GarySJ

Cee is right, as are others (like MikeG) who've tried to advise caution in the face of this opponent.

The Canes, like them or not, have a long history of destroying very good teams. They will not be fazed by anything USF throws at them. Their defense is FAST FAST FAST, kinda like we looked against UofL, except all the time. As incredibly meaningful as a win would be, we must acknowledge that it would be a major upset, even bigger than UofL was.

This is also a big game for the Big East. The league's new Florida power ;D needs to be competitive with the old one, or the Big East-bashing will get louder. Especially if the WVU-Va Tech, FAU-Louisville, and FSU-Syracuse games go poorly.

As much as we'd all love to win this game, we may need to be satisfied with a good showing.

They probably want to make sure we don't school them first before they schedule the return trip.  Wusses.

That is not Miami's track record at all. Let's be fair here.

cough cough ANDRE JOHNSON cough cough

Seems to me the team that is full of itself-- at least from a fan perspective is ours.

I agree.

Perhaps it is to USF's disadvantage that Miami's next two opponents are Duke and Temple. No 'lookahead' or 'sandwich game' here.

Also, Amarri Jackson is the lead story on CBS Sportsline college football page:

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/8899315

People on the field are being arrested for trespass... so law enforcement officers have every right to use force against them... they can sue for damages if they believe the police abused their force (see King, Rodney)

You know, that's the bottom line to all this. We can bicker all day about the Great College Tradition of Field Storming : but the facts remain that:

A. Fans aren't allowed on the field at RJS.

B. Police/security at RJS has the right to detain fans who violate rule A.

C. If police/security at RJS oversteps its bounds in the process of enforcing rule A, the fans have legal recourse.

If there is anything to these claims of police brutality, it'll turn up in the legal system soon enough.

It could have been worse. Some time in the past they could have referred to UCF as "Tampa's winless college football team."

But yeah, it is ridiculous that national media would get such simple facts wrong.

YES it is tradition

No, it's not.

According to Merriam Webster (jeezus, I can't believe I have to cite the freaking dictionary on this) the definition of "tradition" that best fits this situation is "a mode of thought or behavior followed by a people continuously from generation to generation; a custom or usage."

The reference to the 29-29 Yale-Harvard tie proves my point perfectly. That was one of the greatest games in college football history, in a heated rivalry, and I think it also decided an Ivy League title. Running onto the field was not a "tradition", it was a spontaneous act brought about by the amazing circumstances the crowd witnessed. If they did it every game, or every year, you might have a point. But as it is, you don't.

Field-charging isn't any more a tradition in college football than fan fistfights are a tradition at NBA games.

and yes it is gonna happen

No, it's not. I've seen plenty of cases where field-storming was not allowed, and the fans complied.

And aside from very very very very rare instances it's harmless

No, injuries in this sort of thing are not rare, much less "rare" with a number of verys in front of it. Any time you have a large number of uncontrolled, fired-up individuals, the potential for trouble and injury is large. Don't make me post a list.

so either accept this fun yet harmless activity or don't allow the games to happen on your property.

This is like saying, "either accept graffiti, or don't build walls." Give me a break. You start with the assumption that you're going to do whatever you feel like doing, and if the rightful owners of the property that gets damaged in the process don't like it, it's some kind of personality flaw on their part. This is childish, self-centered thinking.

I guess where I'm going with this is that when we know something will occur then a little prudence is in order.

I agree. When the stadium policy says stay off the field, you should stay off the field.

Currently the SEC has deals with the BCS, Outback, Citrus, Cotton, Peach, Independence, Music City, and Houston bowls. The Liberty would make nine if they keep all the others.

sorry but I have to disagree, I'm nearly 40 and I've been seeing every media outlet showcase this tradition as long as I can remember. It isn't until recently that there has been ANY indication that it may be wrong and that generally had to do with property destruction only. Shoot even the field storming event that took place with the teams still playing was broadcast on the news with total glee.

What does that have to do with what I said? Yes, it makes the news, because it's compelling video... especially when fights break out or people get trampled, which happens a lot. The fact that it makes the news doesn't give you an inalienable right to do it.

And you're blind if you haven't noticed that the occurence of the phenomenon has gone up about 1000% in recent years. When the University of Missouri football team gets field-stomped three times in one season, it's happening too often.

Who knows, maybe the authorities would be a little more lenient about it in rare and glorious occasions, if it weren't for the chuckleheads who want to do it every single game.

