CyberBull

The only way bad loses become better is if they become wins in the win column. This program is past moral victories and its sad that fans have accepted mediocrity. It didn't used to be that way and I am not sure why a BigEast program should hang on "moral victories". No excuse for a Big East school to lose to a TAMU CC caliber program.

please can we delete smazza instead?

Loved the outcome of the game and Dreamland BBQ. road signs were terrible... I was disheartened to hear what happened at 5 Points. I was also appalled that stadium security did nothing to stop USF and ECU students from nearly coming to blow early in the game. I can understand bowl promoters wanting to seat both teams on the same side of the stadium but the lack of security was shameful. Similarly, what was the deal with selling cases of miller light?

oh btw....Dreamlands BBQ sauce is just fantastic. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Great idea to put together the Friday BBQ. Met a few new Bulls fans and saw alot of familiar faces from previous road games. Thanks again!

This program has gone backwards since CRM got here and there no hope in sight other than mediocrity at best.

Yeah b/c TAMU CC is such a powerhouse >

Another great post:  building  a fanbase takes time. Its useless to get discouraged if you are already a diehard. More and more people are catching on every year. Next year should be a very good year. A great home schedule...and a tough but winnable game at Auburn. Oh btw... I think the numbers we have look at are from 2004 and 2006. 2005 attendance was based on a great home schedule However the 2004 and 2006 home schedules were very similar in terms of appeal, yet look at the numbers. Despite a similar slate we had more students in 2006 going to games. That is growth! Over 1200 more students attended games despite similar schedules. Not bad. Next year I would not be surprised if we average close to 10K students. add in 18K season tickets and we are starting the yearat ~ 28K fans w/o walkups and other team's travelling fans. Short term success for me is averaging 42K/game and getting our season ticket base to 20K which I think is very doable by 2010.

Great post Wooly... I'm going b/c I am a die-hard and my wife puts up with my obsession that is USF Athletics but otherwise I can't fault the likely 2000-3000K more fans who would have probably attended a post XMAS Day Bowl game. If USF gets about 4-5K again for the B'HAM it's not the end of the world. BTW...I am not so sure that this will permanently damage USF travelling reputation b/c the bowl system as it stands right now is living on borrowed time. There will very likely be a playoff system in place by 2010 so travelling won't be a factor in the selection process as performance on the field....which is what really matters anyways IMHO.

post of the week

I like the football idea....

Just paid for tickets....sent you an email. --CB

Exactly, a fact which is diametric to what GOL is quoted as saying, which implies that they ran from the game. Why would anyone believe what O'Leary ever said. The guy is a used car salesman, who played the Tinmen for the big con, to the tune of $10million dollars. "UCF Cluckin Knights"

Almost no need for all of the above. USF already knows its target market: 1) 14,000 plus paid season ticket holders2) 5,000 plus students who normally attend games Those 2 groups alone will probably make up 90%-95% of USF's traveling bowl crowd to Birmingham. As others noted...if most in the Tampa Bay Area won't show up to a home game at Ray Jay...why would they travel to Birmingham in late Dec? Focus on the customers you already HAVE for the Bowl Game...then focus on increasing your season tix base in Spring/Summer. I thought we had 17K season ticket holders, not 14K!?! I said PAID season tix. Yes...USF has 17k season tix...but that includes 3,100 "comp" season tix. Bowl Fans who will make a 10 hour trip each way are most likely going to be those that are diehard fans...and most of them are in your core of fans who PAY for season tix. Those 14k and 5k students are your core diehard group...and will probably make up 90%-95% of your bowl trip fan base. Focus on them to sell bowl tix. Listen to kL. Afterall he has so much experience going to bowl games since he is a UCiF fan. : Hell of a season your $1-million coach gave you guys. LOL!

Grothe got hosed! > I think Colt McCoy is worthy of the honor, but Grothe meant more to his team and led all QBs in total offense. To mix Grothe in with all the other honorable mention QB scrubs is insulting.

Count me and Mrs Cyber into your headcount.....

+2 =289

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Bulls add another RB Posted By Brett McMurphy at Dec 03, 2006 at 08:06 PM Updated Dec 03, 2006 at 08:14 PM South Sumter senior RB Richard Kelly verbally committed to USF Sunday. Kelly (6-0, 240) still plans to visit Florida State and Ole Miss, but said he’s “90 percent†set on USF. “Most likely, I’ll go to the Bulls,†Kelly said. “It’s close to home and they play in Raymond James Stadium. The coaches said depending on how hard I work, that I would get a chance to start at running back.†Kelly rushed for 1,100 yards as a senior, including 174 yards and four TDs in South Sumter’s Class 2A region semifinal against Keystone Heights on Nov. 10. “He’s a great fit for USF,†South Sumter coach Inman Sherman said. Kelly said he will visit FSU Jan. 18 and will reschedule his visit to Ole Miss. Kelly is USF’s second running back commitment in the past few days joining Boca Ciega RB Josh Bellamy. Bellamy was going to visit Western Michigan last weekend, but he said his flight was cancelled by a snow storm up north. “I guess that’s a sign,†Bellamy said. http://www.tboblogs.com/index.php/sports/comments/bulls/

I think we are driving....just hate to be on the road two days before XMAS. Oh well....

