CaliforniaBull

The trash is in the west. Cincy, Uconn (even if they have been bad lately, but so have we) and Temple (sort of) were all in the big east. UCF, and ECU were arguably the best adds to the conference next to Houston. The rest of the trash is in the west. Its soo lopsided. Even in BBall.

Breaking down the conference below, I have given each team a ranking in 3 different categories. The first ranking is how good the team will be this year. The second ranking is how good you have been in the past (obviously the more recent past is far more important here, but national following also is considered), and the third ranking is off of potential. Points will be awarded per ranking.

 

East

Cincinnati (1,1,2) Pts. 35

USF (7,2,1) Pts. 29

UCF (3,5,3) Pts. 28

East Carolina (6,7,4) Pts. 22

Connecticut (9,6,6) Pts. 18

Temple (8,11,11) Pts. 6

 

West

Houston (4,4,5) Pts. 26

Navy (5,3,7) Pts. 24

Memphis (2,10,8) Pts. 19

SMU (11,8,10) Pts. 10

Tulane (10,12,9) Pts. 8

Tulsa (12,9,12) Pts. 6

So my point is, I am just not sure why they would make the football divisions so imbalanced? My proposed change would be switch Cincinnati and Tulane, but does the American consider Cincinnati rivals with UConn and USF from the old Big East Days? Is it simply due to the 'geographical fit? Not to mention Tulane would be right there along with USF, UCF, and ECU so that would make sense. I just don't see why all 3 bottom feeders in the conference are in one division, while none are in the east. anybody who has a smidge of talent in the west is going to look like a powerhouse, while the east beats up on its own best teams. Hopefully the eastern team is deemed to have a tougher SoS and will win the CCG and take a new years 6 bowl game over stupid Boise st even if it has one more loss

Who do I think WILL start? Probably Flowers. But I want Bench to start.

 

No the same QB will not start all year.

 

I will say 450 yards vs FAMU

 

Maybe we will score a defensive TD. I wouldn't bet on it though.

 

Medium optimism. Closer to the season we get, the more I think we will get that 6th win into a bowl game. But my preseason prediction all offseason was still 5 wins.

Im pretty sure most of you that say he has a higher ceiling than bench are still hung up on his recruiting ranking coming out of high school instead of evaluating him yourself

If you guys want to be on the Flowers band wagon thats fine. But im with armybull on this one. Flowers cant throw at all at a D1 level. To say that he has a higher ceiling than bech is crazy, because ive never even seen the spectacular play from flowers that makes you believe that. Bech has an arm, he has the legs, and I think hes serviceable at best. Which is better than flowers

Metoo, hopefully we can get 45 points on fla am for some confidence

All this talk about is he an upgrade over what we have.... COME ON MAN. I am better than what we have..

Always a Bulls fan but we have been talking about getting better every year. Every year we list the reasons why THIS year will be better. In my opinion, last year, because of our schedule should have been our bowl year. This years schedule is MUCH more difficult and all of the teams we are playing have gotten better. I think the OP was pretty much on target.

I would like some kind of support for opinion this -- because you are not the only one -- I think you are dead wrong, and that our schedule is significantly EASIER this year.

Here is why I think that way:

FAMU < WCU. -- Yes, they are both FCS teams, but WCU was a decent program that was in the hunt for their conference championship for most of the season. FAMU went 3-9 last year.

FSU < Wisconsin -- Wisconsin won their division in the B1G last year. Yes, last year FSU was better... but not this year... heck, the media picked Clemson to win the division this year.

Maryland < Maryland -- Tthe Terrapins lose their starting QB and 11 other starters, including their top two wide receivers. On defense, only two starers are coming back to the same position - and they do have a new DC. The 2015 Terps are worse than the 2014 Terps.

Syracuse < NC State -- Yeah, I hope you realize this is true. Syracuse went 3-9 last year... and they are also implementing a new offensive system and have to replace 8 starters... they are predicted to be 6th in their division this year.

Okay... so all four of our OOC games are EASIER. Let's look at our conference games.

Memphis = Memphis -- I call this a push. Most of their offense returns, except for their starting RB -- but they have to replace most of their defense as well as a new DC. I think this should be a good game on Friday night at USF.

U Conn = U Conn -- I call this another push. New QB and new starting WRs have to be found for a revamped offense... one that USF had no real problem stopping last year. Their defense will be back, and they have solid LBs. So they are about the same as last year.

