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I agree, Alofts are clean and hip, priced right, pet friendly, and the hotel bars are trendy. I'd be all over that usually, but for these bowl trips, I try to stay around the team whenever possible.

My bad, I'm assuming the Sheraton and the Westin downtown are the team hotels. I think the Bulls stayed at the Sheraton last time and ECU stayed out near the suburbs/golf course (maybe the Hyatt). But I don't think the Westin was built 10 years ago. I could be wrong about this, I'm going off of vague memory and assumption, so don't hold me to it. In the absence of any confirmation from an official source, I rolled the dice on these 2 hotels.

Book them both, cancel the one that ends up being the SEC team hotel whenever that info is released. That's what I did...

Booked both the Sheraton and Westin uptown. I will cancel the reservation for which ever one turns out to be the hotel for Cocks. For those that attended the bowl in 2006, it looks like Birmingham has revitalized the uptown area a bit since the last trip. There is an entertainment district near the team hotels now, whereas last time that area was a ghost town. 5 Points, south of downtown, was the place to party 11 years ago, if I remember right.

On espn.com's standings page, they are not giving USF credit for a win against a ranked team(Navy #22). However, for example, they are giving Navy credit for their win over a ranked team(Houston #6). Neither opponent is currently ranked now(as of this writing), but if the criterion for being ranked is based on polls the day the games were played, its not being applied consistently. How could anyone not close to the program (AP voters) know USF beat a ranked team? Is there another authoritative resource out there for voters to consult for stats like this other than espn.com? http://www.espn.com/college-football/standings/_/group/80 http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/58/south-florida-bulls http://www.espn.com/college-football/team/_/id/2426/navy-midshipmen

Troy is down 4 possessions in the 4th quarter. One less team standing between USF and an AP ranking.

Should have included Cal over Stanford also. I don't see USF getting ranked before Stanford unless they lose.

You're right. I figured that one and the USF/SMU game were already on everyone's radar.

LSU over Florida TCU over Oklahoma State ND over Virginia Tech Oklahoma over West Virginia Citadel over North Carolina Buffalo over Western Michigan UNLV over Boise State Colorado over Washington State Louisville over Houston UCLA over USC Wyoming over San Diego State Arkansas St over Troy Missouri over Tennessee

Temple faced everyone in the east plus SMU, Memphis, and Tulane(1-6). We faced everyone in the east plus SMU, Memphis, and Navy(7-0). I'm just pointing out that our road to the championship this year was more difficult than Temple's. I agree, if we handle business against Memphis then this doesn't matter. But I feel that inconsistency in the schedules may prevent the AAC from producing the best representative from the eastern division for the championship game. Does anyone think Temple is more worthy? Maybe Navy/Houston are better overall, I just think we’re the best of the east this year.

...if we win next week and don't get a shot at the conference championship, we would have been perfect in our division, beating every team including the division champ. The difference would be us drawing 7-0 Navy from the west and Temple drawing 1-6 Tulane.

A few summers back, I was at a gate in Providence airport waiting to catch a plane back to Tampa. A man deplaned the arriving flight at the same gate and walked up to me, read my shirt, and said "USF Sailing?!". I said "yeah, go bulls." I found out a few months later, that man was our AD Doug Woolard.

Last straw for me... this man is treating our program like a disposable diaper.

#5 and #87 also played with passion.

These ND digs were hot!!

love this

There's a cure for that - stop watching ESPN... In hindsight, it seems that ESPN has been overhyping FSU to bolster the ACC’s credibility for their Big5. Think about how bad the ACC is right now.

How about Fracas Flamingo... that's silly enough, isn't it? I thought the pep band reference was storybook, I didn't make that up.

I'm not a fan of the flamingo, but if you are going to go with it, please replace the War... Fracas Flamingo (If your marching band gets into a fight with another school's pep squad, your principal might say the fracas was uncalled for and undignified.) www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/fracas Others... Kick Flamingo Buck Flamingo Charge Flamingo Leg Up Flamingo Wade Flamingo

No doubt, they would say that. There would be outrage if they didn't. Here’s my theorem (past performance is not factored in)… If we are capable of beating FSU this year, then we are capable of winning the BE this year. If we are not capable of beating FSU this year, then we are not necessarily capable of winning the BE this year. Right or wrong, my perception is that beating FSU this year is a better credential for prominence than is winning the BE. Win both! That's pretty much what we said with Notre Dame. How did that work out? 1. FSU is better this year than ND was last year, according to rankings and speculation. 2. ND beat us in every category except for TOs and score. 3. Past performance is not a factor in my theorem, nor should it be, right?

No doubt, they would say that. There would be outrage if they didn't. Here’s my theorem (past performance is not factored in)… If we are capable of beating FSU this year, then we are capable of winning the BE this year. If we are not capable of beating FSU this year, then we are not necessarily capable of winning the BE this year. Right or wrong, my perception is that beating FSU this year is a better credential for prominence than is winning the BE. Win both!

There's a difference between winning CUSA and going to the Liberty Bowl, and winning the Big East and going to the Orange/Fiesta Bowl. I think the impact of that difference would be short lived. Sure, the bowl trip would be more fun, but who remembers the BE champ year over year? Who won last year? I’d rather dominate the state; I think it would have more long lasting effects. Besides, if we can sweep our OOC games and still lose the BE, the league would probably be well represented in the BCS game anyway.

