USFFan

Gary -- The Big 12 already has 6 bowl-eligible teams (Oklahoma, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, & Colorado) so I can't see Houston having two open slots - especially with 3 teams from Texas available.

The Champs Sports (formerly Tangerine) bowl may be open, if Iowa State can't win two more games, and I agree with you that it would be a GREAT bowl game for USF.

Don't forget that Texas has an outstanding chance of still gaining a BCS bid.  They're currently #5 in the standings.  That could open up a slot right there.  

A Colorado win would eliminate Nebraska, and it's not a stretch to imagine both Missouri and Iowa State failing to qualify - especially if it's true that Iowa State won't be able to qualify at 6-5 because of using a I-AA win within the last four years.  

There's still also the prospects that the North Division winner finishes the regular season at 6-5, loses to Oklahoma and then falls to 6-6, which I've also read (but not seen confirmed) would make them ineligible for a postseason bowl bid.  

It just gets curiouser and curiouser...

USFFan

Such matchups are nice to think about, but let's be realistic: a matchup of #3 ACC vs #2 NBE is just not that appealing when other NYD bowls have the Big Ten, SEC, and Big XII.

If it were played this year, the Gator Bowl would be the UofL-WVU loser versus the Virginia/Va Tech winner. Both teams would be ranked about #20, and would have medium-sized fan bases. Meanwhile, you've got Wisconsin-Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl, or even Iowa-Georgia in the Outback.

The Gator has got to be looking for some kind of upgrade here.

#1, I think the Gator Bowl people were involved in getting the ACC championship game to Jacksonville.  You reap what you sow.  

#2, your assumption of FSU/Miami may not be accurate.  Right now, FSU is on the outside looking in.  Who knows what will happen in the future.  

#3, if you were right, the Gator would jump on Virginia Tech.  They travel very well.  A VT/Notre Dame match-up (which I think is what will happen this year anyway) will more than hold its own on New Years Day.  

#4, TV sets are important, too.  I don't think there are that many more TV's in Wisconsin watching the Badgers play than TV's in New York watching Syracuse or TV's in Pennsylvania watching Pitt.  

USFFan

Well, both Colorado and Nebraska are 5-4, and they play each other ... so one of them will have to be 6-5 before the Big 12 Championship game, which means if they beat Oklahoma, then they would be 7-5, not 6-6.

It's mathematically impossible for the Big 12 Champion to be any worse than 7-5.  Sorry.

You're correct, but, let's say that Nebraska wins the North at 6-5, and Colorado also finishes at 6-5.  Colorado is assured a bowl bid because they're bowl eligible, but Nebraska might very well eliminate themselves from bowl contention by losing the conference championship game.  Kind of a crappy situation to be in, don't you think?

USFFan

Come on, our first bowl game, like we would not travel well?  It's a pretty big deal, no matter who we play, b/c it's our first time.  

Two problems.  The first is that we've never proven that we travel well.  Remember it would be UAB's first trip, too.  

Second, unless we sweep our remaining games, we'll go into that last game vs. Pittsburgh at 5-5 (likely what Pitt's record will be, too).  That means that bowls won't know whether we're going to be eligible until after December 4.  In all likelihood, they'll have made other arrangements before then.  

USFFan

6-6 makes them bowl eligible, and Music City or Motor City will take a 6-6 Big Ten team over a mid-major team any day.  I think Northwestern gets there, but Michigan State won't.

Having just read that Hawaii article, I don't know how important this is, but the Motor City Bowl has a Big East tie in the event that the Big Ten doesn't have an eligible team.  Not sure, but I'd bet that a 6-5 Big East team would have to be taken over a 6-6 Big Ten team.  

USFFan

Jim,

Having just written one of these things myself, keep in mind that both Northwestern and Michigan State play 12 games this year, so finishing 6-6 puts them in a very precarious situation...

USFFan

exactly Usfd... va and va tech.. both have acc in their own hand... everyone else needs help.

I disagree about Miami.  If they win out, they will hand Virginia and Virginia Tech their 2nd conference losses of the year, which would mean that the conference champions will have two losses.  Furthermore, Miami will have then beaten any of the teams with two losses (FSU, Virginia or Va. Tech), so they would win the conference outright.  

USFFan

Good grab.  Finally a "true" home town star coming to USF.  What's it been...8-9 yrs since Jesse Salters was on the Sun Dome's Court.  USF should always have a kid in the lineup from Pinellas, Hillsborough & Polk.  At least two outa the three counties.  They produce enuff talent.

He may not have been the most popular Bull, but BB Waldon was as highly regarded coming out of high school as Cann is.  For that matter, Altron Jackson wasn't far behind.