SMU = SMU -- Another push because it's hard for a team to get worse than SMU was last year. 11 starters gone. New offense. New defense. These Mustangs won't be running wild this year.

Navy < Houston -- This is a tough comparison. Navy's triple-wishbone offense will be different for USF. But it's really a run-heavy spread when it comes down to it... and the 4-2-5 should stand up well against it. On defense, Navy lost a bunch of starters as well.

ECU < ECU -- They lost the best QB and best WR in their history. They may still be better than USF (although I would say barely because USF was in a good position to win last year if not for 2 holding penalties on 2 consescutive plays) -- but there is no way that ECU got better this year.

Temple > Tulsa -- Okay, so here is the first place on our schedule where I am willing to admit the opponent got better. Tulsa was bad and we had to comeback to beat them. Temple's offense is rough at best, but they have a stout defense -- maybe the best in the conference this year.

Cincinnati = Cincinnati -- I might even concede here that this year's Bearcats are better. Their offense might be the best we face in conference -- but their defense last year was dead was near the bottom of the nation last year... and they lost a few key players.

UCF < UCF -- The Knights lost most of their WR corps (to the NFL, no less)... along with a boatload of their defense. So they are clearly taking a step backward.

------------

So if there is anyone out there who thinks our schedule this year is HARDER than last year, please list out your reasons why. I gave you some good thoughts to the contrary... and I would honestly like to see someone tell me where I am going wrong.

I would argue that Florida state is at least even with wisky, if not better. I would say Memphis is going to be better than last year, i would say navy (returning star senior qb) = houston, and that SMU will be better than last year. So our schedule is very similar difficulty to last year imo.

I don’t see how we haven’t gotten better.

Quarterback (better) - We officially have 4 quarterbacks on our roster than can run a 40 under a 4.7, three of them run a 4.5 and 2 out of those four can actually throw if you count Brett Kean and Karsten Miller. Personally, I think Kean will rise up as a true Freshman and lead us to glory. When the season starts I shall have my “I told you so post†ready. I’m not a big fan of Bench or Flowers, but if they somehow manage to beat out Kean then I’m confident we can get at least 6 wins with them.

Running back (waaay better) Marlon Mack is a beast. Tice is a beast who can also catch. Not sure why you fail to mention him in your post, but I see him getting 500 rushing yards this year while Mack Surpasses 1000 again. Kennard Swanson, and D'Ernest Johnson will play their roles as well. I feel they have all probably added muscle and speed this offseason so it will be an awesome year of running.

Receivers / Tight ends (better) –How are we worse? Welch sucked, Andre Davis was great but gone, and Adams is still here. Now our quarterbacks will finally be forced to utilize the other talent such as 4 star Rysheen Bronson, Clerveax, Whitehead, Chris Bar and let us not forget McCants in addition to 2 good transfers from P5 schools. We have plenty of speed and good hands this year.

Offensive line (Much better)- I agree

Defensive line (Better)- Kevin Bronson, Deadrin Senat, Marlon Gonzalez…and they are playing with 4 bodies at the line. We are much deeper this year.

Linebackers (Freakin awesome) No words needed, I expect an awesome defense this year

Defensive Backs (Better) I think mad players got experience from last year and have probably put on good muscle in this off season.

Kicker/Punter (better) We are good at this position.

Return game (better) We have waaay too many speed options this year. I think McCants will be the main go to guy.

Coaches- We took one of the top defensive coaches from the SEC in Tom Allen who was part of the top defense in the nation. Danny Hope came from Purdue a school that has been using the spread since I was a kid, but now he gets to use it with better athletes, and the Wild Card is Kinan, Coached Taggart and Danny Hope. Coached in college and is a legendary high school coach who won 5 state titles using the spread.

Conclusion:

I’m not sure why there is so much doubt. Memphis had a 3-9 record in 2013, but bounced back in 2014 with a 10-3 record and 7-1 in the AAC. Hell even last year, 4 of our losses were by less than 12 points. I know a loss is a loss, 12 points is not much and those 4 losses we beat ourselves. I’ve said all I can in this blog. I’m going to devote my blog time back to my Gators. Bulls Fans are getting too depressing for me. lol I became a Bulls fans because they had a lot of Haitians on their team, they are from the state of Florida amd the fans were are devoted and funny. Dont let these past few years change you, It’s going to be alright. Sit back and enjoy a better season.

