RMF5630

If WVU runs the table and finishes third without a shot at the big game, you think Rodriquez stays when there are positions in ACC & Big 10? I do not agree, the top coaches want the big prize. Why did Brown leave UNC? Texas has a better shot at the NC, than UNC. But, does a Mich State, NC State, or UNC have a better chance of getting to the NC game than Lousiville or WVU in the BE? I think that the big guns jump, they have been successful before they think they will again. Do the big name coaches make a difference? By the way, Paterno has to retire, I guarantee the Schiano is a candidate. PSU will go for the smaller up and coming coach over the star name. It worked before. I think PSU is the only job the he would leave RU for. Just my thoughts.

WVU runs the table and does not go to the NC game as a one loss SEC team gets the nod. Rodriguez says screw this and jumps to UNC because he now thinks he can't win the big one in the Big East. Petrino does the same thing to NC State or Miami. Now the BE has lost its 2 premier coaches. Throw Schaivano to UM or even Penn State (a school he said he would go to earlier with a 90 year old coach) and what do you have? Throw in FSU's situation and there may be some premier openings in conferences that can go to the NC game alot easier than the BE. WVU has to get into the NC game or the Big East is in real trouble. Basically, it makes the BE a BCS version of the MAC, a stepping stone. Call me a doom and gloom person, but this could happen. You lose your top coaches and there are problems.

If "if" occurs, it would shake up the BCS to the point of no return. Think about the possibilities, USF and Boise State in the BCS? How about a 3 loss ACC and/or Big 12 team? The Conf championships could add to the mix. That would be a disaster for the BCS.

My perspective as a Bulls fans is different from most, I am interested in the business of college football more than the game on the field or in the stands.  That means I am very interested in USF succeeding, but tend to be a bit more realistic than most "fans." As for the rest, sorry but you are wrong.  The Bowls do not care that we are only 10 years and 50% of our 10k fans travel.  They will take a worse team than USF in a heartbeat, if the travel well.  This is a business, there is no understanding and giving the new program a break attitude.  Our 5k traveling is just that 5k, they don't say: "Oh, but they are new so it is really like 20k for another team."  That is a dream-world.  See Meineke Bowl adding Navy.  Why?  They travel and sell hotel rooms, period.  They are looking for an excuse to invite them, no bowl is looking for an excuse to invite USF at this time.  We need to change that and the ONLY way is to travel well, in front of even winning, that means we need to marke to get people interested and show up at games!  Our 30k home game attendance is horrible for a BCS team, if we want to get to the upper echelon.  USF has to start becoming the first choice, not the 2nd or 3rd, like UF is to their fans.  Those people skip kids events to go to the UF games!  The sooner we stop putting qualifiers on out accomplishments the sooner we can look at reality and correct it.  That is not being negative, it is just being realistic.

There is no way this team goes on the road and wins at Louisville and WVU. Best we can hope for is a 2-2 split in the last four games. It is no mistake that USF has to go on the road to these two teams to finish the season, last year was a little too close for comfort for the Big East. If USF is going to the BCS they will have to earn it the hard way.

See FIU vs. Miami.

That is the attitude I am talking about! No one cares that USF is a new program any more than they care Ru is 116 years old. They care about numbers and dollars. USF has got to get over the attitude that "we are new," so Bowls should be happy with only 5k travelling. It does not work that way. All that does is hold the program down and we are in danger of backsliding. THis program has not "arrived" it can just as easily backslide to UCFdom as move up to UFdom. USF becoming a power is not a forgone conclussion. There is a lot of potential problems coming up. Try this: WVU runs the table and does not go to the NC game. Rodriguez says screw this and jumps to UNC because he knows he can't win the big one in the Big East. Petrino does the same thing to NC State or UM. Now the BE has lost its 2 premier coaches. Throw Schaivano to Penn State (a school he said he would go to earlier with a 90 year old coach) and what do you have? A conference that is no better than a BCS version of the MAC, a stepping stone. It can very easily happen. USF needs to have higher expectations than 40k is great for a 10-year old program and the fans need to start acting like big time college fans like UF, FSU, OSU, etc if we want to not be a throw in team for some **** bowl.

We all know people or are related to people with a lot more insight to the inner operations of College Football than we have. Maybe some of us should listen to what others have to say and not think that thier "source" is the best. Unless you are actually a position coach, Asst. AD, or above you really have no idea what the hell your talking about. Being that I am none of the above, I listen to all opinions, especially about the BCS which is more like reading chicken inards than science.

WVU has the best shot at the NC game and Louisville is not at full strength. I do not see Louisville getting to play OSU. OSU and WVU would be a very interesting game, you would need a calculator. Talk about a lot of speed on the field! USF is fast, but not at that level. Ginn, White and Stanton are scary fast. I do not see anyone from Louisville at their level.

