TrujilloBull2013

they've always had attractive young ladies working in there... i believe their staff are mostly students. Craig is a good guy. he recognized my wife and i when we bumped into him at the Trop for a Sox game a few years back, just two customers who came up from Bradenton maybe 2 or 3 times a season to buy gear and he recognized us. that's the kind of business-customer interaction u don't get from a chain, from eBay, or an internet storefront... and there is usually a lot of unique **** in there u can't find anywhere else, even the 'net. i'll have to take a trip up next week and buy my son some new stuff. if even a $5 helmet keychain or bracelet would help, i can do that. i hate to see an individually owned small business go down like that.

i can say this... USF has provided some of the greatest highs and lowest lows i've ever experienced as a sports fan. nothing sports related, to this date, has been as surreal as witnessing USF beat the Tigers in Auburn. and only a few things-- the Helmet Catch in SBXLII, Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals-- sting as much as the Rutgers IFP call. the immediate effect was like being punched in the nuts by Mike Tyson in his prime, then the lingering feeling was a "my girlfriend just broke up with me for my worst enemy and leaked a sex tape on InstaGram" type of chest-hurt for the entire week afterward, and now it is kinda like that open wound that can only be healed by finding a hotter girlfriend-- or having a better season-- than the one that got away.

the illegal forward propulsion call, i think, is the exact moment the USF football program lurched from full throttle to reverse. it has been a downhill trajectory ever since, with a few nice moments (ND, Clemson) thrown in to take the metaphorical barrell out of my mouth for just one more game... now all it seems there is to go on is "potential" to turn this thing back around. but yeah... the IFP call was like a stab in the heart to the program and we've been watching it bleed out with a few fighting kicks and spasms for the past 7 years. at least that's how it's felt to me as a fan and (more importantly) alum. in the imaginary land of supposition and "what if's," had those refs got that call right the entire future of Big East football could have changed... at the very least the future of the USF football program. i honestly don't believe USF would have gone to the BCSNCG that year-- they likely would have been snubbed or dropped to 3rd after the "major" conference championship games, or the lack of depth would have led to a less painful "collapse" later on-- but USF in a BCS bowl would have made the conference look stronger than simply WVU taking it (again), and may have made us more attractive target for realignment. but whatever... 12-0 or 0-12 this isn't just my team it's my school.

i dropped (well, flunked) out of junior year of HS, and that was after spending most of freshman year in ISS, sophomore year truant two or more days a week, and junior year taking sophomore classes on the "fast track" to the slow 5 year + summer school graduation plan. **** that. never took ACT, never took SAT, never graduated. GED = Good Enough Diploma. i only got into USF (back in '05) because of the 2 + 2 plan that guarantees admission to a FL public University with the completion of an AA/AS at a Florida 2-year college. my grades from CC unquestionably justified my admission-- i got my AA with a 3.8 and graduated USF with an institutional 4.0 (some old F's from my first semester at CC pissed my graduating GPA to around 3.7 but anyway).... the point is if my admission to USF or ANY academic institution were dependent on ANYTHING related to my High School experience, from grades to discipline, i would have been screwed. i love seeing the selectivity of USF increase along with the average scores and GPA of incoming freshmen BUT... i want to see some studies on how successful USF graduates are once they enter the workforce; rate of employment, average annual salary, the industries in which they work, etc. i don't think we would be disappointed. my BA from USF got me a job right after graduation, and has led to opportunities living and working internationally. when it comes to a University, i think the more important thing is what comes OUT with a cap, gown and tassel rather than what comes in. USF (along with the 2 years at SCF) turned a drop out flunky with disciplinary issues at 3 high schools all over his record into a teacher with international experience.

that's a shame. strength training, once proper technique is learned, is a matter of discipline and dedication. it's not a complicated technical skill that has to be learned, practiced then executed in game situations. it is 100% personal commitment. u can have the best facilities and best strength trainers but if the personal commitment isn't there u get... the 2013 USF Bulls football team. the coach's job is to instill that ethic and that culture. Skip couldn't and didn't. he was too busy being their mother. i believe Taggart has the character to change that and make players out of these athletes. the strength of his leadership ability was on display with his AAC tops recruiting class. if he can convince these kids to come here over places like FSU, Georgia, etc. he should be able to get them to buy into the new USF culture.

this is a non-starter. Big 12 is better because there is more money. TV money is better, bowl tie-ins are better and more lucrative, better access to the playoff system. the "AAC has better travel cities" argument is irrelevant, as far as universities and conferences go. the fact that people can make a side trip to Disney or Universal while on a road game to UCF, or go drinking at the French Quarter on a road trip to Tulane earns the universities or conferences no money..... and in the end, while Norman, Stillwater or Morgantown may not be great destination cities for tourist stuff, the GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE at those universities violation on what we get in the AAC. i know we all want to polish this turd, and all of the arguments in favor of the AAC are excellent selling points that make this turd look a lil shinier and smell a lil less rank than the CUSA or MAC turd... but it's still a turd guys. Big 12 calls, u jump. no hesitation.

