CyberBull

Mike you don't get enough credit for the Weekly Images you provide to the board. **** good job!

Not surprising that UL is picked to win this game. USF has a chance to make these people wrong.

Let's just enjoy this game for what it is: an early season victory against an opponent we should beat. Let's great unwarranted expectations for a team that won't really come together until mid december. However, you can't help but be optimistic about Bozeman and saaka.

guys...USF only need one trick play to win the game. In case some of you forgot, the reason we won was not b/c of all the trick plays but b/c we shut down the offense. In order for us to win this week, our defense has show up and play on of their best games of the year. Talent wise we match up well against their offense. We have speed to stop their rushes to the outside and our DBs are more than capable to shut down their WRs. Similarly, our DL will be able to put pressure on Brohm if the Rutgers and WVU game showed us anything. If we can put pressure on Brohm he will go fetal like he always does when he gets hit. I don't if we will win b/c the last two weeks has been ripe with USF turnovers, but its our defense that will decide how close this game will be.

Can't wait until we get a running game to support MG over the next 3 years. I think we'll really see some numbers in the record books and wins column.

The Gene-meister...

No way.... if USF wins I am not going to apologize. If UL is the better team that day and they will take care of business. However if they lose I am not going to apologize for taking them out of the MNC game. That would be their fault not ours. Conversely, if they beat our Bulls then I will root for them just as hard as I root for USF, b/c the impact that would have on our conference and pocketbook! Then again, before we get too carried away in jumping on the UL bandwagon, realize that if UL gets to the MNC and wins, recruiting becomes harder for USF b/c UL recruits the hell out of Florida and the TAMPA BAY AREA.

The man has had more time than any other big conference coach would have been given so it's Conference Tourney or bust. with the talent he has on the team he should contend and be one of the last teams into the BE tourney. IMO, this is his year to show what he can do b/c the last thing we want is go into 2007-2008 with a lame duck coach. The only way I give him an exception is if he puts together a strong recruiting class between now and April. Signing Dustin Scott would be a great start...

In the event that Matt can't go next week I want to be the first to say that we start Gregory. He can't possibly be worse than Julmiste.

USF wanted Allen as a LB not a RB, as a result he wasn't very high on our list as LB. UL was one of the few BCS teams that wanted him as a running back and in the end that played a huge role. USF needs to recruit a big back like Allen and a big ass fullback like Rutgers, West Virginia and UL.

Congrats ET..... Little Miss MG is beautiful! [smiley=beer.gif]

Nice job Omni..... ;D

pretty sad when our goal is to just make the BE tourney :'( Someday.....