I am not at all a depressed bulls fan. I love USF no matter what their record is, and i definitely will not bandwagon over to the gators or noles blog. Im just being realistic in my analysis, and not going to claim that our kikcker is better after losing kloss lol. Its ok to be a fan without expecting a #1 overall ranking bro. Go USF

I don’t see how we haven’t gotten better.

Quarterback (better) - We officially have 4 quarterbacks on our roster than can run a 40 under a 4.7, three of them run a 4.5 and 2 out of those four can actually throw if you count Brett Kean and Karsten Miller. Personally, I think Kean will rise up as a true Freshman and lead us to glory. When the season starts I shall have my “I told you so post†ready. I’m not a big fan of Bench or Flowers, but if they somehow manage to beat out Kean then I’m confident we can get at least 6 wins with them.

Running back (waaay better) Marlon Mack is a beast. Tice is a beast who can also catch. Not sure why you fail to mention him in your post, but I see him getting 500 rushing yards this year while Mack Surpasses 1000 again. Kennard Swanson, and D'Ernest Johnson will play their roles as well. I feel they have all probably added muscle and speed this offseason so it will be an awesome year of running.

Receivers / Tight ends (better) –How are we worse? Welch sucked, Andre Davis was great but gone, and Adams is still here. Now our quarterbacks will finally be forced to utilize the other talent such as 4 star Rysheen Bronson, Clerveax, Whitehead, Chris Bar and let us not forget McCants in addition to 2 good transfers from P5 schools. We have plenty of speed and good hands this year.

Offensive line (Much better)- I agree

Defensive line (Better)- Kevin Bronson, Deadrin Senat, Marlon Gonzalez…and they are playing with 4 bodies at the line. We are much deeper this year.

Linebackers (Freakin awesome) No words needed, I expect an awesome defense this year

Defensive Backs (Better) I think mad players got experience from last year and have probably put on good muscle in this off season.

Kicker/Punter (better) We are good at this position.

Return game (better) We have waaay too many speed options this year. I think McCants will be the main go to guy.

Coaches- We took one of the top defensive coaches from the SEC in Tom Allen who was part of the top defense in the nation. Danny Hope came from Purdue a school that has been using the spread since I was a kid, but now he gets to use it with better athletes, and the Wild Card is Kinan, Coached Taggart and Danny Hope. Coached in college and is a legendary high school coach who won 5 state titles using the spread.

Conclusion:

I’m not sure why there is so much doubt. Memphis had a 3-9 record in 2013, but bounced back in 2014 with a 10-3 record and 7-1 in the AAC. Hell even last year, 4 of our losses were by less than 12 points. I know a loss is a loss, 12 points is not much and those 4 losses we beat ourselves. I’ve said all I can in this blog. I’m going to devote my blog time back to my Gators. Bulls Fans are getting too depressing for me. lol I became a Bulls fans because they had a lot of Haitians on their team, they are from the state of Florida amd the fans were are devoted and funny. Dont let these past few years change you, It’s going to be alright. Sit back and enjoy a better season.

I am not at all a depressed bulls fan. I love USF no matter what their record is, and i definitely will not bandwagon over to the gators or noles blog. Im just being realistic in my analysis, and not going to claim that our kikcker is better after losing kloss lol. Its ok to be a fan without expecting a #1 overall ranking bro. Go USF

Props to OP for putting it out there, pretty good/conservative assessment IMO. I definitely agree with JimSig on the O line effects. Less rushed passes leads to less dropped passes, so I think our WRs will be improved as a unit. I'd only differ from yours with WR/TEs (better): we lose McFarland but gain Dillon and Pope. We lose Davis but have Adams, McCants, and LeGree who are all athletic, and also add Whitehead who seems to be a pretty good possession receiver.

Maybe will differ on the QB, too. I do think Flowers' creativity in a spread might make for a quality improvement.

Everyone is forgetting our potentially best WR on the roster (4 star, 6'3" 200lb Ryeshene Bronson )

you're right, good catch

People forget Rodney Adams is a former 4 star, too. I guess people don't expect him to improve at all. I for one think he's ready to make a jump. Also that McCants is back to 100% and along with A.J. Legree and whichever of the new guys breaks through, we should have a much better WR corps. I don't understand why people assume young guys won't get better or mature.

