CaliforniaBull

I'll be shocked if St. Felix isn't on the end of year all conference team

If I take my green and gold goggles off, Cincinnati is the favorite in the conference this year with all the returning talent they have IMO. Their QB Ridder did what he did on his rookie season, and Michael Warren is the best running back in the conference

AW playing out of his mind, and QF playing average (which we knew he would play average, because hes an elusive runner in a touch game in the spring, not a passer) was going to stir the most controversy possible. And after day one, sounds like this will come to fruition. I think they do what I said they should a few months ago... Let QF play the first 2 1/2 quarters vs Towson, then let AW finish the game. If the competition is still close, let AW get SOME snaps at some point during the N Illinois game. By this time, if it is still dead even, go with Flowers. If AW is better, lets do the unthinkable, and go with him vs Cuse

ECU more looked bad, than we looked good

All in all, Morillo probably gets the game ball at the half so far. McMurray is playing hard as always, and Cousins is the most physically gifted on the floor. You have to think USF would be blowing out ECU, if ECU hadn't hit all of those 3s. We will see if ECU's hot hand can keep going. USF is obviously not shooting well, but is so far superior physically that it probably won't matter. On a side note, Barkley on ECU is playing one of the worst games I have ever seen from a D1 player. Soft defense, missing shots, mental lapses. I would be surprised to see him on the court much in the second half.

It looks like ECU is playing full court press, because they are noticing USF's weakness. We play lazy with the ball going up the court. COA really needs to inspire our guys to play with their heads up, and let Morrillo or McMurray take the ball up. If Perry had an offensive game, he would be one of the top players in the conference. It is too bad he cannot for the life of him put the ball in the bucket. He is so active. GO Bulls!

Wow USF is just straight up being more physical than ECU. I don't know how ECU won any conference games at all. 18-9 USF

It is so frustrating seeing Cousins have as much talent as he has, and then play lazy at times. The dude should be dominating the game right now. Perry is also not playing up to speed. Besides my pissing and moaning, it is good to see us up 13-9 with free throws to come right now. I just feel like we should be up so much more

Its hard to take these 'advanced stats' seriously when Houston is projected at 53.. They are going to steam roll the west this year. I personally see a 10-11 win Houston team vs a 9-10 win USF team going into the CCG. And I dont think that game goes well for us

I will be getting out of the navy in california in november right before the SMU game in Dallas, so that sets up perfectly for me to catch on the way home, and then obviously beating down UCF at home is a cant miss. Going through the games, i really think the goal has to be 10 wins. Id gladly take 8 wins if it includes wins over FSU and UCF

Peters is garbage. McMurray, Holston, Perry, Cousins, Nunez, Ziegler and Guerrero are all better than him

Thats what we are saying man. Everybody would love to have Swanson back, as he is a phenominal athlete, but he isnt a necessity. More of a luxury. Calloway is more of a necessity if we are going to push for 10 wins this year. We really need to be more dominante up front, although Calloway is a better pass rushing DT than a run stuffer imo

As talented as Swanson was, we have other guys on offense who can move the ball without fumbling. Id still love to have him though. I really feel like getting Calloway back is vastly more important. He was a guy who could really rush the passer up the middle and would set up a dream rotation at DT with Senat, Bronson and Hector. Hamilton is gone right?

They need to have try outs on campus and get some bodies then! I am sure USF has some talent hidden around there. Basketball is one of those sports where talent can be found anywhere. Granted, they won't be starter material, but can be serviceable off the bench.

I looked at rivals today and saw that we are currently #4 today in conference recruiting rankings and was immediately worried. But actually looking at the quality of recruits, I would say we are #2 because Temple and SMU just have a lot more players committed that aren't quality. #1 Houston is having a better class than USF ever had in our history though. They are absolutely killing it right now.

