BullsFanInTX

In defense of I-AA, I do not think McNeese has a playoff caliber team at this time.  Yes, the score was close for three quarters, but it wasn't because USF wasn't able to move the ball at will as long as it didn't stop itself with mistakes.  That was the worst performance, in terms of moving the ball and stopping the opponent, that McNeese has had against a BCS league opponent to date.  And the Cowboys did play Miami's 2000 national championship contender as well as Kansas State's 2003 Big 12 champion.

Below is something I posted on the McNeese board.  As a McNeese fan, I was trying to get some indication out of last night's game as to where McNeese might stack up within its own division.  I hope you will not be offended by my assumption that USF is in the average range of BCS league teams.  That's what most people appear to think and what the power ratings say.

"Just to kind of put things into the context of what one should expect from a I-AA team playing a BCS, I looked at all the games this past weekend between I-AAs and BCS squads in terms of how I-AAs did in terms of gaining yards and limiting yards gained by BCS teams.

I counted 17 such games.  BCS teams rushed for an average of 188.7 yards against I-AAs.  South Florida rushed for 306 yards against McNeese.

BCS teams gained an average of 389.5 total yards against I-AAs.  South Florida had 512 total yards against McNeese.  

I-AA teams gained an average of 224.4 yards against BCS opponents.  McNeese got 159 total yards against South Florida.

The average "yardage differential" (I-AA total yards minus BCS team total yards) for the games is -165.1.  McNeese's yardage differential vs. South Florida -353.

Nobody could be certain of anything based on such comparisons.  But, look, South Florida is probably about an average BCS league team.   13 of the 17 I-AAs that played BCS squads this past weekend gave up less yardage, 14 of 17 gave up less rushing yardage, and 12 of 17 produced more offensive yards against their BCS league opponents than McNeese did.   I do not, given the assumption that USF is in the average range for BCS league teams, interpret what happened last night as an indication that McNeese is a playoff caliber team right now. "

Don't forget we scored on the last play of game on that long run.  That kinda skewed the rushing stats a little.  I would have to say that it wasn't so much McNeese stopping us, but we were killing ourselves with mistakes in the first 2 1/2 qtrs  

Grothe may have times he will struggle, but what I saw was the confidence and composure in his eyes.  

Then the announcers don't know the rulebook.  Because they said it should have been McNeese ball

When I click on play on wfla 970, it says connecting to media, but I get nothing.  Is anyone else having problems with this site.  I gotta have it up and running for all the games that aren't on gameplan.  

Hey guys.  Living here in TX, I either watch on espn gameplan or last year I listened on wfla 970.  Well I tried logging on wfla 970 on the internet and I couldn't log on to listen to the post game show after watching on game plan.  Is there another internet site or station I can log on to listen to bulls games.    

I'm not sure how to take the Rutgers win.  Is UNC that bad or is Rutgers that good??  I have to say that if RU can go in there and win, then so could USF.  

UVa is having a down season, so Pitt's win might not be that impressive... need to see highlights on ESPN tonight.

Rutgers is going to be good.  I watched that game and Ray Rice is a very good RB.  Teel, their QB should be a good one too.

Let me tell you, I was watching Grothe for a specific reason ... in the Spring game I saw him telegraph his passes - heck Jenkins intercepted him twice that day.

Yup, Grothe did it again.  Virtually every time he throws he watches 1 receiver.  He doesn't look defenders off.  He doesn't look around.  He watches the target and throws.  Hell, he was almost picked off on one play.

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On his second TD throw, they said it was his third reciever he went to.

i think grothe is our best recruit at QB we have had.  everyone made a big deal about ca hill but when he was in there he looked like he thought he could just take over.

tonight i saw a look in grothe's eyes that showed a real leader and someone who understood the game.  even as a freshman he looked real good.  not on his stats which none of us can argue...but just on his body language.  he looked like he belonged

I saw the same thing.  His body language sure didn't look like a freshman.  I was the first one to say we should go with a senior qb, but I just may have been convinced otherwise.

Great game cowboys.  We can't talk a whole lot of trash, the final score doesn't tell the whole story.  Evenually our depth wor you down, but you guys do have some players.  Best of luck the rest of the year.  We'll keep an eye out to see if you guys make the 1AA playoffs.  Oh, and the refs did blow that call down on the 1 yard line that we scored our first TD on.

73 entries in the contest so far this week!

I've got the spreadsheet hookup that will allow me to instantaneously figure out a winner.  I can even give a "Top 10" finishers list, Brad, in case you want to do a NASCAR "Chase for the Cup" type contest over the last 3 games!  

Some stats so far:

USF picked 72 out of 73 times.

McNeese State picked 1 time.