I don't think you guys have a case here. As mentioned earlier in the thread, an event ticket is essentially a contract. I'd bet money that if you read the fine print, you'll find a line to the effect of "holder agrees to submit to stadium security."

the thing is this has been tradition for students to do forever. If anything we now live in a society where nobody can have any fun anymore without fear of breaking some rule or law or just offending or pissing someone off. We all talk about the "college" environment of games...well guess what? This is a MAJOR part of the college environment and one that I would bet many of those making the rules had a chance to enjoy in their day. This has nothing to do with "looking at me" or "entitlement" it has everything to do with be a part of the celebration, and maybe even more acurately being a part of tradition. These are peers of those on the field and this means friends and family and is it such a stretch to understand? You want to stop this? fine call the news channels, sports channels, papers and make sure they don't show these types of actions anymore. Contact those companies that put together histories on sports and have them remove references and clips of field storming, shoot we bring kids up seeing the joy and fun involved in the tradition then cry about it when they want to join in with comments like...well they knew they were breaking the law. What they know is that they are doing exactly what their parents, grandparents and fans in every school has been doing for decades and have been showcased from nearly every media outlet to show great team support with OUT getting beaten to a pulp for it.

You couldn't possibly be more wrong about this.

Running on the field is not a "tradition" anywhere. Until recently, it's been a very rare occurence, something that happened only after the most glorious of victories. And when it did happen it was spontaneous, not premeditated.

To claim that you can't celebrate or participate in tradition without committing trespass is childish and absurd.

FAU has had a hard time stopping the run. Michael Bush is going to have a big game.

That would give the SEC nine bowl tie-ins. Good deal for CUSA if true.

True that.

If anyone should feel slighted it is USF.  USF was kept out of the conference and was 4-0 against C-USA teams in 2002, yet was shut out of the bowls because of slightly above .500 teams from CUSA.

That's not quite fair. They didn't just arbitrarily do this, the bowl slots in question were contracted before the season started. CUSA was also active in reserving the Hawaii bowl slot for USF, if the qualifiers fell through. They did not have to do this, but did so on our behalf. Unfortunately for us, Cincinnati beat East Carolina in the season finale to be the last qualifier.

The real travesty of that season was the Seattle Bowl's demand that we pay them $1 million in exchange for a bowl invitation. The NCAA should have pulled their certification on the spot. Or at least passed rules prohibiting bowl games from extorting from NCAA member institutions.

As it turned out, the Seattle Bowl invited Wake Forest instead of us... you know, since they have a viable fan base for football and we don't. Not surprisingly, the Seattle Bowl (which was in financial trouble anyway) went defunct shortly thereafter. I made a really bitter Photochop cartoon out of that whole situation, but I never posted it.

Hell, what were we supposed to do say "No Big East, CUSA has been so good to us we want to stay"?

You're right about that. First they didn't want us to join, then they got mad at us for leaving.

Well, I think the downward trend has been reversed. After the ugly 2004 season, the situation could have continued to deteriorate, or it could have turned around. Clearly, it has turned around.

Not just because of the huge UofL win, but if you'll notice, USF football players are doing the little things right again. Last year the team was missing blocks, taking bad tackling angles, and bickering with itself. No more of that. It is now clear that the losing season in 04 was the aberration, not the trend.

There is one word that all of you are forgetting....LIABILITY!!!!!

I don't care who is running an on campus stadium.  There is WAY too much liability involved by letting students run on the field.  Mark my words, if an on campus stadium ever sees the light of day, you won't be running your ass on it unless you're sprinting away from the U.P.

Funny how you think that just because the university would run the facility that they'll let a bunch of chuckleheads have free reign over the field.  Utterly unbelievable.  One day you'll get it, one day.

Correct, and well said.

You can't take them too seriously, they've all got a serious case of Conference Envy. If you've noticed, NCUSA Football isn't exactly setting the world on fire. UTEP is the only team doing anything. (Though we must cut Tulane and USM some slack, given the Hurricane Katrina situation.)

I liked the guy who said "USF had so many first downs against UCF that I went to McDonald's after the game." That was pretty funny.

Louisville has a lot to work on, and is going to be in a bad mood after the USF game.

FAU just lost at home to Louisiana-Monroe, one of the worst teams in I-A, and were mostly uncompetitive against Minnesota, Oklahoma State, and Kansas.

On the plus side for FAU, Loud Howard is still revered in Louisville, so the Cards may show some restraint once they get up by 5 touchdowns.

Discuss.

If people could only root for the school they attend, nobody would root for Miami.

In the "CFN 119", USF jumped from #90 last week to #37.

STK is a coward and a fool.

Congrats to UCF on getting the win. Also, style points for doing it against  overrated, faux-elitist Marshall.