USFDan

I think Dimel would be a great hire. He currently is just a Grad Assistant at KSU. Maybe we bring him in as rb coach and promote Franks. Either way Dimal and Franks running the show together would be huge. I don't see either as long term here. They both might one day leave to be an OC or HC at another program.

You think that's bad? How about $8 for a beer at the Trop. It takes a minimum of 3-4 beers there to even sit through those minor league games.

Well that will make my wife happy. He was the only reason I wanted to see the spring game. Thankfully it is on tv.

I'm kinda looking forward to the good ole days when the Bucs sucked and tickets could be had for $5. Maybe that will help attendance at USF games. I remember before the Bucs moved into RJS that talk radio had a ton of college airtime. Gator, Noles, Canes all calling in all the time. Not much to talk about with the Bucs. Then the Bucs exploded and now that is all talk radio is. I hoping the Bucs talk is replaced with college talk, including a lot of the home team USF.

http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2005/4/6/77139.html Not sure if it's been posted yet or not.

I'm not saying PJ will improve, I'm just saying he was a sophmore and many a player have made strides between being a soph and being a jr. I remember being very worried that Swift was going to be running the point and he raised the level of his game. What I really hope is that Denson plays like a player with his accolades and leads us to a bowl. But I won't be disappointed if PJ does improve enough to be the man. He has the physical tools to be great, just needs to learn the mental part of the game which comes with maturity.

Why is so disturbing that Julmiste may be hanging onto the starting job? He will only be a junior. I am willing to bet that there are many QB's that went on to star who were not very good as fr and soph. How many other Bulls in other positions blossomed as they matured? How about bball and Leather? After his soph did anyone see him being this good? Or how about McDonald? I have faith in our coaches in their ability to develop talent. Banks problem was that he was so slow and we didn't have the horses in front to give him enough time and he lost his confidence. He skills didn't fit what was needed at the position at that time. Julmiste, who wasn't supposed to see the field except in cleanup duty, was thrust into the line up. 2005 was supposed to be his year to compete for the starting job. Let him compete. I'm better at my job now than I was last year or the year before. I make better decisions based on my experience. I see the same for him. Now with that said, I am hoping that Denson is the answer. Wasn't he one of the top QB's out of high school a couple of years ago? If he has that kind of skill I only hope that he has built on it and can be one of the top Qb's in the Big East right away. But I will support Julmiste if he wins the job as that will say a lot about how he is improving.

Well if they start paying players we will definitely be on the outside looking again. Where will USF find the money to pay players? We don't sell enough tickets, we don't compare to a lot of the upper tier of teams in donations, and we don't have the viewership to command bigger TV contracts. If they start paying players then about 30-40 teams will comprise D1-A and the rest along with USF will be D1-AA. I believe this even if the pay is only $100 month. The courts will never allow the football team to be paid without paying the women's soccer players as well.

BullTerp if you are looking for a partner to split the donation with I may be interested. How many tickets do you have?

I haven't seen it mentioned but would he be eligible to apply for a sixth year? With two major injuries and a lot of missed time would he not be a candidate? If not, I've seen it mentioned on here that he would play one year of football. With his style of play,a disregard for his own personal safety, he might be a lot of fun to watch. I hope he gets on the field.

I wonder if all of his talent as a coach will end up over here.

My take is: 1. UofL - Top notch QB in Brohm 2. Pitt - Another good QB  3. WVU - They signed one of the top RB's in the nation  4. USF - May be wishful thinking, but I see major  improvements on both sides of the ball. 5. Rutgers - Will they finally make a move? 6. Cuse - New coach, new system.  Look out in 2006. 7. UConn - ???? 8. Cincinnati - Losing everyone, including the waterboy.

How do you figure? We drew like 13,000 for Fiesta Bowl bound Pitt. UCF drew like 10 people to their games last year. 13,000 + 10 = 13010 if we are lucky for UCF. If we are having an average season then 33,000 for WVU. More if we doing great and less (see Pitt game) if we suck. I agree FAMU will be the best attended game of the season.

I say momma knows best. If she says USF then it's USF, If she say LSU, then never mind.

How many years of eligiblity in football does he have? He played 2 years of basketball at HCC so he should have 2 years left in that sport unless he redshirts then he will have three. Does he have three years left for football?

Did you go to Saturday's game? If not, how can you be on the spirit and traditions committee and not attend the games. I guess it is already a tradition to not show up at the games. I ask this because according to the time of your post you were bailing on the game.

