Bil

Well, if Leavitt wanted to avoid sycophants he should spend some time with the press. I agree with the column in this morning's Trib - Leavitt is not doing the things needed in a major, big time athletic football program. Before this year I thought he was OK, but I don't like this lockout, the muzzling of the coaching staff and the players. An information vacuum is ripe for filling with all kinds of speculation - from the report that Leavitt is 'Freaking Crazy," attributed to another coach in this conference, to such as posted earlier on here - about somnething's wrong, don't know, he's depressed, etc, etc. Leavitt is the only one who can quell this and he should. Why give 2 word answers when he full well knows the answers to the questions - such as "Is Grothe gonna play this week" (before last week's game). His answer? "I dunno. Maybe." When in fact he had already told people that Grothe was gonna play the 2nd half. I want to support this team, but Leavitt's makin' it harder and harder. Can he be disappointed that the truth came out about Grothe? - That he's 6 times the QB that Julmiste is? Maybe he doesn't love us anymore. Ahhh, feels all better now.... Bil

Hey, You can be a Gator AND a Bull....

Yeah, maybe we can get a receiver who can actually RECEIVE, something Peyton had trouble with. (Despite his 3 or 4 star rating.)

No, beating one good team isn't an improvement. Going 6-5+bowl IS, after a 4-7 year, in which we also beat one good team. But lost 7 games. Not 5. Stiffer competition, with guys we recruited 3-4 years ago when we were in CUSA. Give it some time; maybe a lot of time...and we WILL get where we want to be. A step at a time.

Tell that to Louisville. Or Pitt. They'll both feel better knowing your opinion.

Yeah, what's the matter with Leavitt? Gotta be the worst coach in football! Can't recruit, can't coach, can't win...oh, wait a minute, that's Sister Mary Leavitt, the coach at Little Sisters of the Poor. Our Leavitt CAN do all the above, and has. Repeatedly.

I know Garcia's grandfather, who told me that USC and Notre Dame are both interested in him. G'Pa says he hopes the boy goes to ND. Is the Brantley from Ocala (O-cow-la) related to Scott Brantley, the LB from there, UF, and the Bucs, currently the Bucs' color man on the radio? Bil

I cannot, and will not, argue that the play-calling was bad at times, the play execution was terrible at times, the opponents were not world class (but our schedule is our schedule-lots of teams don't want to play us), mistakes were plentiful, and I, too, believe they could have won the Miami & PSU games. If it hadn't been for Hill's giving PSU 10(14?) quick points, we were in that game all the way. Dropped passes at Miami did us in, no doubt. Did the team improve? I think so, over-all. Learning can be painful, and we learned, I hope. But look at Leavitt's record overall. Nine years, first 100 games. I suspect, but can't prove, that an examination of the 1st 100 games of any school in the country will not reveal a record as good as Leavitt's. He has consistently gotten better each year, even in the losing seasons (2? 3?). Can we do better? We can and will. And, objectively, 6-5+bowl is better than 4-7 no bowl, no matter who we play. Just remember who we are, where we came from, and how long we've been on the trail. (My friends and I wanted football when I went to USF - we started a newspaper that was promptly kicked off campus after 4 or 5 issues, because we wanted football, and a stadium on campus. That was 1966-67. Were we ahead of our time? I don't think so. Just imagine, if we had gotten our way then; A campus stadium, a team with a 40-year history....But John Allen told me to my face that there'd never be a football team at USF as long as he had breath to fight it. And he was correct. But now he's gone, and I hope I live long enough to see us win bigtime!) Bil

Sezz you! says Smaz. (I can't get you with facts, so I'll fling invective, blame Leavitt, distort the record.) Say Bouncer, I think ya got a point there. Does sound like Pelosi, Reid, Dean, Gore, et al. & WWE's DickBrothers. The Dicks always have an excuse close at hand, now that you mention it, along with a bunch of "reasons" they shoulda won!

No, Smazz, says THE RECORD! Get a life, man. You've lost this one.

Only you, Smazz, would read that as a comparison of Bucs to Bulls. Its called an EXAMPLE! And we DID improve, didn't we? You can flame & bluster all you want, but you can't deny the facts. 4-7;6-5+bowl. GOT IT?! ()btw, YOUR CAPS KEY IS ON.)

Heck no, man, show 'em what sports we are. MEL'S RED HOT RANCH!!

Well, performance is measured by W/Ls. isn't it? Would you say the Bucs had a bad year because they lost to S.F. & NYJets? Or would you look at 11-5? I repeat, 2004=4-7; 2005=6-5+bowl. Looks like improvement to me. And anybody else who has a shred of objectivity. Bil

I asked for stats on whether PJ got worse, or not. Smazza nor anyone else proffered any. My position is that he got better. I have the stats to back it up: 2004 - 4-7. 2005- 6-5+bowl. And, believe me, I'm no PJ fan. I'm the guy calling for Matt Grothe next year, instead of Carleton Hill. But I'm for most any change. I'm just not sure that Hill is much of a change. Give me a drop-back passer like Grothe (who also runs well), instead of a guy whose best play is a busted pass. Bil

This year's class was recruited for need. IMHO, they filled it very well. Unless you go after, and get, a bunch of offensive "skill" players, i.e., QB,WR,RB, you're not going to be ranked highly. This is a good class that addresses our needs. We did very well at WR, and we have QBs galore from previous classes. We needed OL & DL and I think those needs were met. Don't forget, this year's recruiting class is not for NEXT year's team. It is for the years after next year, the 2nd, 3rd & 4th years down the road. Bravo Bulls! Bil