USFFan

You never know who to root for at this point of the season. We were all psyched in 2002 when Ole Miss beat the Gators, but that probably ended up costing us a bowl game (Ole Miss wouldn't have qualified otherwise).

Besides, we should be TAKING bowl bids, not sitting around hoping for mediocre teams like Houston to lose so we can backdoor an forced invite at 6-5.

Frankly, I don't care how we get into a bowl, so long as we get there.  If that means rooting for all of the other competition to get eliminated, then that's what I'm rooting for.  Right now, we're in for a bunch of nailbiters the rest of the way.  I truly believe we can beat every team on our schedule, but we're also capable of losing to every one of them.  Therefore, I'm hoping for all the help we can get.  

USFFan

I don't know about the rest of you guys. I hope Houston kicks the **** out of Southern Miss thursday night.

If you want to see USF go to a bowl game, you essentially need to have no extra teams eligible to go to a bowl.  That means that Houston, ECU, Cincinnati, Army, Tulane and probably one other school need to have at least 6 losses.  Therefore, go Southern Miss - help eliminate the Cougars!

USFFan

Okay -- I read the play by play on GoUSFBulls.com and I was wrong.

My guess is that the holding occurred before USF took possession - I don't recall how the kick played out, but if it bounced or took a few seconds for the returner to catch it, it's possible.  If that is the case, then the penalty would be enforced from the previous spot - i.e. the 35 yard line.

As for enfocement of the out-of-bounds...

From the rulebook:

Yes, I knew about the out-of-bounds rule, but I've never seen a blocking foul enforced as a re-kick.  

USFFan

USF didn't hold on that kick, they were offsides.  TCU had the option of taking the result of the return (which was like the 30 yard line) or rekicking from the 40 instead of the 35.  Obviously TCU had thought they could stop USF short of the 30, or they would not have re-kicked the ball.  When it went out of bounds, the USF penalty actually gave us a positive five-yards.

The penalty was not announced as offsides, it was either a hold or a block in the back.  It was marked off as a 10 yard penalty, and TCU kicked from the 45 yard line.  He then kicked it out of bounds, which is why USF took over on the 25 (not the 30) after the kick.  

USFFan

If you are referring to the 2 TCU kickoffs out of bounds and the confusion on where to spot the ball - the refs got it right both times.

The ball is not automatically spotted at the 35 - the rule reads that it is spotted x yards from the point of kickoff.  Because of the Bulls penalty on the first kickoff, the ball was correctly spotted at the 25.  

I thought they had that part right, but why was the previous kickoff rekicked when USF was guilty of holding (I believe, may have been a block in the back) on the previous kick-off?  That is supposed to be a 10 yard penalty from the spot of the foul and USF takes possession.  I've never seen that rekicked before.  

USFFan

the new ad can come in and fire him that would be great for moral seeing the coaches did not choose woolard as their # 1 for the ad spot

Um, do you think that article in the newspaper was good for moral (sic)?  If he wanted new facilities, he should have gone to the incoming AD and politely asked instead of effectively painting him into a corner.  Now if he capitulates it tells everybody that the way to be successful is to cry to the media.  If he doesn't, he's the guy who chased away a loyal employee of 20 years.  It's a lose/lose situation, and all because Erikson showed incredibly poor judgement.  Welcome to USF, Mr. Woolard.  

USFFan

I didn't say that Erikson is the root of all evil, and frankly I would like for him to stay and be happy at USF.  My big beef with him is that he decided to take this public on the eve of the NCAA regional.  For starters, he could/should have gone to Woolard and given Woolard a chance to address his concerns before pissing and moaning to the Tampa Tribune.  Second, he shouldn't be taking the focus of the team away from the task at hand by having them think about how unhappy he is at USF.  Especially in light of the team's relatively poor performance in the conference tournament.  If you truly believe that USF was the third best team in this conference then you are in the minority.  Look no further than the NCAA.  USF was the highest seeded team from Conference USA in the regionals.  

Let me reiterate that I would prefer that this guy stay here and be happy.  However, I also want to be clear that while he's done a good job, he didn't build softball at USF.  Hildred Deese won a national championship here when we were still playing slow pitch softball, and she was the one who oversaw USF's move to fast pitch.  She was the one who hired Erikson in the first place.  No coach (not even Leavitt) is above the university, so besmirching the same university in the press could and perhaps should be considered insubordination.  It certainly shows a lack of judgement and common sense.  

USFFan

this guy needs to be rewarded for his loyalty first with an increse in pay 50% at least and a new facility and i would say before a baseball stadium. IMO

Attention Eric Soncrant,

Please contact bulls96go, as he's interested in making a considerable donation to the athletic department in order to help give Ken Erikson a 50% raise and to build a new softball facility.  

