking-0121-20170120-story.html

And that wouldn't include searches for gnats, ucif, tinmen, etc...

Just curious, if only either one of us, or UCF were to be chosen, who do you think is in better position? And if it's not us, what do you think the future of the program looks like, being that there probably won't be expansion again for a long time?

Maybe it will matter, maybe not, but if both teams are undefeated, and there is a packed house and another great game just as there was last season, it may catch the eye of a P5 commish out there. Again, an undefeated matchup can't possibly hurt anything, it seems it can only raise the profile of the two programs and the rivalry. I'll take that any day.

Actually, what I said was: "What other game on our schedule this season would get as much attention as an unbeaten matchup between us and UCF?". The bowl game hasn't been scheduled yet, and if we were to lose the CCG, we might get some garbage bowl that hardly anybody outside of TBP will watch.

They are established P5 teams, who regularly have a national spotlight. We need to do everything we can to get that kind of attention. What other game on our schedule this season would get as much attention as an unbeaten matchup between us and UCF?

Best case scenario would be an undefeated match-up, but obviously we'd take a trip to the CCG however we can get it.

I thought about mentioning the UCF-UConn rivalry, but didn't want to complicate things

This. I not saying anybody should go out and buy UCF pom poms, but why not wish for a game that would get some National attention, have a GREAT atmosphere, and would be a potential big step in locking down the NY6 bid. Who wouldn't want the program to have that kind of spotlight??

Fair enough. I looked at their message board. They are concerned, as they should be, about McCants https://247sports.com/college/east-carolina/Board/59438/Contents/ECU-knows-electric-USF-return-man-Terrence-Horne-well-122080702/

I'm a little surprised that there's this much of a debate over this. How often do you see a sporting event of any kind where 100% of the audience is seated all the time? Personally, I'm always sitting unless I have to stand because my view is obstructed. Unrealistic to expect nobody to stand. I would imagine that the 50 TD pass to Salomon, or the Sawtelle INT vs. GT had people watching at home get off their sofas in excitement. Just go with the flow.

Hmmm...Nick Carroll's comment was " I don't stand the whole game but I will definitely be standing when I get excited." That's not the same as continuous standing. Not sure he would be violating any rules in that case?

Memphis/Houston may or may not be more of a threat, but it's very likely that we will need to beat UCF to get out of the AAC East this year, as was the case last year. They are our obvious rival, and the game against them will likely be huge again this year. Having said that, I get what you're saying. ECU...not UCF...is the immediate roadblock that we need to worry about, and probably should be focusing on. Understandable though that people in here are watching UCF, and commenting on what they see. Also, you may very well be right about Houston being in better position for expansion, but us, and UCF will certainly be in the mix.

Yet we specifically mention UCF in the title of the thread. It's either going to be us or them making it out of the AAC East this year. While you are correct that we only control ourselves, it is impossible to ignore the obvious roadblock to the CCG.

I'm don't know if the package deal is our best chance, but if, say, the Big12 had to choose between us or them, we might not like the outcome of that. Whether it's realistic or not, the package deal thing works for me, and seems to be a possibility, given that we were two of the final eight or so teams considered for B12 expansion. As far as them catastrophically failing, I'm not sure they can possibly fail enough on the field before the next round of expansion to remove them from strong consideration. They have a BCS bowl win over Baylor, an NY6 bowl win over Auburn, and several conference championships...There would have to be some kind of SMU-type scandal to really hurt them. FAU beating them this weekend does nothing whatsoever to hurt their P5 expansion chances. All that would do is hurt our SOS.

I would like to see the same situation as last season happen every season....a trip to the CCG on the line for both teams. That game got a lot of attention last year....one site had it listed as the game of the year, in any sport. Any attention is good attention for us, so why wouldn't we want the stakes to be high for that game? If the whole package-deal thing is our best chance to get a P5 invite, it seems that both teams doing well wouldn't hurt. Personally, I'd get a kick out of seeing them lose, but if they win, it could eventually be a positive for us as far as SOS.

Multiple times

Anybody else almost drop a turd when Salomon bobbled that last TD pass?

I was wondering the same about Johnson. He looked really good at times last season. Thought we would have seen a lot of him this year..

If we somehow ran the table this year, and got a schedule like that in 2019, I guess it would be possible for us to be in a similar position that Houston was a few years back, when they beat Oklahoma in week 1, and were ranked #6 early in the season.

My bad. Forgot he bolted for Oregon. That was T. J.

Regular season, yes. South Carolina was #11

2016. CWT did it here. 11-2