The conference is too big when not all it member can participate in the best post-season tournament. October 26, 2006 NEW YORK -- Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese opened media day at Madison Square Garden Wednesday by proclaiming that everything was all well and good in the 16-team conference after year one. Not sure how DePaul, South Florida, St. John's and Providence felt about that. Those were the four schools that didn't qualify for the conference tournament last season. Only 12 go. There's no denying the league provided some great and memorable moments throughout conference play: two thrillers between Villanova and UConn; Georgetown's resurgence; the return of Rick Pitino; Notre Dame's many down-to-the-wire performances; and Syracuse becoming the first team to win four Big East tournament games. But outstanding players such as South Florida's Solomon Jones didn't make it to New York because their teams didn't qualify. There are some strong arguments against not bringing 16 teams to the tournament and Tranghese ran off the big ones in an interview later. "It's a logistical nightmare," he said. "We'd have to start playing on Tuesday and I just don't think fans are going to come here Tuesday through Saturday. I also think it increases interest during the regular season." Good points, Commish, but when you think about enhancing the student athlete experience, in this conference, in this sport, there is no greater feeling than going to New York and playing at Madison Square Garden. There's no greater feeling than going to that awards banquet because folks, they do this thing up Big East style, too. Simply put, the thing is terrific. "I'd do anything to help kids but I just don't think there's anything wrong with putting something out there and making kids earn it," Tranghese said. "You and I operate in a world where they don't give you or I anything. We have to earn it. Let them earn it. I just don't see a negative." Tranghese is not being a hard heart here. He has a point. The counterpoint is, those kids are trying. Look how hard the Fighting Irish tried last year. They lost all five of their overtime games and nine of their 10 conference games by six or fewer points. They certainly played hard enough but barely made it to New York with a 6-10 record. "Think about the DePaul kids," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I think about them. I thought they had a pretty nice year. They're in the Big East but they watched the Big East tournament from their dorm room. The USF kids ... there are four sets of programs that watched from their dorm rooms and probably should be part of it if we can work it out. I think we've always tried to find a way to make it work. I don't see it coming any time soon." Tranghese said coaches, athletic directors and school presidents have presented ways they think 16 teams would work, but when the votes have come in, they have been in favor of 12 teams. Tranghese said the issue is closed now but should be looked at again in three or four years. UConn coach Jim Calhoun, who, like Brey, favors all 16 teams going to New York, provided some insight into some of the discussion among the schools and coaches. "There have been proposals made about playing on Sunday," he said. "But contractually, that runs into a problem with ESPN. I think the question was asked about [playing at] 9 a.m. on Tuesday, would you consider that part of the experience? I said, `Yeah, if you won, you'd probably play the next night.' "There are problems with it, clearly, but I still maintain that if we're going to say it's the best basketball tournament, then let every kid share in it. How you do that, I don't know. We've been through all kinds of things and the [big East has] been receptive but we still are where we are." Tranghese has done some brilliant things for the conference. If anybody can find a way to make it work, it's him. Many questioned if he could keep the football conference afloat by retaining its BCS bid after losing three powers in 2003 (Miami and Virginia Tech) and '04 (Boston College). He brought in Louisville, South Florida and Cincinnati. After the 2007 season, when the BCS committee revisits what teams should be affiliated, there should be no issue for the Big East, not with the season the league is having. When he decided to expand the Big East, Tranghese had just as many detractors as supporters. The league is not going to work, they said; it's too big, they said. It worked great, provided some memorable moments in year one. Not for a guy like USF's Jones, one of the league's best rebounders and shot blockers. His first year in the league was his last. The Bulls went 1-15 in the Big East and played some great games but lost. Jones' once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience the Big East tournament came and went. He was a senior. He deserved to play in the best conference tournament in the country, and in the spirit of enhancing their student athlete experience, so did the players from the other schools who watched the tournament from their dorm rooms.

Here ya go:

...just imagine the damage Rocky II can do....he'd do a little more damage than Smokey Smokey accused of biting Alabama player Associated Press KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Earl Hudson is worried his dog, Smokey, is getting a bad reputation. AP Photo/ Mark Humphrey Smokey remains on the travel roster for the Vols' upcoming game against South Carolina. Smokey IX, Tennessee's bluetick coonhound mascot, has been accused of biting an Alabama player before last week's game at Neyland Stadium. Crimson Tide receiver Mike McCoy fell on the 3-year-old dog during pregame warmups after jumping out of bounds for a pass near where Smokey was standing with the cheerleaders. What the dog did next is up for some debate. Alabama coach Mike Shula says Smokey bit the player. Smokey's owner says he didn't. As for Smokey, he only howls. "It was over his head and he couldn't catch it, but he came down right on top of Smokey," Hudson explained. "Now what dog worth his salt wouldn't defend himself? "Smokey did not bite him. The article in the paper said he bit the player. He got a little of his uniform, didn't break the skin I was told, but Alabama made a big deal out of it I understand," Hudson said. When asked if McCoy was bitten, Shula told reporters on Sunday, "I can confirm that. I wasn't an eyewitness, but I did see that it drew blood in pregame warmups." McCoy, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman, was off-limits to media after the game, but he did play. UT officials said there was a hole in McCoy's pants. Tennessee won the game 16-13. One thing is for sure. Smokey was not injured. "Of course it startled him. I don't accuse Alabama of trying to stir up a problem," Hudson said. "I was upset when they told me about it, but after they told me what happened I can see why he did that." The Vols travel to South Carolina on Saturday, and Smokey remains on the travel roster. Smokey was taking it easy Wednesday. After a walk with Hudson, Smokey was curled up in his favorite recliner, maybe even dreaming about the big game. Smokey is handled during games by two members of the Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and is restrained by a leash. Before arriving at the stadium last week, Smokey wandered through the crowd gathered for the procession of players to the game and was petted by many children. "He's never hurt anybody. He's very gentle, very calm," Hudson said. "He loves to be there." The Smokey tradition began in 1953 when a dog named Brooks' Blue Smokey won a contest to be the mascot. He was owned by the late Rev. Bill and Mildred Brooks, whose brother is Hudson. Hudson took over caring for the Smokeys in 1993. Not all Smokeys have passed doggie charm school. Smokey VII was forced into early retirement after he nipped the same UT band member during consecutive games in 1994. "That fellow had obviously stepped on his foot. Nobody ever explained that in the paper," Hudson said. "That's the only dog we used that was out of the blood line." The seventh Smokey was replaced by Smokey VIII, who stepped down in 2003 after he was diagnosed with a nasal tumor. He survived the cancer but died in March from high blood pressure and kidney disease. Smokey IX replaced him. Video footage from a South Carolina game a few years ago showed a player landing on Smokey and Smokey reacting as if he was going to bite the player, Hudson recalled. In another game, a UT player knocked an opposing player out of bounds into Smokey. "There was nothing said about that. We just noticed it on film," Hudson said. "It's just something they show occasionally to show that Smokey is loyal to his own team." Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Woodham's lanky senior receiver held offers from Maryland, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida International.