Average predicted score for USF:  36.56

Average predicted score for McNeese St.:  8.12

Average yards offense predicted for USF:  390.3

Leading Receivers Picked (times picked):

A. Hill          22

A. Jackson       18

S. Green         11

E. Randolph       6

M. Edwards        4

J. Chambers       3

M. Plancher       3

T. Johnson        3

Other/Invalid     2

R. Ponton         1

Who picked other/invalid

I can feel it, PJ is in for a very good senior year.

I couldn't agree more with usfgrad84

If they didn't blow out URI something is seriously wrong.

TCU AND POSSIBLY NAVY ARE THE ONLY SCHOOLS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE ACCEPTED.  Forget ECU, Memphis, and all the other also rans being metioned.  They bring absolutely nothing to the football table.  TCU has had 4 10 win seasons the last 6 years, I believe.  And no, it ain't to far away, I think they are closer to UL, UC, etc. than USF is.

That goes without saying.  According to all the quotes by Leavitt, the QB play is greatly improved this fall.  Maybe they both have improved.  Let's at least see them play this year before jumping to conclusions about this year.  If after 3-4 games they are stinking it up, then bash the qb's but wait to see how it pans out.

HaHaHa.  I gotta laugh.  If you guys only knew.  Here in TX, we have had about 100 straight days of sunshine and 100 degree temps.  If we could only get one drop of rain I would be happy.  Of course I would like to see it dry at kickoff at RJS, so our superior athletic ability will show.  

Maybe they missed a zero and it was supposed to 104, not 14.

Open it up.  Can their DBs stay with Amarri and the rest of our receivers.  Take shots downfield

once you get to south of Lakeland your not in the south anymore

That may be the dumbest thing I've ever read.  But then again, anything south of Lakeland is North Cuba.

Winning creates a perception that may not be reality.   UCF build a one year decent record playing a soft schedule, after several years of futility.  So the perception is they are on the rise.  Whether they are or not remains to be seen.  I don't know how they could get to the Miami or FSU level playing a CDOA schedule every year though, they would have to get to a BCS conference to truly be on the rise.

Well I just love college football.  I grew up in Michigan and was a Wolverine fan.  I moved to Tampa for a job from 1995-2000.  I saw the program start from scratch.  I watched the 80-3 blowout on the first night in 97 and was hooked.  Immediately became a diehard follower.  I watch other games but the bulls are now the only team I truly follow.  I moved away in 2000, but continued to follow the bulls.  I listen to every game on the internet or watch on Espn gameplan.

I actually think Pitt will be pretty good this year too.  Not sure about the Bearcats, though.

The GREEN MACHINE

You are out of your mind.  I wouldn't take South Florida and 14 on that bet.

You wouldn't.  who was better last year.  Top 5 Penn State or Texas Tech.  We lost to PSU by 10 AT PSU

Who was better last year.  TTU or Louisville.  We defeated UL by 31 at home.  Atmittedly a great performance.

Who was better last year.  11-1 WVU that defeated SEC champ UGA or TTU.  WVU beat us by 13, less than the 14 you say TTU would beat us by.

Think about it, don't just go on name recognition.  We don't have NAME RECOGNITION yet, we are continuing to build that.  That is the only reason people think we are "munchkins".  That has nothing to do with actual ability.

Your just wrong if you think TTU would beat us by more than 14.  They may beat us, but at home I would take us straight up.  

Using that logic, it's safe to assume we killed UConn, since we destroyed Louisville. So we definitely go and lose at con...oh, wait.

But we definitely went and beat Pittsburgh, I mean Louisville beat them and we killed the Cardinals. So I'm sure we killed the Pant...oh, wait.

This is the most retarded logic I've ever seen (not that you are the only one to ever use it). You are out of your mind if you think USF last year was anything even remotely close to Penn State's level. As for whether we're as good this year as we were last year...that remains to be seen, but I'm not as (foolishly) optimistic as you are.

So you're saying that we can hang with PsU, WVU, beat UL, but CAN'T at least hange with TTU???  Maybe I am blindly optimistic, but I just don't see TTU as better than these other teams.  And I live in Big 12 country.  I fully realize we blew it against UConn and Pitt, but that doesn't mean we cant hang with/beat TTU when we play our best.  I would actually take ULs offense over TTU.  TTU has a habit or scoring a billion points against Podunk U, but that goes significantly down when the competition goes up.

2 headed qb  means both are weak and you will just have a yo-yo situation

This is not always true.  It's sometimes a myth propogated by the media.  I remember in the 90s Michigan had a 2 headed qb, Tom Brady and Drew Henson, both stud qbs and they rotated, because they were both good, and the coaches couldn't make up their minds which one was better.  Couple years ago, Tenn had Brent Schaeffer and Erik Ainge rotating.  Again, both highly rated qbs.  You can have 2 good qbs rotating or 2 poor qbs rotating, but just because they are rotating does not make them bad, it makes them even.