if i'm not mistaken there's a new offensive coordinator... i'm sure the fundamental offensive philosophy won't change much at all and that gives White/Bench a def advantage, but there will be a learning curve for the vets too. Flowers has the most raw athletic talent, so he also has his own advantages. more experience + less athletic talent vs. less experience + more athletic talent... it's only a matter of time before the talent combines with experience and the best QB emerges. don't forget that, although White has experience with practice, he was sitting on a redshirt most of the year and only saw a few games worth of playing time. Bench got caught behind the idiotic Eveld experiment and didn't see much PT either, and isn't the best fit for Taggarts system... neither of the vets have as huge a leg up on Flowers as it would seem.

i think green matte with like a gold or white stensiled logo would be sick... kinda have the overspray/splatter effect on the flat green. it would be different. it's not long before football helmets adopt the airbrushed goalie masks of the NHL

gold chrome is cool. i like the matte color on the green one, but the logo is too big and im not sure i would have gone with a gold chrome logo on it. the sticker just looks cheap.

We are installing that Stanford offense. You will see. In time, it will be a well built offensive machine. Arizona St knew that Stanford offensive machine was coming and they still could not stop. USF will recruit more players that understand that system. They will have their current players hit the weight room. They will be bigger, stronger, and tougher next year. Taggart is a winner. "USF will recruit more players that understand that system." So, how does that happen? Taggart will go out and suddenly find recruits that somehow understand his system? The majority of the team (~75%) understood the offense better than any recruit would be able to do that, as they were there for spring practice. However, it appeared that 75% of the players still could not operate in this system. Yeah, I get it that Holtz left behind Spread Offense players, but to question your point about recruits understanding the system, most HS teams use the Spread or a variation. So, not only is USF running a difficult offense, it's an offense that the vast majority of available recruits actually won't understand. not just the ability to UNDERSTAND the offense, it's also the physical tools to put that understanding into effective use. no doubt Marcus Shaw, a quality spread/read-option back, understood the Stanford offense. but did he, at 5'9 #180 have the physical tools to put what he "understood" into the most effective practice? he made some great plays and had great games against McNeese and FAU, but didn't do much else the rest of the season... he even got injured. why? because despite the "understanding" he may have had, his small frame simply didn't allow him to handle the physical wear and tear of this offense. "understanding" wasn't the issue. that isn't all Marcus' fault either... go on down the line, literally, and see the trail of dominos that fall before Shaw even touches the ball. by "line" i mean OLine... not quite sure they understood the offense, but i think there is a pretty strong general consensus that they were unable to execute it. they were HORRIBLE in pass protection and sub-mediocre in run blocking. reading this board and other analyses of the USF offense and O-Line, it seems a large part of the blame falls on their lack of size and strength to execute.... AGAIN, "understanding" is secondary to the physical tools to execute. the OLine simply didn't have it. so, the next logical step is to ask how an undersized back (for the system) and an undersized/outstrengthed OLine (for the system) impact the rest of the offense... horrible pass protection leads to horrible passing, compounded by a true freshman who burned his redshirt and played his first game midway thru the season. Mike White clearly had problems with the system, as evidenced by the repeated procedural penalties resulting from his calling the snap before players were set. while White could certainly use some long hours in the gym this spring and summer, his main problem-- and understandably so-- was limited in-game experience with and "understanding" of the system, surrounded by players in positions critical to his success who may have understood the system but were physically poor fits. to wrap this diatribe up, it is not as simple as getting players in the fold who "understand." it is also a matter of getting players in the system whose PHYSICAL ABILITIES match up with their capacity to grasp the offense. one without the other-- understanding without the optimum physical tools, or physical tools without the ability to understand-- leads to failure. plain and simple. USF isn't strictly recruiting players who ALREADY understand the system (although it would be ideal to recruit players familiar with a pro-style offense), they are recruiting players first and foremost who fit the physical and athletic mold of a Stanford player... they don't have to understand the offense first day on the field, but they MUST have the physical attributes and athletic talent to execute that understanding, and the mental attributes to learn. it's clear we have a lack of both right now-- many players in key positions are physically and athletically poor fits for the system, others simply can't make the adjustment to the system.... but to assert that there are not enough recruits in Florida with both the physical talent to execute the system and the intellectual capacity to understand it despite not having played it in high school, is bogus. they absolutely exist, Taggart just has to find them and mold them. the days of USF just being able to grab whatever track athlete they can find and plugging him into a patchwork offense like Holtz had or a super-simplified, predictable spread offense like Gregory, Canales, etc. under Leavitt are over. the college football landscape has changed. USF, as member of the AAC, simply cannot field a team full of track stars and solid 3-star athletes and expect to win 7, 8 or 9 games like they used to. it's not happening anymore. it's time USF created an identifiable offensive scheme and recruited accordingly. the patchwork days are gone.