Pretty good compared to who? FIU? Cinn? UCF? The problem is that what appears good to us, is not good to the Bowls. People say "You can't expect us to bring 30k like Wisconsin or Iowa." The Bowls DO want that and ARE comparing us to those schools. When invitations are given if they have a choice they will take a school that travels well and produces a sell out. Right now, we will lost to Army and Navy, everytime. We will lost to the Big 10 #8 team at 6-6, even if we are Big East #4 at 8-3 if the Bowl can get away with it. A 6-6 Michigan State or Minn because they will travel. Read the Big East bowl relationships, there are not many mandatories. That is my point about how the Meineke was a disaster.

The "we" is the USF fans, boosters, tampa bay area, students, and local media. In my opinion, this is a "we" subject that USF fans can be part of the solution. When someone says that "we" called the wrong play on 3rd down, that is BS unless you are on staff and drive's me nuts. "We" fans have nothing to do with on the field performance, but everything to do with "travelling well to bowls." If USF wants to be in the same category as FSU and UF, we gotta put up like their fans do. That will get you an invite to a bowl. We are not close to that level off the field. Actually we are closer on the field than off the field.

WVU needs a very specific set of events to happen to get into the NC game. In the Big East, they need to beat Lousville AND have Lousiville win out AND Rutgers only lose only to Louisville and WVU. No fluke upsets. In the SEC, they need the SEC teams to lose, which could happen. UF has to go to Tallahassee to play against an unranked FSU and Auburn needs to play a Alabama. Neither one of those games will add points and could be an upset. SEC is as good as it is going to get, not alot of points left to grab and some rivalry games that could screw it up. In the Big 12, Texas play A&M and a lower ranked team from the north which will hurt. No points to pick up for either game, but can lose points. In the PAC-10, USC has the roughest road and most points to pick up having to play Oregon, Cal, ND, and UCLA. That is a tough road and they can pick up some points and they get them at home. I would say that USC holds its destiny in its hands more than any other team because they get to play the toughest opponents. WVU 2nd because of RU and Louisville. SEC 3rd bad rivalry games not alot of point unless Auburn/FL win out and the Big 12 can only lose points/position. I see WVU & OSU going at it. WVU losing and RichRod getting out of dodge because he knows the stars aligned for him this year.

I agree the people that did show up spent money. It just wasn't enough. Those who went I take my hat off to you for supporting the program, we need more! Rutgers has a latent fan-base in the tens of thousands that will support them when they win. Rutgers has been pumping out alumni since the 1800's, so all they need is a little on the field success and it takes off. It is the same with Syracuse and Pitt. UCONN has not been is football so they are overcoming a BB bias. Cinn is a commuter school like USf and does not have the following. I am not saying this as a negative or positive, only as the truth. We need to know our weaknesses, as well as our strengths. There is no value in saying things are better than they were. Ticket sales were down and the interest for the game was low. Now, what can we do to correct it?

"Man, USF struck oil by getting that BIG EAST invite. To this day, I am very thankful for all the hard work done by USF to get included to the BIG EAST. Now, USF needs to continue to get strong because it wont be long before we are the BIG EAST BULLIES!!!! " More to it than winning on the field. We need to develop a stronger fan base and start at least filling the lower bowl, getting attendance to 60k, and travelling well. If we don't we will be stuck as a 2nd rate program and will lose bowl bids to worse teams that do travel. Now is the time to start pumping it up.

I agree about the national prespective and the Meineke people were polite and understanding. But, USF is going to have to do better when the opportunity presents itself both on and off the field. We can only rely on the "new program" and "1st Bowl Game" cards for so long. We need a couple of big wins and a good showing at a bowl game. I think the Birmingham Bowl would be a better selection than a bigger bowl that is further away, so we can bring enough people to show the bowls that USF will not hurt their bottomline. We need a success both on the field and off the field to get to the Pitt, Syracuse, and Rutgers level. Right now, we are down with Cinn and UConn in terms of football credibility. Those programs had decades, the only way to close that gap is winning and travelling well.

This is a tough math-up for USF. Pitt has come into RayJay before and spanked us. Grothe is going to have to make smart decisions and not throw high like against Cinn. We could easily lose this game if he is not sharp. Spread offense is all about the QB.