I was curious what the pulse of the Memphis fan base is like when it came to recent basketball

I guess there is always a chance of falling 2-3 more games than we should due to bad calls, and bounces of the ball, but this is the most confident I've felt about a USF football team since 2011. I am not saying we are as good as we were, but considering the teams on the schedule, I like our chances

Here are where I project the 2016 teams based on who teams are losing to the draft or graduation, and who I think will actually perform this year. In parenthesis are their 2015 records. Hold on tight, I have some bold predictions. Bottom Tier (0-5 wins) 12. Tulane (3-9) - New head coach from Georgia Southern Willie Fritz is inheriting a mess. His new team is in disarray with QB Tanner Lee transferring and the defense giving up obscene amount of points every week. Whoever the team finds at QB will have to find a way to get the most talented youngster on the team WR Teddy Veal the football. 11. Memphis (9-4) - This is not a typo. Memphis loses their coach, QB, and a senior heavy defense. This team has the looks of 2013 2-10 USF due to having a few scattered talented players in RB Sam Craft, and WR Phil Mahue, and a great kicker in Jake Elliot. That is about it. 10. UCF (0-12) - I want to think new head coach Scott Frost can turn things around in Orlando, but the talent is severely lacking right now. Teams that have fast turn arounds can usually at least run the ball and have some sort push on the line of scrimmage. UCF has neither of those. In order for UCF to turn things around, Holman will have to revert back to his break out sophomore campaign by getting the ball to talented rising sophomore WR Trequan Smith. 9. SMU (2-10) - There is a lot of hype around Chad Morris being the right coach to turn around SMU, but frankly, I have not seen anything to indicate that. Yes, the team did not lose a lot from the season before, but when you have a 2 win team that lost to an FCS team, is that a good thing? The team has all the looks of the Matt Davis to Courtland Sutton show, just like last year. If teams can shut that down, they win. Mediocrity (5-8 wins) 8. ECU (5-7) - The focal point of the 2015 season for ECU was deciding who would start between Blake Kemp and James Summers. Blake was a consistently average passer who couldn't finish games, and Summers was the duel threat who sparked life for a dull offense off the bench, but was never the same as a starter. ECU loses the core of their defense with their best linebackers leaving, but will still have enough playmakers on offense to get a few wins if they can find their QB in 2016. 7. Cincinnati (7-6) - The strength of the team that fell apart during the last 4 weeks last year was the passing game. Cincy will have all off season to determine the Hayden Moore / Gunner Kiel situation. Kiel will probably get the nod due to seniority, but get this. Their top SIX WR's from last year are all seniors and leaving the program. Thankfully, they return 2 RB's of their 3 headed monster at RB with Tion Green and Mike Boone. The defense coming back and being a respectable unit will greatly determine a critical season for coach Tuberville in Cincinnati. 6. Tulsa (6-7) - This offense should have been even more explosive than it was last year before losing key WR Keevan Lucas. He returns this year, but now he must fill the shoes of senior Keyarris Garrett. QB Dane Evans has started 2 straight years, and will look to make his 3rd an improvement from the last. Look for a 7 win team here this year. 5. Navy (11-2) - I know a lot of people are expecting a huge drop off now that QB Keenan Reynolds is gone, as well as their top 3 RBs. Its very possible they come out flat on offense, and the team spirals down to the AAC west basement. But I am expecting the defense lead by senior FS Lorentez Barbour (had game winning ending INTs vs Army AND Pitt) and returns everybody else minus 2, to be awesome, just as they were last year. 4. UConn (6-7) - This is one of my dark horses to come out of nowhere and compete for a conference title this year. They lose virtually nobody, and QB Bryant Shirreffs has all the tools to be a successful D1 QB, He just needs to correct his mental errors (untimely turnovers). While Arkeel Newsome and Ron Johnson round out a very talented duo at RB. But their offense isn't what makes me nervous. It is their defense, led by probably the best returning CB in the conference in Jamar Summers. Definitely have the potential to get 9 wins. Top of the class (9+ wins) 3. Temple (10-4) - This pick scares me. I really like the combo of PJ Walker, and Jahad Thomas. I felt like Thomas was playing hurt the last portion of the season, which made their offense sort of sluggish. That won't be an issue this year. But the part that makes me hesitate to put them this high is losing virtually their entire defense. Granted, I feel they have more depth than people give them credit for, but replacing names like Matakevich, Ioannidis, Young, and Walton will be very difficult. I still think they will be good, but this is one of those teams that can really slide if those positions are not filled with serviceable replacements. 2. USF (8-5) - I follow the conference pretty well, so this is definitely not a biased pick here. I had a tough time actually going through the roster and finding a hole. Skill positions should be all solid, as well as QB. I really like the way Nadelman finished the season so there is that. I would say defensive line, but as long as Calloway comes back full strength, its hard to say a unit returning Senat, Awoleke, and Kevin Bronson (especially the way he finished the season) is a weakness. I think it narrows us down to replacing our 3 graduating seniors on the OL. GO BULLS! 1. Houston (13-1) - This was one of my most certain picks in a list of uncertainty. The defense loses crucial pieces in the secondary along with standout LB Elandon Roberts. This will be the toughest unit to replenish. The positive is they return the new face of the conference QB Greg Ward. They return most of their offense outside of rising senior WR Demarcus Ayers, who recently declared for the NFL draft. If they wanted to run the table, this would greatly hurt their chances. No matter, their next three WR's would crack the top two on any other conference team's depth chart, so I still feel confident that they will top the conference again this year. especially since I see the west having a down year outside of Houston.

