RMF5630

Grothe is the better QB, period. He was a better HS prospect and is a better college QB. Blackwell out up most of his yards against I-AA schools and Conf USA schools. It is a myth that Blackwell had less talent surrounding him. The USF team his senior year was ranked nationally for a little while and played OU tough. It had Kawika, Kenyatta, Green, Reed, Rubin, Whittiker. That team was just as good as this team right now. Actually, that team had better RBs and Defense was just as tough. The difference on this D is the D-line is much better. As for Grothe versus Blackwell, Blackwell could not throw the long ball anywhere close to Grothe. Grothe is just as good of a runner. Blackwell had a better O-Coord (Canalis) and in my opinion that is why his numbers were good. Blackwell was a good I-AA QB and got USF to the next level. He is an honored USF Alum, but is not as good a QB as Grothe. Not a knock on Blackwell, he deserves to have his number retired and be honored.

Even if we win out the Bowls will get to choose their teams in the prescribed order. USF's reputation for not filling the stadium and not traveling well last year will work against us. It is unfortunate because we have a team that could beat a lot of the big conference teams, but we will probably be relegated to play a Southern Miss or Central Michigan. Too bad, we could have done some damage against a SEC, Big 10, PAC-10 or Big 12 team! I would have loved to see us play a SEC or PAC-10 team.

The rest of the country and the media does not think that USF is a quality team. They still think we are on par with Conference USA, not the BCS. We can say how good we are all we want, but in order for the nation and media to notice we have to beat quality out of conference foes consistently. Unfortunately, even if we beat Louisville and WVU we will not be considered a quality team. You will hear more about their errors, poor play, and "over-looking" us. The media and rest of the country still do not believe we can beat L-ville or WVU when both teams play their A game. It will be more of us playing out A game and them playing their C game. I live in the Midwest, there is zero respect for the Big East here. They feel that WVU or L'ville would be on par with Iowa and Purdue, solid middle of the pack teams. The rest of us would be bottomfeeders. It is frustrating.

Dan Patrick threw us under the bus this afternoon. Saying you can't beat UCONN or South Florida and expect to play for the national title. Rutgers schedule does not warrant a NC shot. Thanks Dan.

Yeah, we wouldn't want someone who has built a winner at another similar school and is THE best recruiter in the country. Especially when we have a coach that has been so successful. Final Four here we come. A big part of success is recognizing opportunities.

Kansas State and its new coach, Bob Huggins, secured what could be the best recruiting class in college basketball yesterday with binding letters of intent from four high school players, including Michael Beasley, considered the nation's top power forward. -- New York Times We could have had Huggins. He did this at K-State! Not exactly a B-Ball hot spot. We should of jumped on him when we had the chance.

I would still prefer the International Bowl. At least we will be going against a new team and will not be expected to bring more than 5k. We have about 5k die-hards that will travel to any bowl. I think that plays more favorably in Toronto than B-ham. I am worried about another Meineke turn out for USF.

I find it interesting that the "power conferences" created this disaster called the BCS for their own interests. Now, when it appears that it is working against them they want to change the rules mid-stream. An undefeated Rutgers should get a shot against an undefeated OSU or Michigan, if they are the only two BCS conference champs left. If Tennessee doesn't like it, don't lose. UT lost two games, they are not in the conversation at all. If the college football world does not think the Big East is champion caliber kick them out. But, for the next 2 years the BE is a BCS conference and should be treated with the respect the othes get. Why should the loser of OSU/Mich get another shot? Why should Texas get another shot if OSU wins out? They had their shot and lost. At the very least there should be no re-matches in the NC game, period. I think it is good to see some new blood take a shot at the NC.

I agree. But, the die-hards are the ones that care enough to bring about change. An on-campus stadium will only happen when the die-hards scream for it. If we leave it to the admin, it will happen when my grandkids are going to school. How long did it take to get out of friggin trailers?

USC's song girls? I like them. I think the Navy goat is better than Stanford's. Also, the Army Mule - Ranger, that should be higher. I like that Wisconsin's was to mean to have a real animal. That's pretty cool! USF would be right in there if we had a real Brahama Bull run out.

I don't think the respect issue is about the team on the field as much as about the half-filled stadium and sub-par fan interest for a BCS school. Those are fixable off the field.

Louisville by 6? I'll take that and give 6. I don't think that RU will be able to run effectively. The difference between RU's running game and WVU's is the QB. The QB hurt Louisville. They could not really sell out the run to stop Slataton because of White. RU you can put 9 in the box. Teel is not going to beat you and there are only so many plays that a FB adn RB combo can hurt you. I say Louisville by 10 to 14.

If that happens, we could get shut out. If USF and Pitt have the same record, we lose. The only team we outdraw is Cinn. The thing that sucks about this is that we will have to play a non-BCS team. That is a no win situation. 1 - No draw power with USF fans 2 - If we win we're supposed to and if we lose the BE sucks. 3 - It will hurt our marketability because we will only get 3k fans in B-ham.

