I have to disagree. Size and location have little to do with how powerful a school is in the athletic hierarchy. E.g., Notre Dame is about 1/7th the size of USF and is located in the armpit of Indiana, but wields 100x more influence. What matters is stuff like historical pedigree and fan base. USF, as we all know, is a relatively new school with a 15 year old football program (hence no history) and is a late-comer to a football market saturated with established brands like Florida, FSU, and MIami (hence a small fan base).
Considering those factors, we really were lucky to be a member of the "big boy club" for the eight years that we were.
this! well said.