bullsmeanbusiness

From my interaction with both VPAMK and those at fbschedules, Miami is not available and since they are a private school they do not have to disclose it.

For 2019 none of the teams listed above are available. The only known P5 school available that has a slot open is TCU. I don't think it is realistic to believe that we are going to be able to schedule something with TCU this last in the game, so I would expect an FCS school to close out the 2019 schedule.

Thanks @Brad !

USF athletic director Michael Kelly confirmed Wednesday the Bulls and Central Michigan have mutually agreed to terminate their two-game home-and-home series set to begin next year in Mount Pleasant, Mich. The agreement was reached earlier this year, before Kelly's arrival at USF in August. Since both parties agreed to the termination, no buyouts were involved. USF was set to face the Chippewas next season on the road Sept. 14, after consecutive games against Power Five foes Wisconsin (Aug. 31 at home) and Georgia Tech (Sept. 7 in Atlanta). CMU was scheduled to come to Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 11, 2021. The cancellation now affords USF a chance at a seven-game home schedule in '19. Kelly said the Bulls currently are seeking potential home opponents to fill next season's vacancy, with an announcement perhaps arriving by the end of the month. CMU already has reached a two-game agreement with New Mexico State to replace the Bulls on its schedule. http://www.tampabay.com/sports/usf-bulls/2018/09/19/usf-central-michigan-cancel-2-game-football-series/

I posted this back in May when the UF/USF series was announced but did not look at 2019 games at the time. P5 Schools with openings: 2020: ACC: (Florida State, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, Miami, UNC), Big 12: (TCU), Big Ten: (Rutgers, Northwestern), Pac 12: (UCLA, Southern Cal), SEC: (Vanderbilt, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn), Independent: (Notre Dame) 2021: ACC: (Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, UNC), Big 12: (Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, Texas Tech), Big Ten: (Maryland, Penn State, Rutgers, Michigan, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue), Pac 12: (Washington, UCLA). SEC: (Georgia, Missouri, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Texas A&M), Independent: (Notre Dame, BYU) 2023: ACC: (Boston College, Florida State, Syracuse, Wake Forest, Duke, Pittsburgh, Virginia, Miami, UNC), Big 12: (Kansas, Kansas State, TCU, West Virginia, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma), Big Ten: (Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Northwestern, Purdue), Pac 12: (Cal Berkley, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington, Washington State, Colorado, Southern Cal, Utah), SEC: (Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, LSU, Texas A&M, Ole Miss), Independent: (Notre Dame, BYU) With the need for a quality 2019 opponent, the only P5 school that (solely based from fbschedules.com) is available for a 1-1 or 2-1 starting in 2019 would be TCU. FBS teams that are available for 2019 (fbschedules and might have missed on) are: UAB, FAU, FIU, UTSA, and ULL.

Da Bulls 63-24 Cronk Salomon 675

Changing to Cronk as Ford did not travel

1) Strongest Bulls unit, RB or WR? WR2) What do you like most about Blake Barnett? Dual-threat capability with a rocket launcher arm3) What concerns you most about Blake Barnett? Locks on to his #1 option4) Favorite tailgate beverage? New Belgium Fat Tire5) What is your guess on the greatest number of members to sign up at TBP in one day? 50

Both the Illinois Fighting Illini and South Florida Bulls enter Week 3 undefeated. This game will mark just the second time the Illini have faced USF — the first was last year when the Bulls romped Illinois in Tampa last season, 47-23. Two of USF’s captains from last season’s team, Quarterback Quinton Flowers and linebacker Auggie Sanchez have since graduated, but make no mistake: this Bulls team is as dangerous as it was a season ago. Special Teams: Which team imposes their will? It’s rare that a post talking about key matchups begins with special teams. That’s what happens when a USF player — specifically true freshman Terrence Horne — goes for not one, but TWO kickoff touchdown returns in last week’s home win versus Georgia Tech. The two-star athlete held just one Power 5 offer (from Oregon State), but WOW, did he put on a show on national television last week. Here’s a taste, compliments of ACC Digital Network: The task is easy — in theory. If you are the Illini and special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky, you tell your players to avoid kicking to Horne at all costs, even if it means a squib kick down the middle or even kicking the ball out of bounds. On the other side, Illinois has to be proud of its special teams unit so far this season. Against Western Illinois, the Fighting Illini blocked a punt for a touchdown. Kicker Chase McLaughlin was 2-for-2 last week against Western, even making a 54-yard attempt look easy in some windy conditions. Punter Blake Hayes continues to look the part — several of his punts were pinned inside the 20-yard line a week ago. Illinois defensive containment vs. USF slippery quarterback The good news for Illinois fans? Quinton Flowers, who terrorized the Illini for five total touchdowns and nearly 400 yards of total offense last season, is gone. The bad news? Alabama transfer Blake Barnett is now the Bulls’ signal caller, and while he isn’t as dynamic of an athlete as Flowers was, Barnett is similarly dangerous moving outside of the pocket with the ball in his hands. Barnett is more of a pocket passer than Flowers was, but not by much. When a play breaks down and Barnett is forced to the sidelines, his head and eyes are always up and looking downfield, and he’s scary accurate in those situations. Look at how he lines up and reads a defense: Illinois’ defensive linemen, specifically the rangy athletes like Isaiah Gay and Bobby Roundtree,absolutely have to win their one-on-one matches at the point of attack. They can’t get blown off the ball like they did in the opening quarter against Western Illinois. Illinois’ chances of winning and keeping this game close depends on Gay and Roundtree being able to keep Blake Barnett inside the pocket where he’s more containable as a pocket thrower. Illinois run game versus USF’s bend-but-don’t-break D USF’s defense, led by safety/linebacker Jaymon Thomas, did a decent job last week of bending and not breaking against Georgia Tech’s heralded triple-option attack. USF allowed 412 rushing yards on 57 Yellow Jackets attempts, which isn’t bad considering the Jackets were just 3-of-12 on third down. Georgia Tech was put in many 3rd-and-long situations all game long, which is less than ideal for a team that needs to get ahead of the chains if it wants to control the game and win. Illinois started its opening drive against Western Illinois without running the football. Once the Illini settled in (and after A.J. Bush’s injury), Illini O-coordinator Rod Smith decided to ride Mike Epsteinto the house. The sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, finished the game with 105 yards on just eight attempts. The Illini need Mike Epstein to put on a show at Soldier Field this coming week. Even if he has four and five-yard carries here and there, the Illini need to keep USF’s offense off the field and keep that Bulls defense guessing when it comes to RPO plays, which only work efficiently when the defense respects the running game. https://www.thechampaignroom.com/2018/9/12/17831254/illinois-football-scout-key-matchups-usf-blake-barnett-special-teams-horne-gay-roundtree-epstein

