TheUpperHand

I’m pretty sure CJL had the same criticism. He moved players outside of their position to suit his needs. George Selvie was a center in HS and turned into a **** good DE. The Grothe days were derided as sandlot ball…it wasn’t pretty but the job got done.

Tom Herman has 75 games as a HC prior to today including multiple Top 10 finishes. Think his Game 1 against an FCS team will look a bit different than a first time HC against a CUSA contender with a top rated QB.

If y’all wanna talk about expectations not being met, then we shoulda kept CJS. We were one of the worst teams in the nation last year. WKU ended up in about the middle. If you’re expecting us to improve that much after a few practices and no live games, you better start watching SEC football instead.

Then we shouldn’t place our hopes in a first time HC

Even the GCO took a few games to get established — and that was after CWT tried to force the Stanford offense for 2 years. This is a free year. No expectations. Hope wherever we end up in year 2 is a marked improvement from this year. Think CAG is being held to higher standards than CJS was.

What’s going on with people being so negative? It’s CAGs first game as a HC period. We’re within a score of a team we thought we were gonna lose to that has one of the best QBs in the country. Was the expectation that he was gonna take one of the worst FBS teams and spank a solid, established team in game 1?

Nvm said bad clock management but was so drunk I thought it was halftime

I was worried with those 3 WRs stacked on the left again on 3rd down but that was heads up smacking the pass down.

This play calling looking uninspired so far. RB run, QB run, pass. Our go fast offense is just giving the ball back to WKU quickly.

I think many have ignored the spirit of the question. Apparently CAG doesn’t get any grace…

I dunno, WKU gets 2 TDs and 2 FGs, the second one comes as time expires?

Let’s say a win isn’t in the cards today, what outcome would you feel better about: 14-20: Defense is amped and disruptive. 2 INTs, 3 sacks, 7 TFL, 2 PD, and 2 FF. A few hits might make Sports Center. War Daddies are out in force and look to make a name for themselves. WKU wins on a 50 yard FG as time expires. The USF offense scores fast on its opening drive of the game and of the second half but is otherwise out of sorts and fails to comeback in their final possession. There looks to be potential, but there was a concerning number of drops and presnap penalties. A few head scratching screen plays for loss and some crucial conversions were overthrown. Clock management is frustrating at times. 54% completions, 200 Yds, 1 TD 2 INT. While there were a few long runs, the average per carry was only 3.9. 35-42: USF scores on their first two drives and again in the 2nd quarter. Defense misses tackles, DBs play too far off the ball, and the D-line starts to get shoved around later in the game. One sack, 2 TFL, 0 FF or INTs. After the half, the score is 21-14. A shootout ensues and both teams score on consecutive drives. Going into the 4th, we hold a 35-28 lead. Both teams keep their foot on the gas, WKU gets behind the coverage for a TD and also breaks a tackle for a long run into the end zone. USF drives the ball, missing a FG wide-right and turns the ball over on their final possession at the WKU 20 yard line.

My dog woke me up to drop a watery deuce at 2:00 AM. Was more pleasant than a round of anything with a UCF fan.

Not much different than the way I spend most nights. Might as well add Saturdays as well.

These helmets are stupid — how they gonna see with that giant sticker on their visor?

Oh, man. I saw this last night as I was dozing off in my beer-induced fatigue. I thought I imagined this picture and it was some fever dream. Weird...

This is close to where I stand. In my mind, 5/10 hype means an average season. Like a 5/10 means 'We had a borderline season last year and we've got some pieces in place to bounce back' or 'This looks like a rebuilding year, there's some big question marks.' Any time it's Year 1 of a new coach, unless it's plainly a whiff, the hype is going to be above average. That's the only reason this is a 6/10, otherwise we have a lot going against us. Terrible conference, terrible performance over the last several years, lots of question marks on both sides of the ball -- on paper we have potential but that was true a bunch of other years. Without the mystique of a new coach, this is a 2/10 or 3/10 year.

I was observing that the very first sentence in the official newspaper of USF makes a claim that shows they have no idea what they’re talking about (that this is the most anticipated season in 25 years).

