Bullcocky

First off, I know I get called out by pookah and red just about every week as a bad fan in their podcast. I know this because I've listened to every episode since they started it. I love the show. First off, I want to say that it's bitter sweet that the two biggest sources of coverage of this team are fan made podcasts. I also listen weekly to the daily stampede. Kudos to you guys for covering this team weakly. I love you guys for that. It's also sad though that you guys are the ones leading the charge for news (outside usf) for this team. I remember when I first started donating in 2006 that we had two professional beat reporters covering the team and attending every practice and giving daily updates. Those days are long gone.

With that disclaimer out of the way, the reason that I stopped going to games and watching usf football this year is, like pookah and red were promoting, ive been rowing the boat for a very long time. I just don't know where our end destination is? Does anybody know if usf athletics has a 10 year plan of where they want to be in the next 10 years? I am a successful small business owner and I always have a 10 year plan. I learned how to do that through the muma college of business at USF. I always keep in mind my competition and I strive to overtake the industry leaders in my region through achievable goals. The plan should always have achievable goals and benchmarks on how to get there. I haven't seen that from usf personally. When I started donating in 2006, I asked both Doug Woolard and Leavitt where they saw they program in 10 years. I was told that they saw us with multiple national championships based on the recruiting in the Tampa Bay area and the strength of the usf community. Now I ask myself if we are closer to a national championship than we were in 2006? I'm about half a million deep with personal donations and season ticket packages plus travel to games. Ive been rowing. It just seems like we've been rowing without a destination. I don't mind rowing if I know where we are going. I don't want to row out on the ocean in circles hoping that eventually we find a good port of call. If usf came out tomorrow and showed me a 10 year plan of how they could be the premier football university in the state of Florida and overtake UF and FSU, I would be back on board and rowing. We need yearly steps on how to get there with benchmarks for donations and income though.

I think USF made the right hire with Golesh and the right call with the OCS. I just want them to come out and say that these are beginning steps in our 10 year plan to become the premier football school in the state and we need x to get there. My gripes are with the leadership in the administration. I don't want to support and spend so much money and time supporting a novelty product if that's all we realistically intend to be. The steps this year are great,  but I'm looking at the long game.

With that said, if we are committed to a natty in 10. How do we get there? How do we financially compete with and overtake UF and FSU? Let's get a plan and get it done. I will support the team through the growing pains, ive been doing that for many years thinking we were getting there. I just want to make sure we have a vision and realistic plan on how to get to where we want to go. Is everybody on this board, leadership, and the community committed to a natty and becoming the premier football school in the state in 10 years? I would invest in that. Where are we rowing to long term realistically?

Um....UCF has 9 four star recruits this class and might have a top 25 recruiting class. We have a solid class coming in but it's currently ranked about 60ish... talent gap is about to become really wide. Also their annual TV money alone is more than all our major corporate donations combined. Need that invite to a power conference in the next few years. 

I was talking to a friend today who has a daughter at usf and she said that the students and Greeks have been organizing car pools to go up to Gainesville or Orlando for the games because of the vibe and party atmosphere. They also have famous DJs and music artists playing the tailgate lots. Hard for USF to compete with that at the  level of football that the school plays in. Where I live in South Carolina, the students of the citadel and Charleston Southern go to the USC and Clemson games on the weekend. Those smaller schools still get 5-10k through the turnstiles and they are happy with that. I just think that's the reality of where we are until we can regularly play big time ranked opponents at home and generate an atmosphere that can compete. Until then, I expect weekly threads complaining about attendance. 

I know of a couple of central Florida USF alums, that I used to go to games with, went to the UCF OK. State game. We are no longer talking. Lol. I'm just worried that with 4 teams in state playing big time ball that we might continue to see that happen. It's the same way in South carolina where I live. If you go to a smaller school, you make the trip to see the Gamecocks or clemson on Saturdays. 

