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Something I think we saw with CWT that we haven't seen the last few years seems to be the few signing day surprises we used to get. That's what elevated our recruiting classes to the top of the AAC every year. I'm not a fan of settling for the 3rd-6th best class in the conference.

He got hired by ESPN this past summer as an analyst and has been calling some games for them this season. He also stops by some of the radio shows and typically provides very knowledgeable takes. Not your typical talking head.

So I'm a regular Sirius XM ESPNU radio listener. This morning The First Team (Taylor Zarzour and Greg McElroy) had Dan Orlovsky on the phone talking about UCF and the CFB Playoff. They touched on their matchup with us on Friday and then Taylor asked Dan about the Bulls and what's happened to us. Dan provided a pretty solid hot take IMO and I transcribed it below to share with you all: Taylor Zarzour - Speaking of USF Dan, what happened to this team? This was a team that early in the season, they knocked off Georgia Tech, they beat Illinois, I know that they had a lot of roster turnover in Strong’s 2nd year, Blake Barnett’s thrown a bunch of INT’s, the defense has struggled. What’s going on with the Bulls right now? Dan Orlovsky - Yeah so offensively, they’re just, they’re in my opinion, in watching them on tape, they’re still stuck in 8 years ago. I mean ALL they do is tempo, and they just, there’s no emphasis offensively to be just like “ok let’s get Barnett a couple of completions, let’s get him an easy throw.” “Ok how can we help some of our receivers Salomon and McCants, how can we help those guys in man coverage?” Because all they do, the great majority of all they do is just take go routes, whether they’re inside fades from the slot or go routes on the outside… kind of those switch release concepts. You know it’s just very simplified and defenses have gone “ok these are the 3 or 4 things they do in their pass game and we are just going to force them to do 45 yard completions down the field on a constant basis,” and they haven’t been able to hit them so that’s been a big part about what’s gone on with their offense. They just get themselves, you know on 1st down they’ll take a go shot, and on 2nd down they’ll run the ball and get 2 or 3 yards and then its 3rd and 7. They live in 3rd and long, I mean they live in 3rd and long and then they’ll just go throw deep balls again and that’s really what’s hindered their offense and they don’t get into any kind of rhythm, they don’t open their playbook up because they don’t get 1st downs. You know defensively, they’ve really been hampered by the loss of the MLB Sawtelle. You know he got hurt so they moved a DE in to the MLB position. I watched them early, I had them against Tulsa and I was like “this defense is pretty good, they can run to the football, they play coverage well.” It just seems like they miss the MLB Sawtelle so much with their communication because guys get out of position. But they do some things well, guys just get out of position and it just doesn’t look like a team that is in tune with what they are doing defensively. But I will say this, they are asked to do a ton because of the offensive inefficiency. I mean there’s a lot of pressure on them to play well. You know they’ve lost 4 in a row, but 3 out of those 4, excluding the handling by Houston a month ago, they were up 17 last week on the road in Temple, they went into Cincinnati and were up against Cincinnati, it’s just they get into the 2nd half and have played so many plays on defense because their offense is struggling so much and they get kind of worn out.

Could be that Reaves is a leader on the defense, more vocal, and can call the plays/alignments.

I found it pretty comforting Strong has experience in dealing with this offense in the past. If we could get it done against Navy with Woodie as DC, I’m optimistic we can get it done with a real DC and defensive minded HC.

Sorry, just saw this. But glad you were able to get it to work!

So I'm not sure if you all are aware, but a buddy just asked me to grab him some tickets for this Saturday's game through my USF Season Ticket account. I of course logged in to oblige and was able to snag him 4 tickets in Section 208 for $20 a piece with a "special group discount." If you know anyone that wants to go, you can't beat the $20 price tag for club access. I'm sure other areas of the stadium may be even cheaper! Lets pack Ray Jay!!!!

I've been planning on building one as well, with the intent on having it done for next season. I'd like to have a concession window with an awning on the side, but i'm just not sure how difficult it would be to install or if I should just purchase the trailer with one already. Did you do any research on that by any chance?

Sale was awesome and it was cool to see so many fans on campus on a random Wednesday afternoon. I was expecting things to be a bit more expensive, but forgot that Adidas is coming in soon so they needed to get rid of everything. Polos, 1/4 zips, button downs, etc. at $12, jackets and warmups were about $15, hats/gloves $5. I couldn't believe the deals and probably went a bit overboard lol. Got there about 10 minutes after the sale started and managed to snag a handful of polos and shirts, several hoodies, a helmet, a SoFlo McCants jersey, a pair of SoFlo gloves and a pair of American flag gloves. I plan on framing the gloves with the McCants jersey and with the jersey received through renewing season tix. No need to buy new gear for quite some time unless I get fat and can't fit into it. Works out well given that I'm not a fan of the Adidas gear anyway.