So, you can sit there with a straght face and say that USF participation was successful at the Meinike Bowl last year?  Talk about smoking crack.  The whole thing was a disaster!  We only brought 5,000 people, the University spent 380k to buy the remaining tickets, and were shut out on the field!  Do  you have any idea what the national perspective on USF was after that game?  Look at the numbers below.  The Meineke Bowl had a 21% reduction in attendance 3rd most when you consider that the New Orleans Bowl was moved from Katrina.  TV ratings were down as well.  The place was only 79% filled with NC State being with a 100 miles, that is a disaster any way you cut it.  So, yes USF played into them looking for more attractive options.  Funny, they ARE taking a worse Navy team than USF this year, even if USF has 8 wins they are not being invited back.  And don't spout the BS that they won't invite the same team twice, Virginia went to the first 2 Meineke Bowls. If they made good money, they would not think twice.  Geez, I don't mind fans, but at least live in the real world.  You will never correct something if you won't look at the truth!  Bowl Game 2005-2006 Attend 2004-2005 Attend Percent Change Music City Bowl 40,519                   -38.70% Sheraton Hawaii 26,254           39,662           -33.80% New Orleans ** 18,338           27,253           -32.70% Meineke Car Care 57,937           73,238           -20.90% Capital One 57,221           70,229           -18.50% Emerald         25,742           30,563           -15.80% GMAC         35,422           40,160            -11.80% Toyota Gator 63,780           70,112            -9.00% AutoZone Liberty 54,894           58,355            -5.90% Chick-fil-A Peach 65,620           69,322           -5.30% Insight         43,536           45,917            -5.20% MasterCard Alamo 62,016           65,265            -5.00% Independence 41,332           43,000            -3.90% Nokia Sugar** 74,458           77,349            -3.70% Motor City         50,616           52,552            -3.60% SBC Cotton 74,222           75,704            -2.00% Vitalis Sun         50,426           51,288            -1.60% Pacific Life Holiday 65,416           66,222            -1.20% FedEx Orange 77,773           77,912             0.00% Rose      93,986           93,468             0.50% Tostitos Fiesta 76,196           73,519             3.60% Outback         65,881           62,414             5.60% MPC Computers 30,493           28,516             6.90% Champs Sports Bowl 31,470           28,237             11.50% PlainsCapital Ft Worth 33,505           27,902             20.10% EV1.net Houston 37,286           27,235              36.90% Las Vegas         40,053           29,062             37.80% Poinsettia Bowl 36,842              NA              NA

USF sold 5000 tickets and the Meinike Bowl was so happy that they ammended the contract to allow them to take Navy if the qualified. USF did not travel well and that will play into who goes. You can tell yourself that USF traveled well and the Meinike Bowl was happy with USF's 5000 in attendance and are being shut out in last years game, but your deluding yourself.

USF needs 7 wins. 6 and we're out. Even with 7, we may be out. *, is the only guarentee. With the Cinn loss, we have no credibility and would have to beat Pitt and Louisville/WVU to turn some heads. Here is how I see it: BCS - WVU Sun - Louisville Meinike - Navy. They were not happy with us last year. Texas- Rutgers International - Pitt (Pitt would travel well to Toronto) Birmingham - Cinn Bottomline is that USF does not travel well and the bowls will look for any excuse to invite someone else the travels better. Bringing only 2,000 to NC last year really plays against us being invited. For USF to go, the bowl will almost have to have no other choice or we need to upset PItt and a big team. Hello 2007, Cinn and KU losses hurt big.

USF is not a good team, it is what it is. I agree with an ealrier post: WE'RE DOOOOOOOOOMED!

Do most businesses fire every employee that gets a DUI? How about how many USF professors have had trouble with DUI? How about if that standard was applied to all jobs, even after completing your punishment? If the person has been through the legal system and successfully completed their punishment, shouldn't they be allowed to work again? By your standard, some people should never be allowed to work again in the their professions. What I find funny is that typically the same people with not tolerance attitudes get nailed doing something illegal they all of a suddden want me to use every trick in the book to get them acquitted or the charges dismissed. It's like bankruptcy is only for losers, until you are in an accident or sued and about to lose everything then its just fine. Huggins should be hired as the coach because he is the most competent person available, period.

I'm all for Huggins. I could care less if he is an alcoholic, he wins. He is a grown man and if he wants to drink that should be up to him. As long as he is not drunk on the job, let him knock himself out. I am so sick of treating college students like they are children. These are adults we are talking about. It is not the coaches job to teach a kid to be a good responsible person, it is the parents job. I got news for those who think it is the coaches job, if they are not good people by this time, it ain't gonna happen. A basketball coach is hired to teach basketball and win. Really sick of the paternal attitude that exists in college athletics.

I disagree about the suspensions. That was pure stupidity and naivity on USF' Athletic Departments part. USF simply shot itself in the foot and probably cost the school a bowl game. That was THE harshest penalty in the BCS. USF is not in a position to do that. Geez, UT gives 2 game suspensions for weapons charges AND drugs! UF manipulates suspensions around opponents. Do you think people think USF is a better school than Texas or Florida because of that? Of course not! USF can't hold UT's or UF's jock academically! It was silly. In addition, I am sorry, but I do not think that game suspensions is the way to punish scholarship athletes. They need to be on the field EARNING their scholarships, not in street clothes watching. There is too at stake to not have those players earn their scholarships. Punish the hell out of them OFF THE FIELD. We are now paying the price for all the hits Grothe took early in the season because we had no running back. Williams is a nice kid, but not a DIA RB. My guess is Grothe has a rib injury that tightened up in the cold, all his throws were high which looka likw a rib injury not allowing him to follow through. If he is not 100% gonna be a long month.

Bien will back the present coaching staff no matter what happens. I have been through this several times with him on coaching decision and players on the field performance. Amp has been a huge disappointment on the field. I'm sorry but at the BCS level, on-field performance has to count more than whether you'd want your daughter to date him. Loyalty to "good" kids has cost this program in the past. That and silly punushments that are 3 times harsher than other BCS teams. At this level the best should play and USF should punish at the same level as other BCS games, period. THere is too much money and too many people's careers at stake to not field the best team at every possibility.