AP Poll USF #19

[Mama_Bull]

25 minutes ago, BullyPulpit said:

Of the 7 clowns that didn't rank us most of them were all over the place and had some extreme variations from the vast majority of pollsters. One of them had Notre Dame ranked #3 in the nation.

That would be Mitch Vingle, the WVU beat writer. He must be getting senile. 

I voted them all thumbs down.

For those of you on Twitter, you can leave a comment.

Edited August 21, 2017 by Mama_Bull

[Orlando Bull]

At the risk of being the jerk of the group, I hope QF stays in every game and pads his stats for the national hype. If this team is going to "be in the conversation" this year, it's on his shoulders. National attention on him will help our rankings. I certainly dont want to see him running on designed keepers when we're up by 20+ late in a game, but, if he tacks on 5-6 TDs over the course of the year in garbage time, it will help him in any kind of award conversations and help us get recognition as a team.

Lamar Jackson got on the map last year with 6 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs in their first game against... Charlotte

[GaUSFBull]

4 minutes ago, Orlando Bull said:

Lamar Jackson got on the map last year with 6 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs in their first game against... Charlotte

Lamar Jackson did all that in the first half. 

We have no business leaving Q in the game going into the 2nd half if he does around that much in the first half.  

[Boomer]

2 hours ago, Orlando Bull said:

Look, I have my green and gold goggles on too, but, I don't think we'll be moving up the rankings under is we start 0-8.

 

(sorry, couldn't resist)

 

1 hour ago, BullyPulpit said:

If we start out 0-8 no way we sniff the top 10. 

(Just noticed someone else giving you grief over your typo. I retract the grief I gave you in the sentence above.) 

Darn - it was such a good point too.  I am one to razz folks about typos in good spirit, so I will take my share and say, "Thank you."

[zarnozdabull]

Gotta praise Willie T for this rebuilding job.

Amazing!

[SoFlo All Day]

5 hours ago, BullyPulpit said:

Week 1 - Let's go Michigan and BYU. Those two teams win and we could/should be ranked #17 or 18 (winner of WVU and Va Tech might jump us in the AP poll). I'm torn on cheering for App St to beat Georgia in Week 1, as that might make it harder for us to get the Peach Bowl if we end up with 1 loss. 

Looking forward at the Week 2 schedule and, if we start out 3-0 and look impressive on both sides of the ball in the process, we could be ranked as high as #13, depending on how the games break. 

As fun as it is to hypothesize, only gotta do one thing to get to New Year's Day - just win baby!

[JoeB]

7 minutes ago, SoFlo All Day said:

As fun as it is to hypothesize, only gotta do one thing to get to New Year's Day - just win baby!

Temple can help out too, they play at Notre Dame in Week 1

[Flowers4Heisman]

To go from being unable to score on the gnats in that one infamous game to this is an amazing evolution.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings

[Mama_Bull]

 

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NCAA COLLEGE FOOTBALL

 

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Strong welcomes high expectations for No. 19 South Florida

By FRED GOODALL

— Aug. 21, 2017 5:44 PM EDT

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  File- This Dec. 17, 2016, file photo shows South Florida head football coach Charlie Strong waving to the crowd after being introduced during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Tampa, Fla. Twenty years after launching its football program from scratch, South Florida could be on the verge of realizing its vast potential. The Bulls open the season ranked in the Top 25 and coach Charlie Strong has been brought in to help them meet their high expectations.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

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  File-This Sept. 17, 2016, file photo shows South Florida's Quinton Flowers looking to pass in the second half of an NCAA college football game against Syracuse in Syracuse, N.Y. Twenty years after launching its football program from scratch, South Florida could be on the verge of realizing its vast potential. The Bulls open the season ranked in the Top 25 and coach Charlie Strong has been brought in to help them meet their high expectations. (AP Photo/Nick Lisi, File)

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Charlie Strong is accustomed to high expectations.

But the situation is a little different in for him at South Florida. He isn't building or re-building a program in his first season. He is trying to lead a talented Bulls team to another level.

The Bulls could be on the verge of something special. The former Texas and Louisville head coach heads a USF team coming off a school-best 11-2 finish under Willie Taggart, who left for Oregon last December.

 

But this isn't just about what happened last year.

The Bulls' No. 19 preseason ranking in Monday's Top 25 poll matches the highest in school history. And after being ousted by Texas after three tumultuous seasons, Strong relishes the challenge USF presents.

"What we have to understand is it really doesn't matter where you start. It's where you finish," Strong said, adding the challenge is to do everything it takes to ensure the Bulls remain among the nation's elite at the end of the season.

The Bulls also made some AP poll history on Monday by joining the No. 3 Seminoles, No. 17 Gators and No. 18 Hurricanes in becoming the first quartet of schools from the same state — third overall — to be ranked in the preseason poll since 1958, when No. 8 TCU, No. 11 Texas, No. 17 SMU and No. 20 Texas A&M were listed.

The only other instance was in 1952, when No. 8 California, No. 13 Stanford, No. 16 USC and No. 18 UCLA all made the initial list.

Strong was a long-time assistant at Florida before landing his first college heading coaching job at Louisville.

He understands that in order to be at or near the top when the dust settles, his Bulls need to make a strong bid for USF's first American Athletic Conference championship.

"The thing we can't do is get complacent, get full of ourselves," said Strong.

Though likely detrimental as Strong warns, it would almost be understandable for the Bulls to get a little over confident; they are loaded.

Strong inherited a roster returning 16 starters, including dual-threat quarterback Quinton Flowers and defensive leader Auggie Sanchez.

Flowers was the AAC's offensive player of the year, as well as the nation's second-leading rusher among quarterbacks last season behind Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson in Louisville.

In addition to averaging a conference-record 7.7 yards per carry while rushing for 1,530 yards and 18 touchdowns, Flowers also completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 2,812 yards, 24 TDs and eight interceptions.

Flowers and Sanchez were instrumental in helping Taggart revive a program that fell on hard times after climbing as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press poll in 2007.

The leadership of the seniors also has facilitated a smooth transition under Strong, who spent four seasons building Louisville into a national contender before going 16-21 during his time at Texas.

USF's goal since its inaugural season in 1997 has been to establish a program capable of competing on a national scale and take a rightful place alongside the Sunshine State's Big Three of Florida, Florida State and Miami.

"As an assistant at Florida, I watched USF from afar. You saw them get. All the way up to No. 2," Strong said. "Everything that's needed to compete nationally is in place here. . As a coach, that's what you want. You want those expectations."

Like Strong, though, Miami coach Mark Richt cautioned that preseason rankings have to be kept in perspective.

"It's a popularity poll right now. No one really knows for sure and they base it on returning starters and how you finished last year," Richt said. "If you tend to win a bowl game, you're more apt to get ranked in the fall. That's pretty typical."

But it's not typical for USF to be a part of those preseason conversations.

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.

Strong welcomes high expectations for No. 19 South Florida