Mike Arescos gamble to take less money from ESPN but get more exposure with prime time games paid off, and got the conference noticed with good play on the field. Another 2-3 seasons of that, and the AAC will officially be the middle ground between the P5 and the G4. I can live with that. We had 3-4 teams ranked at the same time all year, so all we need to do is repeat that every year, and I would expect our tv payout to double any G4 payout

Honestly guys, this isn't all bad. Imagine if their request was rejected and Houston, and Cincy got snagged. Memphis without Fuente/Lynch, Navy had a senior heavy team... Imagine being in a conference where the only game to look forward to each year was UCF. As it stands, I love playing Cincy, and would consider them our biggest rival outside UCF

I thought the SEC was the biggest player against them having a CCG with 10 teams? I'm surprised they allowed it. Also surprising to see the AAC vote against it, as the majority of the teams in this league have not been in the conversation of expansion at all. Teams that probably don't want expansion are ECU, Tulane, Tulsa, Navy, Temple, SMU and teams that might have wanted to roll the dice for it were USF, UCF, UConn, Houston, Cincy, Memphis. Crazy conference we have here

I agree with a lot of what youre saying, but let me make a few counter points 1. It doesnt take a phenom at QB to get 8 wins in this conference. Look at UConn. You have to think if they have a Marlon Mack to help spark their offense, it would up their win total. Arkeel Newsome (uconns RB) wouldnt even beat out DErnest Johnson 2. Talk to me about comparing QF to MG when he beats Florida state next year. MG won some huge games, and is entrenched as the best USF QB ever for awhile. 3. No one is complaining about his mechanics. I wouldnt care if hes slingin the ball between his legs, but hes simply not hitting a lot of deeper throws unless they are wide open. I challenge someone to show me tape of him threading the needle between two defenders deep, or hitting a WR in stride deep. That being said, i think hes made great progress. 4. Teddy B hits amazing throws, so please, lets not look like fools and put them in the same convo. I may come off as negative here, but let me say this. Flowers has impressed the hell out of me, and I would not be disappointed one bit to see him as our starter next year. I think it would be very realistic (not likely) to win 10 games with him starting. But we are all acting like it would take the next Tom Brady to supplant him at QB here. If AW can sling it AND we know he has wheels too, why would we not let him get reps at #1 and play at least 3-4 series of the opener vs Towson to compete for a spot? Just my 2 cents

Wow only USF and UConn are projected to make the womens tourney. Mind blowing. No other AAC team is even on the bubble

I have a better shot at winning the lotto

He has about... Eh... Zero shot. But I hope he proves us all wrong. I just don't think he has what it takes between the ears to do it. And that isn't a knock on his intelligence. I am just saying that football fast twitch is pretty rare to have, especially at the QB position. Not many people can read a D, find the open receiver, and get it to him in a 5 second play, no matter how athletic you are.