FSU Is being champion of this league very meaningful? I'd say it’s a novelty. Imagine if we were in C-USA asking the same question; what would your answer be then? Unfortunately, the rest of the sports world does not see much difference between the BE and C-USA at this point in time. The only way to improve the status of our conference is to win the OOC games...especially against the ACC. Are BCS bowls really that big a deal, except for the championship game? What has it done for UCONN/Cinci to play in them?

Holtz isn't playing Eveld, he is playing BJ. Eveld is just a place holder on the 2-deep to buy time for Gunsby to groom. Place holder? You can read the coach's mind? By the way, Gunsby is so much the future they have committed for next season 2 QBs and are still recruiting Jacoby Brisset. That's what I believe based on the circumstances with which Gunsby/Eveld were acquired by USF. I didn’t say Gunsby was a guarantee; just that he is the best option for the future out of the current candidates. Because he is no guarantee, naturally, you wouldn’t just stop recruiting QBs. If Gunsby is truly the future it makes more sense to red shirt him this season than give him garbage minutes. He's not going to beat out BJ this year. Holtz and Fitch are committed to BJ. Gunsby will have plenty of opportunity to get garbage minutes next season. A true freshman will look just as confused as BJ out there with this receiving core and pass protection. If we are going to lose with either QB, I say lose with Gunsby. I don't see them as garbage minutes; I see them as time on the job training if he is playing while the game is still winnable. I’d like to avoid as much garbage time as possible next year. I’m sure he would look as confused as BJ, but at least he would gain experience to build on during a loss that we'll apparently suffer either way. Heck, there’s an outside chance he’d execute. But if he's not really going to play any better (which is what the coaches think from watching practice and red shirting him), then it's better to give him time to learn the system before throwing him into the fire. He's a freshman, he's got a whole lot to learn text book wise in the college game. No sense in burning a year of eligibility for no better results on the field. He can pick up the minutes next year if BJ is still struggling and then have 3 more years of eligibility to go instead of 2. Gunsby was a bit of a reach as a recruit. He was an unevaluated player that came from virtually no where at the last minute when Skip pulled Carnes scholarship. Gunsby was picked up for depth. If he becomes the starting QB at USF it's added bonus, but it's not why he's here. You don't think that he will progress faster with real playing time than he would with only practice? I'm saying we can't afford to be greedy and try to get 4 whole years out of him. The severity of our immediate problem won't allow for it. The result on the field this year might not be any better, but he could hit the ground running next year. I see sense in burning the redshirt. This is all hands on deck...ship is sinking. We'll find another QB for 2014. And he may be what you say he is, but I don't see why you would want to preserve his redshirt with as dire as things are at QB right now. I don't care either way if Gunsby is red shirted or not. I just have to take the position that the coaches who watch the practices know what they're doing. Panicky decisions based on fan pressure is not something I ever want to see in a head football coach. If BJ is the best option then we keep him in. If Gunsby is the best option, then we need to burn his red shirt and get him ready. I don't know the answer, but I'm going to trust the coaches' decision. If he takes the redshirt off of him, I wouldn't want him to do it because I or any other group of fans called for it. I'd hope he did it because he felt the current condition was unacceptable and could be improved.

Holtz isn't playing Eveld, he is playing BJ. Eveld is just a place holder on the 2-deep to buy time for Gunsby to groom. Place holder? You can read the coach's mind? By the way, Gunsby is so much the future they have committed for next season 2 QBs and are still recruiting Jacoby Brisset. That's what I believe based on the circumstances with which Gunsby/Eveld were acquired by USF. I didn’t say Gunsby was a guarantee; just that he is the best option for the future out of the current candidates. Because he is no guarantee, naturally, you wouldn’t just stop recruiting QBs. If Gunsby is truly the future it makes more sense to red shirt him this season than give him garbage minutes. He's not going to beat out BJ this year. Holtz and Fitch are committed to BJ. Gunsby will have plenty of opportunity to get garbage minutes next season. A true freshman will look just as confused as BJ out there with this receiving core and pass protection. If we are going to lose with either QB, I say lose with Gunsby. I don't see them as garbage minutes; I see them as time on the job training if he is playing while the game is still winnable. I’d like to avoid as much garbage time as possible next year. I’m sure he would look as confused as BJ, but at least he would gain experience to build on during a loss that we'll apparently suffer either way. Heck, there’s an outside chance he’d execute. But if he's not really going to play any better (which is what the coaches think from watching practice and red shirting him), then it's better to give him time to learn the system before throwing him into the fire. He's a freshman, he's got a whole lot to learn text book wise in the college game. No sense in burning a year of eligibility for no better results on the field. He can pick up the minutes next year if BJ is still struggling and then have 3 more years of eligibility to go instead of 2. Gunsby was a bit of a reach as a recruit. He was an unevaluated player that came from virtually no where at the last minute when Skip pulled Carnes scholarship. Gunsby was picked up for depth. If he becomes the starting QB at USF it's added bonus, but it's not why he's here. You don't think that he will progress faster with real playing time than he would with only practice? I'm saying we can't afford to be greedy and try to get 4 whole years out of him. The severity of our immediate problem won't allow for it. The result on the field this year might not be any better, but he could hit the ground running next year. I see sense in burning the redshirt. This is all hands on deck...ship is sinking. We'll find another QB for 2014. And he may be what you say he is, but I don't see why you would want to preserve his redshirt with as dire as things are at QB right now.