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

[TromBull12]

The greatest football team in USF history was the one that went to #2 in the BCS ranking before a 3-game slide in 2007, where we lost by a COMBINED 15 points. Sure the bowl game was a blowout but that is the team all others will be judged against.

See my argument against that is our 2007 team was opportunistic. They rose when they were the underdog. As soon as they were expected to win they plummeted. It was amazing as a fan but that year with the polls was insanely rare and it also made us seem inflated and overrated. I loved it but this team is going and hungry and could be together shaking up the AAC for 2 more years. 

[CousinRicky]

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. Someone help me understand how it why we believe West Virginia, Louisville, Miami and the likes are better than Memphis,  Navy,  Houston, and Temple. What justifies that opinion? 

Visited a friend in N.C. before the ECU game who is a WVU fan.  Hates having them in the Big 12.  Makes it really hard to get to away games and they've become mostly irrelevant.  

[CousinRicky]

This years team had exactly 1 win vs a team with a winning record - Temple.  The over reaction on here is incredible.  Mike G has it right.  If we can beat Cinci that will add to the resume.  And even if we go on to win vs UCiF I don't see us being ranked.  Get to the conference championship and win that game, then we can talk about a spot in the 22 - 25 range.

[TromBull12]

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. 

 

I appreciate your response. That makes perfect sense and I as well as you am excited to see where this year ends. I'm very proud of the work they've done. Its awesome seeing them get some recognition when their most vocal supporters were doubting them the whole way.  It's nice for them to have this within the realm of possibility. I hope they come out hungry and beat Cincy like they stole something, leaving it all on the field. 

[TromBull12]

This years team had exactly 1 win vs a team with a winning record - Temple.  The over reaction on here is incredible.  Mike G has it right.  If we can beat Cinci that will add to the resume.  And even if we go on to win vs UCiF I don't see us being ranked.  Get to the conference championship and win that game, then we can talk about a spot in the 22 - 25 range.

I hear your logic and appreciate your realism. FAMU-horrible, SU-Winning record when we played,  UConn-Making a push for respectability, ECU-Decent team coming up short,  SMU-High powered team with no defense,  and Temple- very strong team but got out played. My reasoning comes from the flashs of greatness I've seen in our wins and losses. We are better than we were when we played, Memphis, Navy (we weren't healthy), and FSU. We were respectable in all of those games when we didn't play at this level. So I am overly optimistic because I feel like we haven't lucked into any wins, we've earned them. I have no reason to not be optimistic seeming as we haven't played a bad game since Maryland IMO.

Edited November 18, 2015 by TromBull12

[BDYZR]

Certainly not the greatest team ever, BUT, I think this is the first team to have shown this much improvement over the course of the year. From some of the plays made to the mental toughness of the team as a whole, this team seems to improve every week.

[CousinRicky]

I hear your logic and appreciate your realism. FAMU-horrible, SU-Winning record when we played,  UConn-Making a push for respectability, ECU-Decent team coming up short,  SMU-High powered team with no defense,  and Temple- very strong team but got out played. My reasoning comes from the flashs of greatness I've seen in our wins and losses. We are better than we were when we played, Memphis, Navy (we weren't healthy), and FSU. We were respectable in all of those games when we didn't play at this level. So I am overly optimistic because I feel like we haven't lucked into any wins, we've earned them. I have no reason to not be optimistic seeming as we haven't played a bad game since Maryland IMO.

And I appreciate your optimism.  But if we had played SMU after they had beaten Miriam Morris Day School and had a 1-0 record you'd be telling me they had a winning record at the time we played them.  The fact is that UConn is at .500, Temple > .500.  

[JTrue]

I have to respectfully disagree with the title of this thread. However, if it were changed to, "This Team Has the Chance to Have the Best Record Ever in USF History" I'm on board.

[SANJAY]

Ridiculous thread is ridiculous.  Simply rising from the mat where we've been laying for the last 4 years doesn't make a team great.  

If at the end of the season this team has won the East division, a conference title and abowl game and finished with 10 wins? Come talk to me.

[TromBull12]

Ridiculous thread is ridiculous.  Simply rising from the mat where we've been laying for the last 4 years doesn't make a team great.  

If at the end of the season this team has won the East division, a conference title and abowl game and finished with 10 wins? Come talk to me.

Isn't that the hypothetical that the thread is based off of?