The South Florida Bulls are coming to Chicago to take on the Fighting Illini of Illinois. Here to discuss the Bulls, the Illini, the game, and how to rebuild a program, is Collin Sherwin, Site Manager over at SB Nation’s own The Daily Stampede. Be sure to come back on Monday when we convene once again to talk about the results of the game. Collin had some great answers for this interview, I can only imagine what he’ll have to talk about afterwards. 1. The USF Bulls are off to a 2-0 start with an impressive win over Georgia Tech last weekend. For anyone who hasn’t been lucky enough to lay eyes on the Bulls this year, explain to them what this team is in layman’s terms. Fast. USF has tons of speed on both sides of the ball, but is a bit younger than in years past. Offensively they’re a veer-and-shoot team that is filled with capable playmakers at the skill positions. Defensively it’s a 4-2-5 system that looked a bit better last week on the D-line than we were anticipating. But the thing with USF is just the amount of guys who can fly, and there’s real depth on offense outside of the O-line. There’s only one other team in the Group of Five that can consistently compete on that level, and they’re 90 miles up the road from us and we very much dislike each other. 2. Blake Barnett was a Top 5 QB recruit when he originally enrolled at Alabama. Then he transferred to Arizona State. Then he transferred to your neck of the woods. How good is this guy? We just weren’t sure when he got here because if a guy is a third-stringer at Arizona State, how good could he really be? Also Charlie Strong doesn’t really let us watch practice like his two predecessors did, so we’re just going off what we hear. But he appears to be the real deal. Big arm, big kid, accurate on intermediate and deep balls... and he can run! His mobility when the pocket broke down or when the defense didn’t account for him is how we beat Georgia Tech last week and scored seven touchdowns. I was skeptical as USF’s history with troubled transfers has certainly been mixed, but I think they found a keeper that’s eligible next year as well. 3. It’s becoming more and more known recently that college QBs transfer a lot — nearly half of all 4- and 5- star quarterbacks have transferred over the past five seasons. What do you make of all this movement? Is this the start of college football “free agency”? Will other positions start doing it more often too? The difference between QB and other positions is there’s only ever one on the field. An RB logjam might be solved by finding a role for a backup in the slot. At linebacker, you can shift from Sam to Will if needed. But since there’s only one QB, and it’s the most important position for success in team sports, the movement to find the right fit between offense and coaching staff makes sense. Especially with the new transfer rules, it’s not going anywhere either. 4. Who else on the team do we need to know about? Preferably one from the offense and the defense. And who’s your greatest NFL prospect? We’re basically a Tyre McCants stan-blog nowadays. He’s your typical 5’11, 240 lb. wide receiver who can pancake block a cement wall downfield. He’s also a playmaker with speed, and loves to run through contact. He’s lethal on bubble screens as he can go around or through defenders once he catches it. If you’ve seen the video of a guy dragging another man five yards into the end zone in the USF-UCF game that became a national highlight, that was him. On defense, Ronnie Hoggins has been terrific. Just 5’8 but with great cover skills and the ability to tackle in space. Also good on the ball with the ability to jump a route for a turnover. 5. We here in Illinois have a lot of major football history — the Fighting Illini and the Bears are old, old football teams with history that predates my grandpa. But USF is only in the midst of their 19th FBS season (with only five of those being losing seasons). What’s it like to watch a program’s legacy being defined? For a lot of us, we don’t know any other way. We were founded in 1997 (it’s actually our 21st season) so a lot of us can rattle off the big plays and stats from every big game in school history. We all know we won our first game 80-3, that we beat Pitt for our first P5 win on the road in 2001 with Marquel Blackwell, Matt Grothe to Jesse Hester at Auburn, Ben Moffitt’s INT vs. West Virginia, Kayvon Webster’s 99-yard scoop-and-score at Notre Dame... there’s a shared history there I don’t think a lot of schools have. We’ve been through it all together, which is pretty cool. There’s a ton of fans that have been to every bowl game we’ve ever played (I missed the Sun Bowl in ‘07 and still feel great shame). But then I hired these kids to run the blog and they don’t even know Chad Barnhardt was USF’s starting quarterback in our first game in ‘97, and I feel so old. 6. Your most recent head coach, Willie Taggart (now the head man at FSU), took the Bulls from bottom-dwellers to conference champions by his third season. Please tell us: How does one do this? Also, don’t just say, “Get Florida recruits”. Honestly: just keep kids home. If we can keep the high-3-star-low-4-star kids from going to lower-tier Big 10 and Big 12 schools (Iowa State, Minnesota, Indiana, y’all, etc.), plus hit on the blue-chip kids who fall through the cracks or want to stay in Tampa for whatever reason, we can beat anyone on any given day that’s not coached by Nick Saban or Dabo Swinney. High school football down here is just so loaded with talent, and not just in Tampa but everywhere in a four-hour direction from our campus. Across the state kids play basically year-round (7 on 7 in the spring and summer), and there’s just a better level of coaching at the youth and high school levels here than most places. We reject kids that end up as players at other schools, and sometimes come back to beat us because we just didn’t have room at their position on the roster. I picked USF to win 10 games this year despite their youth for two reasons: our schedule is pretty cupcake (Ga. Tech was the scary game), and we just have better players than everyone we face. Most teams have to adjust what they want to do to the kids they can recruit: we can take kids that fit what our system is amongst the overwhelming number of non 5-star kids we can get to by driving to in-home visits. 7. Collin, you mentioned to me that you would be in Chicago for the weekend to cover the game. What are you’re plans while you’re in the Windy City? I’m sure if you’re still searching our readers would be willing to give you a few recommendations. Cubs game on Friday, dinner with some friends Friday night, and a tailgate Saturday morning. Still trying for Hamilton tickets too but not looking great. Fortunately I know a few Chicago folks who have plenty of recs, but am always looking for more, and especially non-pizza food stops. I haven’t been back since we stayed in Chicago when we beat Notre Dame six years ago: a bittersweet weekend for a lot of us as our former athletic director Lee Roy Selmon passed away that same weekend. 8. Finally, what are you expectations for this game? I saw all of your game against Kent State, so you’re not going to believe this, but I like our chances. I’m an Eagles fan, but anyone in Tampa would have told you Lovie Smith was a questionable hire at best. I think USF is better-coached, has enough talent to compete, and brings an offense that will really be dynamic. Defensively, I think they can get enough stops and force some turnovers. We are from the South so we are familiar with the trap house as well as the trap game, and this would qualify (Charlie even said so during his press conference). Plus the Bulls are young, and you’ve got some guys that can make plays down the field. AJ Bush clearly has some talent and can help you, depending on system and other personnel. But I do think USF wins this one relatively comfortably. I’ll say 37-17, and USF covers the 9.5 as well. https://www.thechampaignroom.com/2018/9/12/17849534/behind-enemy-lines-usf-pre-game-chicago-illinois-fighting-illini-ncaa-big-ten-lovie-smith