FAMU - 33,000 - They bring 5K-10K FAMU alumni to the game. UCF - 28,000 - They bring around 3k fans to game if we are lucky. They don't even go to their own games in Orlando, why should an away game in Tampa be any different? WVU - 41,000+ - First sell out. Name team brings out casual college football fan. UL - 41,000+ - 2nd sell out. UL made a name for themselves this past season and should start the season ranked pretty high. They also bring 3K-5K fans. UC - 20,000 - 35,000 - Depends on how our season is going. If we are losing then we will be lucky if 20K show. 35K max if we are winning. UC is a nobody as far as casual fan is concerned. Average 33,000

Don't forget that PJ was only a sophmore. If he can continue to learn and develop there is no reason why he can't be a decent QB for us. Give him time. I would guess that a lot of college players at any position don't get to be the starter until their Jr. or Sr. years. That means that they get 2-3 years to develop. I think that PJ improved from last year to this year and I still believe that PJ has a shot at becoming a better QB over the next 2 years. I guess time will tell.

Yeah and all that talent wants to play for a BCS team. We will be, starting next year. We are now just getting on these kids radars. I'm sorry but if I was a kid that was highly ranked, I would want to play for a team that is in a BCS conference not a team that is I-AA, I-A transition, or a brand new member of CUSA. I'm going to one of the Big 3 or to Purdue, North Carolina, NC State, Pitt, WVU, etc..

One more year? He hasn't even had a chance to recruit guys under the Big East flag. I would assume that coaches start recruiting kids in their Junior years. That means this years class is Levitt's first crack at kids (last year he only had a couple of months, not two years). Let's face it, the top 50 kids the country are not coming to USF right now. That means this next round of kids will probably need to redshirt and gain experience for a couple of years. Look at Mike Jenkins, I think he is a redshirt freshman who was heavily recruited and he was not ready to start yet. I don't blame the coaches, we have risen faster than anyone's recruiting can keep up with. It will take a few years of recruiting and developing before we are truely a BCS caliber team. There are not many true freshman, or redshirt freshman for that matter, that can step on the field and perform at the level you guys are expecting. The few that can are not coming here. We are having growing pains right now. It's like the kid who grows from 5'5 to 6'5 in one year that is awkward and uncoordinated until he gets used to his height and grows into his body. We have grown up division and conference wise and it will take time to grow into our new program. Give it a few years. I guess I'm the only one who doesn't think it is our God given right to have a Top 5 program built overnight. Hell we may never get there. I hope we do, but there are only a handful of teams that are where you guys think we should be. And 100 teams that will never get to where you think we should be. I for one will enjoy the ride, it will make the destination that more satisfying.

Please you guys no concept of reality. We had a bad season, so what? Let see, our seniors only started with us in I-AA, watched us move to I-A, watched us move to CUSA, and now to the Big East. ::)What the hell has Levitt been doing? He should have been recruiting and landing the best players in America 6 years ago to get us into position to win the National Championship next year. What a piss poor coach and recruitor he must be. : It takes time for our recruiting to catch up to the rise from I-AA to the Big East. Levitt hasn't even had a full year yet to recruit BCS caliber players for a BCS team. Once we get these BCS caliber recruits it will take a few years for them to develop and mature. We are looking at at least 3-4 years before we can complain. We are not Notre Dame, FSU, UF etc. that already has BCS talent on the roster and can fire a coach after 3 years of not being a Top 5 team. If you expect any different you should be watching the Pro game instead where there is more parity and offseason free agency that can transform teams form bottom dwellers to the Super Bowl in one season.

Don't forget that this was the home opener that was cancelled a few days before kickoff and a lot of tickets have already been sold. That doesn't mean a lot of people will show up, but the tickets have been sold.

I think the next 2-3 years are upgrading years versus rebuilding years. Remember we have guys on our team that we recruited when we were I-AA and I-A transitional without even being in CUSA yet let alone thought of moving to a BCS conference. Even this past class of recruits was originally recruited with CUSA in mind, we didn't find out about Big East until late in the recruiting game. I view this coming class as the 1st BCS recruiting class. We have to give our staff a couple of years of recruiting at this level.

I think this is something we'll have to face for a long time and we will not be alone: Long also said games against Division I-AA opponents will count toward bowl eligibility every season if some NCAA legislation is passed. That means Pitt fans can probably expect to have I-AA teams on the schedule almost every year. "I can tell you that a number of high-powered schools are excited about that, and they're excited to get those I-AA schools on the schedule," Long said. "I think that's something our fans have to get used to. There's not enough games to go around without those I-AA games."

I think WVU requested this so they can come to Florida each year. 2005 at USF and 2006 at UCF.