Published - October, 25, 2006 Woodham WR commits to USF Chuck Corder @PensacolaNewsJournal.com Opportunity knocked. Patrick Richardson let it in. Woodham's lanky senior receiver held offers from Maryland, Louisiana-Lafayette and Florida International. Richardson picked up another from South Florida on Tuesday and committed to the upstart Big East school in Tampa, giving the Pensacola Bay Area its fourth player to verbally pledge to a Division I-A school before National Signing Day on Feb. 7. "South Florida is a school I really liked," said Richardson, who leads the Titans with 21 receptions and 372 yards this season. "They're young team on rise. I was impressed with them, and they were with me." Richardson, a News Journal All-Area first-team selection last season, had a great camp at USF in June, catching the eye of one Bulls coach in particular. Receivers coach Lawrence Dawsey, who starred at Florida State before a brief, but successful NFL career, liked what he saw in Richardson. "You couldn't ask for better as a coach," said Richardson, who 3.6 grade-point average and an ACT score of 22 has him fully qualified. "You can't get too much more experience than what he has. He knows what he's talking about." Richardson joins three Super Seniors who made early verbal commitments earlier this year -- Pensacola High cornerback Chris Lett (Alabama), Catholic defensive lineman Kyle Coulahan (Auburn) and West Florida Tech lineman Dakota Merritt (Mississippi State). http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061025/SPORTS/610250361/1002

lies, **** lies and statistics. LEavitt has this program positioned to win 6 or 7 games per year, with an occasional 2004-type of season. The challenge is to become a consistent 8 or 9 win program. It doesn't sound like much of a leap but its harder than many people.....like smazza....can comprehend.