I excluded Illinois, due to them facing two cupcakes and the fact that we are facing them this week.

Two games into the season, the momentum appears to be building for our Bulls. Looking at our remaining schedule, there is a possibility of three undefeated matchups remaining this season. The first being the Houston Cougars. If they can get past Texas Tech, I don't see them entering the Oct. 27th matchup with any losses. After TT they have Texas Southern (W), bye, Tulsa (W), at ECU (W), at Navy (too much Ed Oliver, W). Potential meeting of two 7-0 teams meeting in Houston. The second potential matchup, Cincinnati. Prior to our matchup at Nippert Stadium, the Bearcats have Alabama A&M (W), Ohio (should be W), at UConn (W), Tulane (W), bye, at Temple (was an L now doesn't appear as tough, W), at SMU (W), and Navy (always tough). Potential meeting of two 9-0 teams meeting in Cincinnati. The final potential undefeated matchup, UCF. Of the three, UCF has the highest potential of coming into the game in Tampa with a Loss. Prior to our matchup they have: FAU (with a new bye thanks to Florence, W), Pitt (tough, but should be a W), SMU (W), at Memphis (shootout in AACCG, tough game to predict), at ECU (W), bye, Temple (W), Navy (tough), and Cinci (tough as well). UCF has the potential of coming into Tampa being 10-0 vs 11-0. But could also come into the game with 4 loses as well. Of the three, the most likelihood of an undefeated matchup would be Houston, followed by Cinci, then UCF. If USF were to face three undefeated teams, and win, there is no reason why we should not be top 15/20 by the AACCG. Especially if they are against a ranked Houston, and top 10/15 UCF team.