This team has a chance to be the greatest USF team in history

[Bull94]

 

[Bull94]

A "contract extension" means he gets a significant raise, right? From $1.2 to $?? for ?years.

PLUS assistant coaches salaries have to go up by $????... IF we want any chance of keeping the good ones.

Don't we start paying the players next year?

Where's all this money coming from?

Where did we get the $2M per year to pay Holtz? Where did we get the $1.5M per year to pay Leavitt? Her gets $1.15 M now. give him 2 more years and go to $1.25M with incentives

Edited November 17, 2015 by Bull94

[BullFan98]

We do have a lot of young talented players that I am looking forward to watching only get better. 

[MMW]

greatest Bull team ever? they could win out and I still would not put this team above 2002, 2007 or 2008 teams. And it would be a stretch to put them over the 2005 or 2006 teams. It isn't just the total wins that matter-- it is who they are playing and how well they are playing. 2002 should have been our first bowl season-- that was an amazing and complete team effort. I would equate this team with maybe the 2005 team--- on the verge of becoming special. Still a lot of work to become truly a great team though.

2002 we were real solid but were independent so didn't have anything to show for it.  

Those other years were disappointments because we never won anything but a couple of big games and then fell apart. 

If we win out and take home the CCG it will be our most successful year to most people - me included. 

Who cares if we are giant killers if we can't win the games we are supposed to? 

[Bulls On Parade]

We do have a lot of young talented players that I am looking forward to watching only get better. 

This, no reason we can't eventually own the AAC and become giant killers again.

Future is very bright. 

[MikeG]

2002 we were real solid but were independent so didn't have anything to show for it.  

Those other years were disappointments because we never won anything but a couple of big games and then fell apart. 

If we win out and take home the CCG it will be our most successful year to most people - me included. 

Who cares if we are giant killers if we can't win the games we are supposed to? 

BUt you see-- that is not the same thing as what the OP was saying-- in my eyes. He titled it GREATEST USF TEAM EVER. Successful is not the same thing to me-- Had that 2002 team been allowed into CUSA when we were supposed to be, 2002 was our title all the way-- we beat everyone of significance from CUSA that was on our schedule that year- including Southern Miss. And it was a great team to boot-- interesting to watch and watch grow into what it became. Along similar lines-- the 2007 team was a hell of a lot of fun to watch and had great chemistry. Some people here want to bash the crap out of the team because they didn't win this or that--- they gloss over the jobbing we took in that Rutgers game for example.

 

anyway-- successful is definitely about records and championships. It is kind of a long shot to see USf win one this year-- it would be great. But to start mentioning this team in the same breath as those others is premature and unearned. They MIGHT be very successful at the end of the year. But it is hard for some of us to think more highly of this team than the ones from those other years. Well for me it is at least. The way I see it-- this team is still learning what it is capable of doing and it has plenty of hurdles and unknown obstacles to face before reaching greatest ever status. But it is an opinion only-- not based on any specific facts-- just wanted you to understand that while this may be semantics to some-- throwing around the "greatest ever" tag is not something done haphazardly. 

[The Great 8]

I wouldn't necessarily disagree with "greatest usf season in history" if we managed to finish our season off 8-1 with a conference championship and bowl victory vs. a P5 team, but to say "greatest team" is a bit asinine.

We spent 8 straight weeks ranked in 2008. In 2007, we went 4-3 in arguably the most competitive and balanced BE ever, that almost had a member (who we beat) go to the national title. We never once lost to a non-AQ team (read: teams we're surrounded by now) while in the BE, in bowls or OOC.

Yes, it feels nicer to finish the season 8-1 than start it that way. But, that's only because an 8-1 start has dramatically more promise than a 1-3 start.

Does anyone really think if we were in C-USA instead of the BE in 2007 or 2008 we wouldn't have won the conference? Does that somehow change the quality of the team? Not really, it changes the season, but the team would've been the same.

Edited November 18, 2015 by The Great 8

[TromBull12]

I'm a little confused by the lovefest of the old Big East teams abs their respective power in comparison to the AAC and the strength of schedule. Where are any of those teams now?  They make better money but are they still strong, making national headlines, top 25? To someone who admittedly doesn't know any better, I feel like we attach our feelings for the old moments to justify why our old Bulls weren't as special as this team could be or no matter what this team accomplishes they could never be as special. Someone help me understand how and why we believe West Virginia, Louisville, Miami and the likes are better than Memphis,  Navy,  Houston, and Temple. What justifies that opinion?  Maybe past titles is what we're referring to...