I dont get why everybody assumes that an extra year will make a player progress drastically. I made this point in my original post. Dont get me wrong, rodney adams can straight up ball. I am looking forward to his potential all conference selection. But lets not forget that we are not bringing in somebody to replace Andre Davis or Mike McFarland. You are not going to convince me that Bronson is already on par with his NFL skill set, or that Dillon is going to be a master field goal blocker or as good as a pass catcher. And my personal opinion is that Sean Price will never live up to his recruiting hype (which is where the Mackey award watch list credential primarily stems from, in combo with being the starter). Like i said, i was close to giving the group a push

Funny that we've sucked the last couple of years and UCF still can't dismantle us with their best teams on record. I don't care about the A. Woulard situation either. If Taggart can't win with the guys he brought in, then what difference is it going to make waiting another year for Woulard? Unfortunately, Coach Taggart hasn't shown a penchant in the coaching acumen department on gameday to date - which leads me to believe we will have more of the same this season (although I'm praying for some W's). If we suck again in a conference that is watered down, send him packing. Plain and simple.

I think the primary reason for letting Taggs stay after a 5 win season is not paying another coaches contract who isnt here, so that if we do let him go eventually, we can afford a decent replacement

I stand by my prediction of going 5-7 this year and the break down reaffirms my prediction. While the team may be slightly better, we can't win without a quarterback. Lets give Taggart 2 more years (cringe) so we can wait for Woulard

I have decided to go position by position to try and predict this years improvement OR drop in play. Each position will be labeled 'much worse', 'worse', 'even', 'better', or 'much better'

 

Quarterback (Worse) - I don't know about you guys, but I liked Mike White. It think with a competent coordinator, he has a much higher ceiling than Flowers OR Bench. He is a true passer, while the other guys don't seem to know how to read defenses.

 

Running Backs (Better) - I usually don't get suckered into the whole 'its a year later, so that should mean drastic improvement' trap, but in this case, its hard not to. Marlon Mack, Kennard Swanson, and D'Ernest Johnson were all 3 freshman starters. If Swanson can hold onto the ball, and Mack puts on 10 pounds of muscle without slowing down like he is planning on, this is going to be a scary group.

 

Receivers / Tight ends (Worse) - I was tempted to label this group as better just due to the departure of Deonte Welsh. I kid... But I think the added depth in AJ Legree and some of the young guys somewhat helps makes up for the loss of the true #1 that we will be losing in Andre Davis, who by the way was missing for a chunk for the year anyway. Losing Mike McFarland will be huge too. Was close to labeling even.

 

Offensive line (Much better) - There really isn't much explaining to do here when just about every spot on the line looks like an improvement outside of Center. Am I crazy for thinking this could be the best group we have had in 5 years?

 

Defensive line (Even) - You hate to lose a work out warrior like Todd Chandler who had a lot of recruiting hype, and was thought to be a clog in the middle of the line, but he honestly seemed invisible at times. I think Deadrin Senet will fill his void and more with time. Derrick Calloway, and the rest of the depth should fill in nicely. But I don't know that we have a great third option besides these two.

 

Linebackers (Better) - Tashon Whitehurst was never one of my favorite players on USF as he is slightly small for the position and always seemed to get pushed around, but he had a stand out spring, and should be a great back up. Sanchez played phenomenal for a true freshman and should only get better. And Nigel Harris will make us forget we ever had an NFL draft pick at linebacker.

 

Defensive Backs (Better) - I love Jamie Byrd. And I liked the athleticism Chris Dunkley brought to the secondary last year, but you could tell he was not a natural corner with his footwork. Everybody else returns, so I think this will be an improved area.

 

Return game (Worse) - This is where Dunkley will be missed. I think D'Ernest Johnson is serviceable and like his ability to be versatile, but maybe someone like Rodney Adams can give it a shot.

 

Kicker (Worse) - Hopefully Nadelman can be the next Marvin Kloss. But I won't hold my breath on it.

 

Punter (Even) - There is no way he plays better than he did last year. Not a chance.

I remember after that loss to UCF at the end of last year, i was chanting for CWT's job. It definitely seems like everybody without green goggles on is predicting 5 wins for this year now including me. But the difference is now, i feel like we have the right players coming in, and our team overall will be much improved, but our QB situation is terrible, and partly thanks to Taggart. So the question is, with Woulard coming in 2016, and not many players graduating and Taggart's good looking young recruits being that much more experienced, do we still fire him? I think i am going to cringe for saying no, but i will for 3 reasons. 1. I want to see how he does with a competent QB. 2. The last thing we need to do is pay another coach not on the staff. And 3. He recruits very well, so I think a new coach for 2017 would have a very capable roster at his disposal to actually put talent and winning together

I agree, Bench is the guy that needs to take over the starting QB spot. If flowers is starting, thats a bad sign. The problem ive noticed with Bench is that when he is pegged as starter, he struggles. When he comes off the bench, hes pretty good. Coincidence??