The Oracle football preview calls the upcoming season 'arguably the most anticipated season in USF football history since first kicking off in 1997.' Now, this might be true for a Staff Writer who thinks VooDoo 5 is an energy drink and that Big East is a TikTok star. But for those of us who have been following the Bulls for a while, how would you rate this season on a scale of 1 - 10 in terms of preseason hype (NOT the actual outcome of the season itself)? Where would you place compared to other seasons? 1. 2008: The 2007 season is still the stuff of legend, not just for Bulls fans but for college football as a whole, as it was one of the most chaotic in the past few decades. USF pulled off six straight wins including at No. 17 Auburn in overtime, vs a sellout crown in Tampa against No. 5 West Virginia, and a 64-12 drubbing of C-USA Champion UCF in the War on I-4. After rising to #2 in the FBS polls, the Bulls suffered 3 consecutive heartbreaking losses by an average of five points to fall out of the rankings completely. Thanks to a late-season surge, USF was welcomed to the Sun Bowl where a close 14-18 first-half ultimately saw the Oregon Ducks pull away for a 56-21 final. The season was full of triumph and heartbreak that hasn’t been matched since and the expectations were sky-high for 2008 to be a repeat. Hype: 11/10 2. 2010: For the first time in program history, USF would be without head coach Jim Leavitt. After a much-publicized investigation of a players allegations as well as an alleged obstruction and coverup by Leavitt, fans were sharply divided both on the decision to terminate the father of Bulls Football in addition to the hire of Skip Holtz. On one hand, Holtz had won two conference championships, something South Florida had failed to do. He was savvy, had a good pedigree, and worked well with the media. On the other hand, Big East football was seen as a different beast, as evidenced by the 7-24 loss Holtz suffered in his head-to-head match against USF in the Birmingham Bowl a few years prior. Was he really the answer for a program that needed a big push to get over the hump in its national aspirations? With dynamic quarterback B.J. Daniels under his wing, answers would need to come fast with USF’s first-ever game against the Florida Gators, a loaded Big East slate, and a late-season away game against the Miami Hurricanes. Hype: 10/10 3. 2017: Coming off a 2016 campaign in which USF capped off the season with a Birmingham Bowl win over SEC opponent and finished the year ranked No. 19, the fanbase looked forward to the introduction of new head coach Charlie Strong, who was expected to continue to build on the recent success of the Willie Taggart years. It was hoped that Strong would shore up a defensive-unit that gave up more than 30 points a game to complement explosive playmakers Quinton Flowers, D’Ernest Johnson, Darius Tice, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling and help the Bulls to their first conference championship. Hype: 9/10 4. 2005: The 2004 campaign was a rough stretch. The team managed their first losing record since the inaugural season, suffering frustrating blowout losses to the top elements of the conference and OOC opponents South Carolina and Pittsburgh. USF struggled to find an answer at quarterback with Pat Julmiste throwing more interceptions than touchdowns and managing less than 150 passing yards per game. While Andre Hall proved to be a human highlight reel, his 200 yard, 2 TD effort wasn’t enough to prevent an embarrassing 35-42 loss to 2-9 Army. However, the Bulls meteoric rise to prominence prompted an invite to the Big East conference following the departure of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College. In 2005, USF was set to play big-time BCS football as well as their first ever matchup against a Big 3 opponent (Miami) in addition to the beginning of the War on I-4 series against UCF. The question was how Jim Leavitt would answer the struggles of 2004 while stepping up a level in competition. Hype: 8/10 5. 2001: In only their fifth-ever football season, USF managed to make the move to the I-A (FBS) level of college football, a seemingly unthinkable feat. In 2000, the Bulls defeated 3 Top-25 I-AA opponents and played against four I-A opponents (Kentucky, Baylor, No. 18 Southern Miss, Connecticut). The 2001 schedule would include a full slate of I-A opponents, including matchups against high-profile teams like Pittsburgh and Utah. Marquel Blackwell was primed to follow-up his prior two successful seasons while Kawika Mitchell and J.R. Reed were set to lead the I-A transition on defense. Hype: 8/10 6. 2003: Only two years after its promotion to the I-A level of football, USF was aligned with its first ever conference: Conference USA. Not only would the path to a bowl game be much easier, but the opportunity to be crowned with a conference championship seemed likely following a 17-5 record as a I-A Independent. Although the Bulls would have to say farewell to dynamic quarterback Marquel Blackwell, it was hoped that with an aggressive defense, there’d be enough pieces in place on offense between backup Ronnie Banks, newcomer Pat Julmiste, and running backs DeJuan Green and Clinton Crossley. Hype: 7/10 7. 2016: After a 7-21 start to the Willie Taggart era, the 2015 Bulls stampeded to a 7-2 run capped off by the programs first bowl appearance in five years. The Gulf Coast Offense came together under the three-headed monster of Quinton Flowers, Marlon Mack, and Rodney Adams. Tom Allen built a new defensive identity with the Bull Shark defense and little-known Raymond Woodie would be tasked with maintaining it. With a manageable schedule and a home date with Florida State, USF looked poised to make a run for a conference championship. Hype: 7/10 8. 2013: The Holtz New Era had ended with a whimper at USF. A reboot was welcomed but the fanbase was on the fence about the smooth-talking Willie Taggart. He said the right things, had connections to the area, preached hard work and trust, but many felt that a higher profile hire was necessary to bring the program back to the lofty expectations of the Jim Leavitt era. Hype: 6/10 9. 2023: This is about the highest I would put this season, but I'd have no problem dropping it a few more spots. With a weakened AAC, the stakes are a lot lower. We're coming off 4-straight losing seasons. It's always fun to see what a new head coach can do at the helm, but three of the last four guys left us in a worse position than when we started. The preseason hype for Jeff Scott was there, too. As much as we want to argue that this is different because CAG called plays, ran a more exciting offense, hits the recruiting trail better, works harder, and relates to the players better, I thought the same thing about CWT before we lost to McNeese State 21-53. You can easily put 2020 in this spot -- we were debuting a young promising coordinator after giving dusty CCS the boot (and looking for normalcy following 6 months of COVID-19). Hype: 6/10

Fell on their face out of the gate.

He's just in a good mood because we're getting left behind in another round of expansion

So far my prognostication has been more accurate than any of the experts.

Same here. I keep Hulu only for football season.