3 minutes ago, puc86 said:

We are playing in the sub minors, we have not been in a conference this bad since- ever. Trying to compare maybe going .500 in this conference with being successful is laughable and most people’s issues are with where we are more so than what’s going on while we are here. We aren’t teenage mutant ninja turtles and no one wants to win the sewer, they want out.

100% I'll be bought back in one we are out. I think a lot of fans have that sentiment. Now we need to win and build to get there, but many are in a wait and see pattern and as soon as we get the call up, the support will be back. 

The game was against temple... can't expect many students to show up to a glorified scimmage at noon on a Saturday...

I mean, the difference is the ceiling of the two programs. UCF's ceiling is playing for national championships and national relevance. With the lsat round of realignment, the sentiment is that we could be permanently relegated to a novelty product. Now we can work to be the best novelty product out there, but unless we get into a conference with some real money quickly, our ceiling will remain pretty low. 

I think USF has about 7k people that will be at the games no matter what. 7k-10k seems to be about our average home actual attendance recently. 

I've always been of the opinion that you have to play the best to be the best. It's a rebuilding year under a new coach so I get it. However, personally I would rather play good teams and lose to them than play cupcakes and win. We're a large school with lofty ambitions. Fear nobody. 

Yeah, I don't think this can be blamed on Orlando. We have FCS level talent in defense and it shows. Need to recruit some dogs.

If CAG can get the best recruiting class in the G5 this year, that will be major. He's on pace for that this year. Win the conference next year and I would like to see him land some 4 stars for 2025 and out recruit FSU and UF on a few guys to build upon the momentum and set the stage for a natty run in a few years. It's time to be who we say we are and if we eventually want to be a national championship contender, you need to start winning recruitment battles with the big boys in state. That's where it starts. 

Defensive has improved significantly. They were one of the worst defenses in d1 college football history last year. This year they are like 120 best... that's a huge leap. I don't see how people on this board can't see that?

6 hours ago, olafberserker said:

think junior high 

Junior high will kill us! Hopefully we have some middle schools on there. 

I know that UCF is playing more exciting teams and has a better game day atmosphere, but I still can't bring myself to go to UCF games... seems wrong. 

36 minutes ago, Bull Matrix said:

Plus Army bring in more fans than SMU does. SMU fan support just flat out sucks. Sure they have donors but if is embarrassing to watch their home games with little fan support 

I think you just described the American conference... empty stadiums and little fan support. 

I don't think money has been the issue at USF. Plenty of fans have and are willing to donate even more. You just can't keep a terrible return on investment ratio and expect to keep the donation energy high. Winning + better conference+ in the national discussion for championships = money. It's a simple as that. 

6 minutes ago, olafberserker said:

Army lost to UMass today.  Why are we supposed to be excited about them joining the aac?

Are we excited... we're just adding another bottom 30ish team to a collection of bottom 30ish teams. Maybe they have good TV ratings?

The former AAC teams this year just price that USF needs to really hit the recruiting trail hard if they want to get to a power conference and be successful there. Golesh needs to start flipping some UF and FSU 4 star recruits if he plans on getting to the national championship level like he says. We need much better talent. 

Any win is a good win. Much better than a loss. Still, barely beating a team that might be the worst in D1 is a bit lackluster. USF has proven this year that they have gone from being the worst or near the worst the last 3 years to now just being a bottom 30ish team, so improvement has been made.  

In all fairness, I have never once criticised another board member personally, called them stupid, or made any rude remark towards another USF fan since I joined the board in 2006. Even when I would talk smack on other boards, I kept it to the school, their traditions, coaches, and players. I have the utmost respect for USF fans which I consider brothers. We all deserve better.

Sure, if I could have predicted the future, I would have probably chose a different school because going to a school that competes at the highest levels of college football was and is important to me. I expected to come back as an alum to large crowds, lots of Gameday energy and cheer on my Bulls as we built towards the ultimate goal of a national championship. I have bled green and gold and told other fans on here to lighten up over the years when they have been on the edge.