Oh gosh, youre excited for 2017? Im going to take a nap dude

Probably, but we know Bench isn't the answer. And AW has a lot more potential than QF or Kean.

I would say that I trust Bench a lot more than I do Flowers. Then again, Bench does better coming off the bench, rather than when hes told hes going to start (no pun intended)

The big 12 talking about expanding now is the the worst possible thing that can happen right now. USF is in none of the expansion talks on major sites, with the teams talked about being ucf, byu, cincy, colorado st, houston and memphis

There's no point getting too stoked. What happens with him happens...and it won't matter for 2015.

We could just be his fallback school, again.

Fallback to the fallback school

I don't think he left scorched earth, so if he wants to come, let him.  He'd have 2 years to play, and I don't know if we'd have a better performer.  QF and AW would be fighting to start, as juniors, in 2016.

And gosh, if hes not better than Flowers, he might need to go to an FCS school

The fact that I think we get to 5-7 is really applauding our team, because i dont think there is any question Mike White was better than Quinton Flowers so thats a major downgrade. However, our secondary was young and is returning, our RBs should be that much better, and i think we are better suited for a 4-2-5 D.

I really do hate the light green color with our uniforms... they need to go back to the basic green and gold with the normal bulls logo on the helmets... not the oversized, oddly shaped one they had last year

I had to fix the typos towards the end.

 

In hopes of taking advantage of the talent on the roster After being given his marching orders by new USF AD Harlan, Taggart hired new offensive and defensive coordinators while placing an emphasis on a more Harlan inspired up-tempo attack in 2015.

 

This is simply speculation on your part.

 

Of course.  But it is informed speculation.  

 

Fact #1:  CWT spent two years trying to convince anyone that would listen that his system was the best.  It would take time to implement, but then it would be fantastic.  After all, it's worked before.

 

Fact #2:  Harlan was clearly unhappy with the way the season went.  We know for a fact that Harlan and CWT has meetings immediately after the season.  Harlan publicly stated that CWT was a good young coach, and the school needed to provide him assistance to help him grow.  

 

Fact #3:  After said meetings with Harlan (who has football experience), CWT suddenly reverses course on his offense and decides to implement something he has never attempted before.  Several years as a HC he never let any of his coordinators even whisper about this kind of a system.  He was loyal to his sytem to a fault.   Suddenly he goes to the opposite spectrum of many of his core beliefs.  

 

Do you really think that Harlan had nothing to do with this?  I'm about 95% certain Harlan all but ordered the specific changes.  And you are probably 75% of the way there even if you don't admit it publicly.  So why pretend otherwise?

Quite possibly the brightest mind in TBP

So yes, I am perdicting Taggart gets fired

Fla am- W 41-13 i think the defense makes some big splash plays to propel the offense into some easy scores for our first big FCS W with Flowers

Fla st- L 45-16 USF plays close for 1 1/2 quarters, but comes up with FG's instead of TDs while the talent disparity shows

Maryland- L 21-17 Offense fails to get anything going while we rely on defense to make a scoring play

Memphis- L 34-14 Paxton Lynch is the QB USF can only dream of having. We lose big

Syracuse- W 24-10 Our first statement win of the year comes when Flowers is pulled for Bench who comes in and shines brightly

UConn- W 13-10 Bench struggles mightily, as he always does when he is the starter

SMU- W 21-13 Bench performs slightly better against an overall weak SMU team

Navy- L 28-24 Flowers jumps in and nearly brings us back from an early hole against Navy as we learn to stop the triple option a little too late

East Carolina- W 17-13 Our surprise and last win of the year comes on a stellar defensive performance against a typically good offense

Temple- L 41-23 my surprise team of the year in Temple rolls on to an 8-9 win season and USF stands in their way

Cincinnati- L 34-17 I know we usually play Cincy well, but the QB circus will doom us towards the end of the year

UCF- L Please dont make me predict a score against these guys. It pains me enough to put the L as it is

I am predicting 5 wins with our best chance to get 6 against Navy or Maryland