Cook: Pitt disappoints home crowd again Sunday, October 22, 2006 By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Same old Pitt. Can't win the big games at home. Hey, I told you earlier in the week that's what people would be saying if Pitt lost to No. 19 Rutgers last night at Heinz Field. It perfectly describes the Panthers' ugly, mistake-filled performance against a clearly superior team in a 20-10 defeat. Bad, bad, bad. Two big dropped passes. A lost fumble. Five sacks. Eight penalties. One bad coaching decision. A defense that broke down at the worst time. A bunch of missed tackles. A whopping 268 rushing yards for Rutgers, including 225 by superb tailback Ray Rice. Horrible, horrible, horrible. Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt didn't even try to find the silver lining, probably because there was none. "If we do those things against The Citadel," he said of the many blunders, "we're going to be scrambling around to win." The game showed that the 6-1 record Pitt lugged in was an illusion, built against weak competition, an opening-night win against Virginia aside. It also showed how far Pitt has to go to become an elite program. There's no question it's better than it was last season in Wannstedt's first season. But it's just as evident that it has been surpassed by Rutgers and isn't on West Virginia's or Louisville's level in the Big East Conference. It won't catch up until it starts taking care of business at Heinz Field. That win against Virginia was impressive, but the other time Pitt faced a quality opponent in front of a big home crowd this season, it was pummeled by Michigan State. More often than not, it seems to go that way for Pitt at Heinz Field. Asked if this loss should be taken as a measure of where Pitt is, Wannstedt said, "To some degree, yes. But we didn't play as good as we're capable of ... "Penalties and dropped passes are things that give you no chance to get any field position, get any momentum, do anything positive." Maybe the game would have been different if not for the drops. Wide receiver Oderick Turner dropped what should have been a 30-yard gain on Pitt's first play. Tight end Steve Buches dropped a ball that should have been another 25-yard gain in the second quarter. Maybe the game would have been different without the penalties. During consecutive first-quarter kicking-game plays, Brian Bennett was penalized for holding to help set up a Rutgers field goal and a personal foul that wiped out a 30-yard kickoff return by Lowell Robinson. Maybe the game would have been different if wide receiver Derek Kinder hadn't lost a second-quarter fumble at Rutgers' 39 after a 25-yard catch. That was the only time Pitt made it into Rutgers territory in the first half. Maybe the game would have been different if Wannstedt hadn't made a curious decision to try a pooch kickoff after Pitt pulled within 6-3 early in the third quarter. Field position was an issue all night; Pitt started its possessions at its 20, 19, 15, 2, 21, 35, 13, 35, 20 and 37. Why just hand Rutgers the ball at its 36? Yeah, maybe this game could have had a better ending for Pitt. Or maybe not. "We didn't hold up physically," Wannstedt said, words every coach hates to utter. "More often than not, we got beat physically. And the quickness thing really showed up, too." Pitt's offensive line was overmatched. Tailback LaRod Stephens-Howling ran for just 55 yards. The five sacks matched the total Pitt had allowed in its first seven games. As depressing as that was, one third-quarter play that didn't go for a sack was worse. Defensive tackle Eric Foster fought through guard Joe Thomas, tackle Mike McGlynn and Stephens-Howling to force quarterback Tyler Palko to throw an incompletion on third-and-7 at Rutgers' 28. Pitt's defensive line also was whipped. Rice's big game brought back bad memories of Notre Dame's Julius Jones running for 262 yards at Heinz Field in 2003. Heck, it brought back memories of Michigan State's 335 rushing yards in September. The big defensive breakdown came on Rutgers' first play after Pitt cut the deficit to 13-10 early in the fourth quarter. With the crowd of 49,620 into the game as Rutgers lined up at its 10, Rice broke through for a 63-yard gain. "I'm still in shock that that happened," Wannstedt said. Two plays later, Rice went for 21 yards. The next play, he scored a 1-yard touchdown. "When you don't control the line of scrimmage on either side, it's tough to win," Wannstedt said. The best thing you can say about the game is that Pitt's offensive and defensive lines are young. Those kids will be better next season and the season after. But until then? Pitt still has a game at South Florida and home games against West Virginia and Louisville. At this point, it's hard to imagine a happy ending in any of the three.

I wish college footbal had an early signing period.... :-?

Sometimes I don't understand the mentality of this board. Sure our wins are not against world beaters, but neither are Rutger's wins and they are solidly entrenched in the Top25. The only thing we can do is beat the teams on our schedule. Along the way we are getting some positive press around the country and our name is now regularly dropped on ESPN and ABC. Slowly but surely I have noticed the talking heads on those networks, feel more and more comfortable talking about our program and have begun to say "USF" without having to explain who we are. When Chris Fowler interrupts Herbstreit and says, "don't overlook USF" that is a pretty good indicator of how our reputation is growing. Do you think he would mention our name if we were losing? All this attention is  a byproduct of winning, or in other words no such thing as a 'bad win'.

Amazing how the headlines vary between the two papers. The Trib takes a subtle jab at Grothe by making up imaginary critics in their headline, Grothe Continues To Confound His Critics, whereas today the Times' headline was "Leavitt says Grothe's promise was evident early" Completely different twist. The tribune wants to try and twist their knives deeper while the Times just reports the news. Its sad how quickly the Tampa Trib has fallen...

Merely my opinion.  If we see a change out there this Sunday I suppose we'll know. I have nothing against either of these guys -- as I mentioned both were right on board with Leavitt from Day 1 of their recruitment.  Loyalty is very important and both have committed to this program before, during and after they left.  Kevin came back as a GA and they are great ambassadors to this program.  110% effort as well.  That can't be underestimated.  It isn't a rip on them, but I imagine it is more important at game time to put your best player out there.  Julmiste is a great guy too and very loyal, but do we want him out there over Grothe?  I'm just saying you go with your best option and, at this point, we may have better options at SS.  to build on what 'Freak wrote, we have a lot of young talent on this team that should get an opportunity to play if they are they are better players. Loyalty is important but so is the idea of ongoing competition. I think DV is a great safety in supporting the run b/c he can deliver a blow just like his brother, but tends to get lost sometimes in coverage. Not a rip but an observation. Same as mike jenkins....I love the kid but he is not perfect.

maybe a change at safety is in order.... too many blown coverages back there for my liking.