good idea. then the recruits he brought in last offseason would have wasted an entire season of development in the Stanford offense learning a temporary "whatever Holtz ran" offense that will be phased out by next year instead. i don't understand why so many people have difficulty understanding that holding off on learning the real offense in favor of "tailoring the offense to the talents of the players we already have" only stunts the growth and prolongs the rebuilding process... ESPECIALLY considering the players we already have don't have much ******* talent to tailor an offense around in the first place! get the hard part out of the way now so we can win sooner, instead of suffering thru bad-to-mediocre seasons as the talentless Holtz recruits work their way out of the system and Taggart's recruits work their way in. the players coming back next year will be BETTER OFF having a year of the REAL offense under the belts rather than a year of "tailoring a ****** offense to ****** talent" that may have yielded one or two extra wins and left our players no better prepared for the future than they were a year ago. stop being so myopic.

DeDe was one of the few bright spots over the past few tough years for the Bulls.

i'm going to go take a :smazza:

good post

what is there to get over? nobody is arguing whether or not UCF is going to a BCS bowl. that is undebatable. the discussion is whether that accomplishment alone is enough to deem the UCF football program more successful OVERALL than the USF football program. if u have nothing to add u can feel free to sit yourself down and have another can of grape soda, quietly.

they were also a crapped bed in Pittsburgh away from sending a team to the BCS national championship. who does the AAC have that is a legit contender? even if Louisville went 12-0 they wouldn't go to the BCS championship. also keep in mind that every team in the Big East played eachother. USF had to play consistently ranked WVU, Louisville, Cinci and Rutgers teams every single year. UCF had the luxury of dodging a good Cincinnati team this year, and has never had to play an in-conference championship contender.

winning in C-USA and the AAC vs. winning in the Big East is like comparing flyweight to middleweight. u are the flyweight. better record, but u haven't been fighting the same level of comp with wins over some serious knockout artists.

2 while in the Big East.

u are comparing an AAC berth to a Big East berth? do u honestly believe the AAC is better than the Big East? the AAC has no legitimate championship contenders. the Big East had West Virginia. i'd also much rather play Temple and Memphis as doormats than Pittsburgh and Syracuse. u should know that well, the Knights are 0-1 against Pitt and 0-3 against Cuse. imagine UCF gets to the Big East in 2005 rather than USF. do u have 10-win seasons? do u beat WVU, Louisville, Cinci in the same season? congrats on the good season in the AAC. but get high off your own aroma. the Big East the AAC is not.

exactly.

it is ONE accomplishment they have that we don't. how do u reach the conclusion that they have accomplished MORE? that's like saying i have one $5 bill and u have three $1 bills and telling me u have more money. when talking about MORE ACCOMPLISHMENTS it is a reference to history as a whole. this season is ONE individual accomplishment. it alone does not outbalance the litany of accomplishments the USF football program has achieved in a much shorter period of time. would USF kill for a 10-1 season? sure. but a 10-1 (or 11-1) season in the AAC, or C-USA is no grand feather in the cap. it is, for a team like USF that spent nearly the last decade in a legitimate BCS conference, a consolation prize. for UCF it's the highlight of their program..... and that alone indicates just how far apart these two programs stand in terms of expectations and achievements. would USF have racked up a few 10 win seasons if we had spent the past 8 years in C-USA? we'll never know, because we were too busy getting 9 win seasons in the Big East.

such as... ? conference championships in C-USA and AAC are the only things i can think of. can u think of anything else? head-to-head: USF record (win%) vs. AQ conferences/opponents: USF record (win%) vs. ranked teams: USF bowl record: USF ranking (both highest ranking and number of times ranked): USF i'd also submit wins over FSU and Miami in their own house as pretty big ******* trump cards. UCF is 0-5 vs. the Big 3. so tell me again how much more UCF has accomplished than USF. i won't hold my breath.

we'd kill to be 10-1, sure. but being 10-1 in the AAC doesn't suddenly catapult UCF's program over USF, even with last night's squeaker in MouseTown. spread it all out on the table, USF's football history and UCF's football history. which is more impressive?

to the UCF fan(s): i'm not talking about just one game, although that is part of it. USF during its competitive years ruptured your lower intestine with 64-12 victories. UCF during its best season barely squeezed by USF during its worst. i'm talking about the bigger picture, the history of the two programs, and addressing the question i have seen posed dozens of times on this forum: "has the UCF football program surpassed USF?" and the answer is clearly NO. NO based on the evidence last night. NO based on the level of competition USF faced (Big East) when it was successful compared to the level of competition UCF has faced in its recent run of success (C-USA, AAC). NO based on the fact that USF in its competitive years CONSISTENTLY beat ranked, AQ teams and often in their own house. FSU. Auburn. WVU. Notre Dame. NO based on the fact USF is 15-15 against current ACC teams, UCF is 2-16; 5-8 against current Big 12 teams, UCF is 0-5. there isn't a single P5 conference that USF doesn't have a better record against with the exception of the B1G. we have been on bigger stages and won on bigger stages and done it more consistently.

don't forget those of us outside the country.