Hate to jump back on topic... but has anyone that renewed online received an email advising they are one of the top 300 accounts? I renewed at 10:04 and haven't heard anything, while a buddy renewed at around 10:40 and received the aforementioned email. P.S.: I know this is moot considering they sent an email saying they were able to get 200 extra jerseys, but just wondering.

I'll be at a wedding for 2 fellow USF alums. This will be the first USF vs. UCF game I've missed in person. I am not happy, especially considering this is the year the game has exploded into all that everyone wanted/thought it could be. With that said, I'll be streaming this one on the phone during the entire wedding. Go Bulls!

I just completed this quiz. My Score 20/100 My Time 86 seconds

This. It made no sense to have everyone leave their tailgates to walk to Tampa Bay Blvd. and stand behind the band and not get to interact with the players/coaches and then turn around and walk all the way back to their tailgates. I attended both and it seemed like the only people watching were the team's families.

I just completed this quiz. My Score 9/100 My Time 32 seconds

This. I could go for a discounted or free conference champ game ticket.

FWIW a very close friend and USF Alum that lives in Chicago is planning on attending Friday's game. His girlfriend's boss is very close with Illinois AD and earlier today told my friends the above statement. It's Tampa or bust.

How're they going to tell who's in the Bulls Club and who isn't? List with names they cross off via photo ID verification?

Majority of fans in B-Ham Bowl this past year were from USC East. We don't travel as well as we used to it seems. Maybe a NY6 bowl bid would change that.

I wondered the same thing when I heard them mention it... but they gave no explanation.

18. USF Taylor Zarzour and Greg McElroy host "The First Team" morning show on Sirius XM College Sports. They've been doing a pre-season Top 25 countdown every day and today was our turn. The teams behind us were 25. Michigan St., 24. Washington, 23. Texas, 22. UCLA, 21. Louisville, 20. NC State, and 19. Kansas St. Some notes from their segment: McElroy barely had us in his Top 25. Zarzour had us higher than were they ranked us, but collectively we came out to 18. Noted that we lost Mack and some other players, but that we return Flowers and a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. Noted our favorable schedule stating it was "more than manageable." Both hosts agree we are the best G5 school on paper and that we should find ourselves in a bowl on New Years Day. Talked a lot about Charlie Strong and how much of a better situation he is in than he was at Texas. They gushed over Flowers calling him "outstanding" noting his exceptional TD to INT ratio and that he was only sacked 13 times last year. McElroy believes that our OC is a star in the industry and doesn't get the credit he deserves from last year. Noted they had a difficult situation with a young QB at Texas, but that he adapted and made their offense work with their RB. Both agreed that our year depends on how Flowers performs. If he builds off of last year we are set for great things, but if he is average to sub-par we will run into problems and may end up at 9-3. Compared it to Houston and Greg Ward's play at QB last year with his inconsistency. Acknowledged that although we lost to FSU last year, we still put up 35 points on them and noted how impressive that was. Both have concerns over our defense and how many yards and points we gave up last year. Noted that we forced a lot of turnovers last year and that we should be even better at that this year. Both felt Strong will help this defense take a step forward this year, but it remains to be seen how much of a step forward that is. Zarzour likes D'Ernest Johnson and wants us to rely more heavily on him and less on Flowers, but both would be surprised if that happens. Both have concerns over our WR's noting that behind Valdes-Scantling we don't have much depth as it relates to experience/catches per game. Discussed taking a road trip to San Jose St. to watch us play and "christen the season." Went through our schedule briefly and Zarzour thinks we will be in the Fiesta Bowl at 11-1 or 12-0. Zarzour feels the East Division of the AAC is weak this year and that the West has the stronger division. Both noted that USF was the ONLY G5 team that cracked their Top 25. McElroy explained that he had us at 25 because our SOS doesn't have a game that will give us a marquee victory. Feels our toughest game is against UCF and that all our games are manageable. Stated the next toughest games would be ECU (because its away) and Houston (noting they will be down this year).

I have a few photos hanging in my home office from past games, specifically our wins against FSU and ND. I had purchased them from replayphotos.com as I think they had a partnership with USF. With that being said, I"m looking to purchase a new game photo for the office and went to their site only to find nothing really there anymore. Does anyone know of a site similar to replayphotos.com where I can purchase game photos? I looked on the USF athletics website, but couldn't find anything. Thanks

I find it pretty lame they are only giving 1 commemorative Birmingham Bowl ticket per account. Would love to give one to my brother and mom who I bought tickets for on my account as a Christmas present. Last year I got one for each Miami Bowl ticket I purchased. Cheap move USF.

I'm in 208 and mine cost the exact same as last year.

Did we land Ironside yet???

I know info from sources of sources doesn't mean much, but FWIW I was told that Kiffin was on USF's campus yesterday. A friend's co-worker's father is a supplier for athletics and he was told this by people in our athletics building.