I see people going on about the glory days but no one has answered my question. Why would the 2007 Bulls team btw considered the greatest Bull team of all time when they fizzled when it counted. We won when no one expected us to, while those above us lost. Then when we were expected to win we went in a losing streak if memory serves me correctly. Hypothetically, this team could finished ranked if the stars align. Wouldn't that make them the greatest team of all time thus far? I guess my question is why if the stars align won't this team be the G.O. A.T.?

[MikeG]

well for starters-- you are mixing apples and oranges. The teams as they were back then are not the same as they are now-- they cannot be. Just like Baylor now is nothing like Baylor back then. But at the time-- that was a highly competitive conference with lots of high quality wins over the other BCS conferences. Memphis was garbage back then-- now they are a good team -- new coaches, better players etc-- it is a fluid situation. And if you are comparing one time with another, you need to take into account those types of things. I understand you feel that the AAC is strong as it is right now-- and I am not arguing that this isn't true so much as it stands. My guess is oour team is about as good as out 2005 or 2006 team was back then in comparison to the rest of the conference-- on the verge of being a very tough team. GOAT is a very lofty thing to say about a team unless you have seen all the teams and understand all their circumstances. Just like people are less likely to feel the team from 1999 is the GOAT even though we were ranked and beating ranked 1-AA teams- because the competition we were playing was not quite as good. Other than the win over Temple this season-- all the wins have been against less than stellar teams. But we have shown we can play tough with most of them-- so it is not that we aren't good-- just not quite all the way there yet. They could be the greatest when all is said and done-- but right now, they are simply above average. We are definitely trending up but if we lose to Cinci-- just watch the attitudes around here plummet.

 

my point isn't so much to downplay the team-- but let's be a little bit realistic and stop the snowball effect that happens on these boards where one win suddenly makes us world beaters. Our last game-- practically nothing didn't go our way most of the game. That is rare and hard to repeat. I say this hoping we don't have a bunch of people whining about how USF blew it this season and should have won the conference. They will miss out on enjoying the ride as a result. 

[MMW]

This team has a chance to be the greatest USF team in history 

You all know I have been a critic of Taggs the past year and a half. That being said if we win 2 more games and get to the AAC Championship game,  this is the most accomplished USF Football Team in history. Sure Leavitt had better wins, but his teams always choked down the stretch when it mattered. I am not allowing myself to believe this team wont choke yet because I have seen it before. If we beat Cincy we should give Taggs an extension. Go Bulls.

BUt you see-- that is not the same thing as what the OP was saying-- in my eyes. He titled it GREATEST USF TEAM EVER. Successful is not the same thing to me-- Had that 2002 team been allowed into CUSA when we were supposed to be, 2002 was our title all the way-- we beat everyone of significance from CUSA that was on our schedule that year- including Southern Miss. And it was a great team to boot-- interesting to watch and watch grow into what it became. Along similar lines-- the 2007 team was a hell of a lot of fun to watch and had great chemistry. Some people here want to bash the crap out of the team because they didn't win this or that--- they gloss over the jobbing we took in that Rutgers game for example.

 

anyway-- successful is definitely about records and championships. It is kind of a long shot to see USf win one this year-- it would be great. But to start mentioning this team in the same breath as those others is premature and unearned. They MIGHT be very successful at the end of the year. But it is hard for some of us to think more highly of this team than the ones from those other years. Well for me it is at least. The way I see it-- this team is still learning what it is capable of doing and it has plenty of hurdles and unknown obstacles to face before reaching greatest ever status. But it is an opinion only-- not based on any specific facts-- just wanted you to understand that while this may be semantics to some-- throwing around the "greatest ever" tag is not something done haphazardly. 

Mike, I see the confusion.  You are correct based on the title.  I was looking at the original post.

While this may be the most accomplished team, I would agree it is not the greatest.  I would go with the 2002 team as the greatest because they seemed the most complete.  The year we got to #2 I would say we were the most dangerous and this year (given the OP's original premise) arguably the most accomplished.

We do seem to be on the cusp of something special and I can't believe we are even having this debate given how the year began.