CRBULL

Going back to the original post, I agree some are not considering reality so let's take a look at the facts. Here's an average of the Rivals class rankings over the last 3 years for us and our OOC competition: 2012 2013 2014 AVG USF 49 49 39 46 NC St 53 47 30 43 Maryland 35 33 53 40 Wisconsin 57 57 33 49 We are recruiting at the same level as we did before the Big East broke up, and roughly better than 33% of the schools in the recently proclaimed mythical "P5" conferences. Saying we can't compete with NC State is like saying we can no longer compete with Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, WV, and Rutgers because they are now in the "P5." We haven't been competitive at any level for the last three years, but the facts show it isn't because of the potential talent we can pull in. Whether that talent is pulled in effectively to meet the chosen schemes is another matter. The other interesting thing that came up when looking at the facts is that it's impressive what Wisconsin has been able to do with the talent level they have been pulling in for the last 5 or so years. I had pictured them having top 20 classes before I actually looked it up and noticed they have been recruiting lower than us.

Agreed on a competent coach away, we already have the other part in our recruiting ability.

Total garbage statement. The potential of a program is the combination of its recruiting and coach selection capability. Our recruiting capability is better than 33% of the P5 schools, combine that with an above average coach and you have a top 25 program that will build off of its success, regardless of conference. The frustrating thing here is knowing that potential exists.

I was thinking the same thing about current recruits seeing the impact they could have.

What about McCray?

"Steven Bench made a scary-looking but clutch throw to Chris Dunkley" had to read that sentence twice, could have used a comma.

This doesn't pass the troll sniff test, good job getting a sob fest going though. There are more than enough reasons to predict USF will be relevant into the foreseeable future. Fair to other schools or not, we are lucky enough to be located in a great city with more than enough talent to go around. With decent coaching, and just as importantly recruiting on average better than our conference and a third of the P5 schools, we should expect nothing less than to be relevant. Recruiting with decent coaching is the bottom line.

Not trying to pile on after the handshakes, just clarifying what I was saying earlier. No one is debating FSU will outrecruit us. My comments were referring to the statement "It is what it is. FSU isn't our competition. PDQ doesn't get bummed when people go to Bern's." What you said later implied it was said more tongue-in-cheek, but that's way different than just saying FSU will outrecruit us, which is a given.

Skipping some back and forth and getting right to where we usually end up when someone is posting like this. We're glad you're not his parent. We're glad not all recruits agree with you. We're glad you're not our coach - pretty sure Taggs wouldn't agree with you. For the record, I don't see this one coming our way either, but I sure expect Willie to pull in similar talent at another time.

Having NC State on the schedule this year reminded me of this game. When that '07 team was firing on all cylinders they were pretty fun to watch. That team had a bunch of players that would step up and "Do Something." Here's to the '14 team stepping up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BM73Mq5hKY

Here's my take based on this year's schedule and last year's results. Unacceptable < 4-8 (Yuck), 5-7 (Ok), 6-6 (Right Track), 7-5 (Fast Track) > Coach of the Year

Yep, I thought I heard some good things after he moved back from the OL.

Are the LBs recruited prior to Taggart not cutting it enough that people are putting redshirts and freshmen ahead of most of them?

Couple of thoughts. NT is just an alignment of a DT and referring to a DT as NT just gives additional context, kind of like DB vs CB or S. What about Hamilton, I thought for sure he would land in the 2-deep?

Rivals cover page story has Marlon Mack visiting this weekend.

Yep, or Taurus Johnson.

Unless there's a really strong drive to stay closer to home, this guy would probably jump if we offered.

Thought the same http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIKIP9tFXuo

With the number of true Fr DBs we have playing and commits signed in this class, I wouldn't be surprised if one of the lower target commits started feeling less love and knew it was time to look elsewhere. Just speculating on a possibility.

Eh, that's a little on the small side. Forte was about the same size when he committed, but this is a Juco we're talking about. JPP - 6'5" 278 Selvie - 6'4" 270 (he was considered to have weight issues because he couldn't get past 245 for a while) Giddins - 6'3" 253 Forte - 6'2" 253 Lynch - 6'6" 244 (he's considered small at this weight)

Exactly! Last resort in that we had to go through the three guys ahead of him (would have been nice if one of them had stuck) while we were evaluating them AND while he was gaining knowledge. I think it's safe to say Floyd and Eveld are both now ruled out so we have our new 1/2 with White getting the chance at 1 to show what he can do.

It makes perfect sense to bring in white. We've now seen enough from Eveld to know that he's not progressing, and he's now hurt on top of that. Bench is also hurt so it makes the choice a little easier. At this point Floyd was ruled out and now Eveld is likely ruled out. This leaves you with Bench and White to battle it out if White doesn't take his opportunity and run with it - this is unlikely as a true Freshman, but I hope we find the spark we're looking for. White will be the #1 and Bench will be the #2 getting the reps in practice and White will start the next game and on unless CWT is forced to rotate Bench back to #1. This is the natural progression, I just wish it could have happened faster. When the QB position settles down, other areas will start improving - they've been working with three different QBs and have lost confidence.

Thought that too. Sometimes they would come out with 12-15 seconds, line up, then quickly shift the formation and snap the ball as soon as everyone was set while only having a few seconds left on the clock.

To those asking what happened to the D, they went into a prevent around the middle of the 3rd (not coincidentally right before Cinci started scoring) and were intending to give Cinci short plays trying to let them run out the clock. You saw the aggressive alignment come back each time Cinci worked their way back around our 30 - sometimes we stopped them, sometimes we didn't. I think what didn't work as well as might have been planned is that Cinci was very efficient when given time and space - rather than grinding to work their way down the field with multiple plays per first down, they were getting first downs in 1-2 plays the whole way. As far as offense, there was a game plan change that also would have affected the defense. Prior to going up multiple possessions on Cinci, Taggart's response to Cinci stacking the box was with quick hits on slants and crossing routes that were moving the ball effectively. Once we went up on them and changed the game plan to burn the clock (conservatively running on most plays), we couldn't convert on 3rd downs and ended up handing the ball right back. This probably started to gas the D and gave Cinci the extra time they wanted. To make a long story short I think the second half of this game, outside of Cinci moving the ball a little too well, played out exactly as planned despite looking like Cinci started to dominate the second half of the game. On a side note, Eveld did take the offense down the field throwing strikes and fired a perfect touchdown pass to Hopkins that was dropped, so there is some promise to this offense if just a couple more things click. That was also the same pace/plays/execution that finally lead to some scores in the Miami game. I think we're starting to see the foundation of the offense (successful mixing of both the run and pass game) that they will continue to build on for the rest of the year.