No, bulls96go, Ken Erikson is the EGG HEAD of the month for taking his temper tantrum to the media instead of giving the new AD a chance to even so much as unpack his boxes before having to deal with a prima donna who, by the way, choked in a conference tournament where the top 2 seeds had already been relegated to the losers bracket.  Erikson didn't build this team, Hildred Deese did.  What's more, no person is bigger than the program.  Go ask Perri Hankins whether it was a great idea to go on a public tirade against the athletic administration.  

The long and the short of it is that our coaches shouldn't be airing their dirty laundry in public, and most of them need to start taking care of business on the field instead of spending time on the phone with Brett McMurphy.  

USFFan

you offer what as proof he was hands on in football?

further the BCS was not in existance at the time.

did he win a NC or play in a NC game?

was the team ranked top 10 in his tenure?

if he was so **** good at football why go to a school that had none?

look i am not being critical of woolard per se, i do wish the man well he is managing a school i love.. but don't come on this board pretending he is god's freaking gift to mankind, ok!

Out of curiosity, how much experience at managing a school's football program did Lee Roy Selmon have when he took over the reins at USF?  

Did you know that Florida State's AD (Dave Hart) didn't have BCS experience prior to moving to Tallahassee?  They hired him from East Carolina.  

For that matter, take a look at Jeremy Foley's resume.  The man has never held a position in sports prior to rising through the ranks in Gainesville.  

Nobody knows for sure whether Woolard will do a great job.  But I've been thrilled with the work of his two predecessors, and neither came in with the credentials that he has.  

USFFan

if you mean have her pitching overhand, I HIGHLY doubt she would hit the 80's.  One, it is a completely different motion and arm usage from underhand to overhand.  Two, no offense, but she is a girl.  Many guys would have problems breaking into the 80's.  

This is very true.  I grew up playing baseball and even pitched some (although not by the time I reached high school).  I did play catcher for years, though, and I have a decent enough arm.  A couple of years ago I was at the Oakland A's Fan Appreciation day (held in the offseason right before spring training starts).  They had a booth with a radar gun for everybody to try pitching into.  There were a bunch of high schoolers there clearly hoping to get noticed mixed in with the kids, and I took my son and we both got in line.  Long story short, nobody reached 80 mph.  I threw the ball as hard as I could and reached 74.  Not sure it's a valid comparison to what they measure for pitchers (longer distance, not standing on concrete and throwing from a mound at a slightly downhill angle), but it was amazing to see that nobody sniffed 80 mph.  

USFFan

USF won 10-8 in the 14th... Nick Cardeiri won it somehow, not sure how as I stopped listening in the 13th

He hit a two run bomb over the left field fence.  He was in for Mike Macaluso, who apparently pulled his hamstring.

USFFan

Interesting that we appear to be not only the only Conference USA team in the poll, but also the only team in the new Big East (Notre Dame is gathering votes).  I like our chances of competing in the Big East in terms of all sports.  

Also, when you look at that poll, it's noteworthy that we have wins over #9 Stanford, #13 Fl*rida and #25 Baylor.  

USFFan

I don't know how much interest there is in following up on these, but you can find boards for most teams at the following sites:

http://www.ncaabbs.com/frontpage/

http://www.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=47737

There once was a great page that listed a ton of boards for every team, but I've lost the link to that page.

USFFan

http://www.usforacle.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/03/30/40697b6049514

...Neinas, 72, served as commissioner of the Big Eight Conference, which included Oklahoma, where Selmon spent four years as a dominant defensive lineman from 1971 to 1979....

No wonder the guy owns so many records, he was on the team for practically the entire decade!  

USFFan

If the Big East is removed from the BCS rotation, who will get the slot?  What other conference is more deserving?  C-USA?  Mountain West?  MAC?  WAC?  Are any of these conferences that much better than the BE that you would yank the BE BCS and give it to one of them?  I guess the bigger possibility is that they would make the BE slot and "At-large" slot.  

In my very naive (and uneducated in this matter) opinion, I just don't see it happening.

The reason why this COULD happen is that the five remaining BCS conferences would look at the remaining slot and decide that it should remain an at-large bid.  That's an extra $13 million for one of their conferences instead of going to the Big East.  In fact, one of the principal reasons why the ACC added Miami and Virginia Tech was to increase the likelihood of them getting one of the at-large bids every year.  

The only thing that I think is preventing this is the fact that knocking the Big East out of BCS status creates a situation where there are more non-BCS schools than BCS schools.  I don't think they want to lose their majority status among Division I-A football schools.  

USFFan