I had to admit to myself that what we have become is depressing to me personally and that is an optional depression in my life. I actually like Golesh and what he is doing. My reaction wasn't for just one game. My vitriol has been building towards USF athletics for some time. I've sat through plenty of embarrassing losses and continued to support this program. It just looks like we're stuck in a position with a very low ceiling and barring some luck in realignment, that's where we may remain indefinitely. That's just not what I want out of an athletic team that I support. I hope not, but that is something time will tell. Good luck to the program and the fans. I really truly do have the utmost respect for the fans and supporters of the program. 

Yep. I think I've put in enough with this program to vent. From my perspective,  I came to usf for a degree and BIGTIME college football. I got the degree but lost the bigtime college football. I enjoy the trash talking and big games. That's why I made my name bullcocky. I would go on opposing fans message boards and talk smack because it made the games seem to matter more. That kind of died with the program.  I used to be bullcocky101, but I lost the password and couldn't recover it for some reason.

They can make fun of me if they want to. I really don't care. I listen to and like the podcast. I just sat down and thought to myself about the enjoyment that I get out of our games. Maybe that's from my economics background. I get about +50 enjoyment from winning a p5 game and 0 from losing one. I get about +1 enjoyment from beating trash league opponents and about -25 from losing to them. For me, the season has become a one game season. Lose that and I need USF to win out in league play and hopefully play another p5 team in a bowl to get enjoyment out of the season.

All these games against trash teams in empty stadiums just feel like practice for next year's p5 game to me, so it's not really worth it much anymore. I get that we shouldn't call these league teams trash because we're trash, but that just adds to my point.

Different people have different evaluations I understand, but for me, I want to follow a team that competes at the highest level. That's what makes this enjoyable to me personally. If we can get back to that, I will be all in again. I might still watch the Alabama game next year...I don't know. Every game just feels like a funeral march and it's kind of sad to me. Judge how you will. 

24 minutes ago, Triple B said:

You may be able to change the thread title, or I can if you like ...

 

Why? I am done with the university until they announce membership in a power conference. I canceled my TV subscription and my seats will go unused the rest of the year. I am still jumping mad at the university and feel defrauded. Coming out of high school, I had my pick of in state schools. I wanted to go to a school with a big time football program and great Gameday atmosphere and when i came back as an alum to be able to do the same. Weighing my options, UF, FSU, and USF all had great academics, big time college football, and good game day atmosphere. USF won the tie breaker by being located in a great city compared to g-ville and Tallassee. People in this board always make excuses but those are for losers as Golesh says. USF has advantages over our other peer schools. I'm wondering if students who attended certain years can bring a class action? 

You are your mentality. USF's peers in the state should be UF and FSU. What would those programs do after getting destroyed by UAB and FAU? what would they do after three years and three total wins? I'm not sure, but I doubt that they would still have their AD... maybe some riots. Lol. 

7 minutes ago, USFBulls727 said:

No doubt, but for a first year Coach who's trying to get his players to buy-in, can't think of a worse scenario than a 42 point loss to a 2-3 FAU team who had their backup QB in there. The other scenarios listed may at least have given the feeling that we're close to turning the corner...that we would just have to learn to close out games. Getting stomped by FAU doesn't give that feeling.

Yeah, I just left that game thinking that we had gotten passed by FAU and that USF getting into a power conference was a pipe dream and what's the point anymore. Not what I wanted out of a homecoming experience.

7 hours ago, WoolyBully said:

I would say the 35 unanswered points scored by FAU at USF's homecoming in 2023 constitutes the worst way to lose. Losses are one thing, beat downs are quite another. Especially at marquee games like homecoming.  Losses are expected - by this program at this point in time - but it's not like we were playing Ohio State or Washington. This was our peer: FAU. 

Being considered peers with FAU and then getting beat down by them at homecoming. 0 pride left in the tank. I just tell people that I went to college in Florida. Otherwise college football comes up and that conversation is too painful.