Gismo

Two weeks in a row defense and offense lose the game in the first quarter.

This article made me teary eyed. it was a horrible injustice that was done to Leavitt. It set us back mightily. I do believe we’d have a lot stronger program, a conference title, and better football culture if Leavitt were allowed to coach until retirement here. We wouldn’t have had the recruiting drop off, and we’d have had more players reach the NFL. We should remember what worked and what it took. Look at the fire and passion and energy and model after it. It’s still a good model for us to follow forever even though he is gone.

McClain was great. I think he will grow to be most like Grothe in this offense if we are comparing him to other USF QBs. He moves and he really looks for receivers down field while he is evading the defense. Ultimately each QB will find their own style, and has a different offense scheme to execute and different team mates. I think he will be the next in line of the great USF starting QBs.

TOP seems important, or at least was very welll managed in the second half in my opinion. Kind of like Jimbo Fisher style. Some of the formations and plays reminded me of Taggarts offense. I do like that using receivers down field routes is a part of the plan, big improvement over Strong. And credit to Taggart who used the receivers to block for each other and get them room to run on short sideline passes, screens and sweeps, making the best plays with the talent we had. I think all future USF coaches should really take some learning from Taggart's offense and what clicked with the type of players in our recruiting pool. I’d love to see USF finally have a passing threat on offense. We haven’t had a really reliable passing QB since Grothe in my opinion. A QB that can make intermediate range passes.

It was clear the team did not quit after starting off 21-0. We need work on defense. Tackling especially. Offense has some things to workout too but now the team finally has a QB to get behind.

TAMU is a great school. I have an MSME from there. There is nothing like the 12th man spirit and a midnight pep rally of 20-30,000 people.

When the football team was good we could get over 50k to RayJay. I was a freshman in 2007. I am sad for the current students who don’t get to experience what I did. I camped overnight in front of the sun dome with hundreds of other students for WVU tickets. One of my best memories, along with that game, and many other packed games. Build an on campus stadium. Make it 40k, some scarcity might help. When we win it will sell out.

Just put it on campus where it fits, put the tailgating area where it makes sense. Offer shuttles from spots across campus to the stadium. Most OCS are just off in the edge of campus and people tailgate all over the campus and take a 2 min campus shuttle from their tailgate to the stadium.

They were still tailgating.

Are there any internet radio streams?

The better question is how much does USF get paid when we sell 25,000 tickets.

It will be the P4 and the Big12 will joint the G6.

If the AAC revenue was higher, they would all maybe stay. The AAC would have passed the big 12 (8 ) if it could hold together. This is really a desperate move by the Big 12, and they probably will try and expand again. It’s good for Houston and BYU, but Cincy and UCF are now on islands.

Disney-ESPN Orlando Bias?

Even if we had a 30k stadium 10 years ago, we’d have more fans today. The OCS is about immersing current students in the fun of “gameday.” Not just the game itself, but the tailgating, the vibe, seeing the cheerful alumni. It gives students an excuse to party, and dramatically increases the number of alumni who will feel tied into athletics and the university. 40k is what I’ve always felt was a good number and what I’ve been saying for years, but even building a 30k stadium 10 years ago would be paying dividends now I believe. An OCS over 10 years would have created a lot more alumni fans. Assume 40,000 students. If the on campus experience draws an extra 5% of them, that is potentially 2,000 students at games who will become alumni fans. As others have mentioned, we are also losing out on potential students who get sold on the gameday fun at FSU, Florida, and UCF. Traveling to RayJay for games sucks for students. We have to also remember our enrollment is not UCF. We don’t need as large a stadium in my opinion. We will always have a smaller alumni and student base. The days of RayJay near sellouts are gone. Our clout in the Big East and our bowl streak, and our ability for big upsets all vanished 10 years ago. We’ve never won a conference championship. The program and experience has to be rebuilt from nothing, not just the coaches building a roster, but the University needs to step up and give USF football a blank sheet redesign. The best time for an OCS announcement would have been riding the highs of 2007 and upsets over big teams, over Auburn, Notre Dame, FSU, and Clemson bowl win. Since we beat those teams on the field it was barely 5 years before 3 had won national championships, and Notre Dame made the playoff. It’s insane how this program has slid backwards. The worst backslide in all of college football. No conference championships, no good bowl tie ins, losing seasons, and now an anemic fanbase.

https://twitter.com/SSN_American/status/1436030858859790340?s=20 Based on a report in that from 2020 based on the 2018 fiscal year, here are the Top 15 grossing G5 schools: UCF 30 (Millions) CSU 25 SMU 20.5 Boise State 20.3 Houston 19 Memphis 18 USF 16.8 Fresno St 16.4 Tulsa 15.2 Cincinnati 15 UTEP 14.22 FIU 14.2 ECU 14.1 Wyoming 13.6

The time really was 5 years ago. Honestly we should have opened the fundraising for an OCS under Holtz.

USF has blown by UCF in prestige and academic ranking. I will take that over a Big 12 invite if they were mutually exclusive. The big 12 is not even considered a power conference any longer by many fans (especially SEC fans) with the loss of OU and Texas, and is now left with a bunch of weak academics and football programs. When I enrolled at USF we were about even with UCF in academics. Today we are 60 or more spots ahead on the USNWR list, nearing top 100, and are now on par, if not surpassed FSU academically. I would not say the USF leadership should be fired. They’ve done well, very well. USFs better academics is now being recognized by future students and their parents. A parent told me their son chose UCF because of his friends but she had hoped he would choose USF because it’s a better school. In reality it probably makes almost no difference except for certain technical majors, but USF is being recognized as the better academic institution.

In terms of on the field performance, the AAC was equal or better than the Big12 when you remove Texas and Oklahoma. With that said, TV, fanbase, and athletic revenue is more important than the teams performance for conference affiliation and media deals.

Honestly it would be better for the ACC to pack the big 12 than Vice versa. Take WVU, TCU, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State. If Texas has the athletes to support 6 teams in a “power” conference so can Florida. 1 Texas A&M (SEC) 2 Texas (SEC) 3 TCU (B12) 4 Baylor (B12) 5 Texas Tech (B12) 6 Houston (B12) The state of Florida 1 Florida (SEC) 2 FSU (ACC) 3 Miami (ACC) 4 UCF (B12) 5 USF (B12/ACC) Expect more conference realignment in a few years. PAC or Big 10 makes a move, Big12 or ACC has to add teams again, or maybe even lose “power” conference status.

A decade has past. We need to figure out the future, we can’t replicate the Big East. I don’t think Leavitt can fix things, and if he does poorly it will only cause a dilemma and may tarnish how long time fans see him.

Gators 45-10

I doubt all these years the USF administration and coaches weren’t trying (except Charlie Strong). It is not easy to generate demand for a losing team, and for the coaches, USF has proven coaching isn't easy. A backyard full of speedy athletic talent, and a weak conference, yet stubborn coaches can’t adapt to put together a winning formula (except Taggart in a final act of desperation). the thing they really needed to do was go for an OCS. That is really the one thing the USF leadership can be faulted for.

Academically, USF is one of the top potential members. For Football, UCF has better recent record, OCS, and more fan support and probably better ratings as a result. The new Big 12 will be the weakest “P5.” Will be treated like the old Big East, but overall still have a better playoff contention SOS than the AAC. Will definitely need to be undefeated though. I will always be a USF fan and show support. I appreciate USF for more than just football. Though the prospect of the football team being left in a weak conference with perpetual coaching failures is demoralizing.