Slim chance of USF getting the Texas Bowl, however see the bolded comment below from  a Texas Bowl official.  It may all be 'talk' since the chance of USF playing their bowl is  slim, but at least they are being professional about the situation, unlike the Muffler Bowl last year which waited until the last second to grudgingly extend their bid to USF. http://www.c-n.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061127/SPORTS02/611270351/1012/SPORTS10 Bowl picture clearing up: BCS or Texas for Rutgers By KEITH SARGEANT Gannett New Jersey The Rutgers football team will clinch the Big East title and a berth in a Bowl Championship Series game with a win over West Virginia in its regular-season finale. The Scarlet Knights' likely destination would be either the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl or the Orange Bowl. A loss at West Virginia this Saturday (7:45 p.m., ESPN) would send the Scarlet Knights to the Texas Bowl on Dec. 28, according to a Rutgers official who requested anonymity Sunday night. As it turned out, West Virginia's surprising loss to South Florida on Saturday considerably cleared up the bowl picture. While the Mountaineers are out of the BCS regardless of the outcome of their game against Rutgers, a win likely would send them packing to the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1 in Jacksonville, Fla., a person familiar with the Gator Bowl committee's thinking said Sunday night. A Rutgers loss also would open the door for Louisville to capture the Big East title with a win Saturday over Connecticut. But while Louisville would go to the BCS, Rutgers would be relegated to the Big East's third-place game. In its first year of existence, the Texas Bowl pits a Big East representative against the Big 12's eighth selection (possibly Texas Tech, Kansas or Oklahoma State). "Our situation is we're going to let the season play out," Texas Bowl director David Brady said Sunday night. "There's still another week and the way this season has gone there are no guarantees, especially in the Big East, as we learned the past few weeks. "So we're going to sit back and wait to see what happens. If we get Rutgers, we'll be ecstatic. If we get Louisville or West Virginia, we'll be ecstatic. If we get South Florida or Cincinnati, we'll be ecstatic." But Brady added, "We're obviously extremely impressed with what Rutgers has done this season, and we would love to have them in the inaugural Texas Bowl." Brady said the game already has sold more than 34,000 tickets, with 14,000 going locally and a 10,000-ticket allotment guaranteed to each team. Still, that number is less than half of Reliant Stadium's 70,000-seat capacity. "Certainly Rutgers is a great national story," Brady said. "Obviously Coach (Greg) Schiano has a good reputation, and if he's not a household name, he's certainly a recognizable name. And with their running backs and the offense that they run, I think they're going to create a lot of interest for the fans down here." But with the game slated to air on the NFL Network, more than half of New Jersey's cable subscribers wouldn't get to see Rutgers finish its best season in more than a quarter-century. NFL Network is available to about 40 million cable and satellite subscribers, including Comcast and DirecTV, but Time Warner and Cablevision -- two of the state's top three cable services -- don't offer the channel to its customers. Time Warner serves parts of Bergen and Hudson counties, while Cablevision is offered to an estimated 1.5 million North Jersey and Central Jersey households. Of course, Rutgers could make all this moot by beating West Virginia. The win likely would send Rutgers packing for either Pasadena, Calif., to play in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl, Miami for the Jan. 2 Orange Bowl or New Orleans for the Jan. 3 Sugar Bowl. The Rose Bowl picks first in the bowl pecking order and, if USC beats UCLA this weekend and clinches a spot in the BCS title game against Ohio State, the committee will go scrambling to find a team to play Michigan. The Rose could choose a Michigan-Notre Dame rematch or pit the Wolverines against a two-loss SEC runner-up, but there's growing sentiment favoring the Cinderella darlings from New Jersey based on their ties to the Metropolitan television market. The Sugar, which has the SEC champion as an automatic tie-in, has the second selection. Assuming the Rose picks Michigan-Notre Dame, it's unlikely the Sugar would choose a second SEC team so that makes an 11-1 Rutgers team all the more likely to face either Florida or Arkansas. If the Rose and Sugar both pass on Rutgers, the Orange likely would welcome a matchup of Big East and ACC champions with open arms. The Fiesta Bowl picks fourth and likely will match Boise State against the Big 12 champion.

Looks like the fly in and fly out on December 23rd option through Southwest Airlines is no longer an possible. I just tried to book tickets and this is what I got....no return flights from B'Ham on December 23rd or even December 24th in the morning.

Monday Morning Quarterback CollegeFootballNews.com Want to know what coaches have really impressed me (or not) this season, and why? This will blend the realms of the obvious and not-so-obvious. Aside of Pete Carroll, Jim Tressel and Bob Stoops--who tower above their contemporaries in the coaching profession--let's look at everyone else who made an impression on the sidelines this year. First, the obvious: **** Tomey, Todd Graham, Phil Bennett, Skip Holtz, Terry Hoeppner, Doug Martin, Rick Stockskill, Frank Solich, Urban Meyer, Jim Grobe, Ron Prince, Rich Brooks and Houston Nutt deserve to be lauded. All these coaches share the distinction of being able to uproot and overturn a culture of losing that had begun to seep into their programs. Any coach who can change a negative culture at his school has done something very significant. Another set of coaches that deserves to be commended is as follows: Bill Callahan, Greg Schiano, Bronco Mendenhall, and Jim Leavitt. These four coaches deserve praise because they pulled off the particularly difficult feat of taking an already-solid program and making a leap to the next plateau. Going from seven wins to ten, or from middle-tier status in a conference to an upper-crust place in a league's pecking order, is a huge progression for any coach at any time at any school. You have to have some quality if you can do what the coaches of Nebraska, Rutgers, BYU and South Florida have done this year. Bret Bielema and Chris Petersen demand special recognition in 2006 for http://cfn.scout.com/2/557921.html

QB should be a high priority. Succesful BCS programs are three deep at all positions. USF could use a few more quality signal callers in the system. Depth is a key ingredient for building longterm success. Outside of RB, K and punting, none of the new recruits should see the field the next two years, so we need to build for the longterm and increase the competition at each position.

Nice job Jim but....way too much information ;^) ....somebody just tell me where to show up in late December.