Than don't complain about disrespect and not being mentioned on the Mike & Mike show. If we are happy with the situation and are not willing to change, there should be no ******** when we are mentioned the following sentence: "Can you believe we lost to South Florida? Our coach should be fired." See UNC. edited by Bulliever to remove RMF's comment from my quote box - I want no confusion there...

5-7k? We cannot afford back-to-back Bowl appearences with that type of attendance. This is going to be a tougher sell than the Meineke Bowl. At least NC is nice! he fans need to get it through there heads that no one nationally cares about the problems, only results. Bowls are about filling seats, not about how good the team is! See Navy. USF fans have got to pony up or risk losing games to worse teams that travel better. Otherwise, we are in a position of hoping the "Birmingham Bowl" selects us, that is low. Our team is better than that. If we bring 7k or less, it will effect bowls for several years to come.

I think we end up in Birmingham or on bowl depending on other teams. Problem is that due to last year's Meineke Bowl we are thought of as a non-travel well school. Teams that with the same record would be picked over us include: ND WVU Pitt Rutgers Basically the only team we are more attractive to bowls is Cinn. Most bowls are going to take us only if we are forced on them. If we go to a bowl we have to step up and bring 15k to get any bowl respect. 5k again would be the kiss of death.

That is where it is: Auburn. Circle that date. Beating WVU and Lousiville would be a great end to the season. In my opinion, the team is going to have to drag the rest of the University into the big time. For some reason, not many USF alums have the same passion for thier school as Florida, FSU, or Miami. Really is strange that we cannot sell out, USF has the 9th highest enrollment in the nation! I do not get it. Why would a graduate of USF rather be a tag along at a UF game? In my opinion, there are three legitimate ways to be a fan: 1 - Graduate from the school. Have some ownership! 2 - Have a relative or friend actually play or coach there. 3 - Live in the city where it is located. Or, in states that only have one school, in the state. (Wisconsin, Minn, Indiana, South Carolina, LSU, Ark, etc..) I just don't get someone with no connection to FSU or UF running around with the gear on and being a "die-hard" fan? Tampa has enough population and USF enough alumni to sell out every home game. Rant over.

The bottomline is that for USF to get respect we have to beat some GOOD teams outside the Big East. We are not going to get respect for beating anyone, including Louisville and WVU, in the Big East. We need to start scheuling and beating the Florida's. Auburn's, and other national powers to get respect. When did Miami first start getting respect, when the went to Oklahoma and beat them on the road. When the beat Nebraska on the road. That is how you do it. FSU and UM did it that way, quickly. We can do it that way or like Florida did and wait 100 years. The other way to get more respect is for us to sell out our games, travel well to bowls, and make USF games more of an event. As I said before, UF fans MISS family events to go to games. For USF fans, the game is a third option depending on what is going on that day. Big time, respectable programs do not have to worry what time a game is being played or if it is on a Friday. We have to forget that we are only 10 years old, no one cares. We need to look at our competition and raise the bar to that level. Or, we can wiat 50 years for tradition to develop, but keep in mind when we are 50, everyone else will be 150. Gotta think out of the box to close that gap.

Bull I don't think it will be an issue. Louisville is really peaking at the right time. We can root for USF and still not hurt the conference. I hope that Lousiville kills Rutgers. We beat Lousivill (not going to happen), Rutgers wins out and we beat WVU

I say we get up by 10 and let PJ finish. Grothe is too important to our offense to risk it if we can manage without him. Let him start, hopefully, go up early and let the D take us home. In USF's position a one point win is just as good as a blow-out. We are not ranked high enough for style points to count. Otherwise, kiss Louisville and WVU good-bye. Julmiste has 0 chance of beating those two teams on the road.

If we are relying on Grothe to run, we are in trouble. Not just for this week, but for Louisville and WVU. Grothe needs to use his receivers and Ponton. Williams is not an option against Lousiville or WVU. I hope Grothe learns that he does not have to do it himself. If he gets hurt, we have no chance against Louisville or WVU. I think Julmiste can handle Syracuse or I pray he can.

I am all for the Bulls against everyone. Although, I do not think it will be an issue. Louisville is very balanced, we are not exactly road warriors, and they want us bad after last year. I don't think it will be an issue. I just hope we play them tough.

I agree with you guys, USF is not 100 years old. The problem, as I see it, is if time is the answer we are screwed. Football is not going away at these schools, so for every year we add, so do they. Therefore, USF needs to do something to close the gap beyond simply existing. USF and the other new programs will have to create ways to boost attendance and develop fans that will travel. Otherwise, we are stuck in the world of the BCS or Birmingham Bowl. Nothing in between. As things stand right now, we will never play in a New Year's Day Bowl until we develop a following that will travel. The general consensus (that I can see) appears to be that we have to wait until we are older. I say, that USF should work on developing this faster through choreographing the football experience that will make a USF game more attractive to the non or fringe fan. An on-campus stadium is one controllable asset that USF can do and fans can demand. A cheaper way would be to teach the band how to act like a College Football band and not some artistic John Phillip Sosa on acid band! I simply don't want to wait 50 years.

I will be there. I am coming down from Chicago.