Next five weeks

[Jim Johnson]

Okay... so USF is looking better than I expected in some areas ... worse than others.

These next five weeks aren't really going to be very telling... because USF can make TONS of mistakes and still win games (as USF did yesterday).

Sat 9/22 - East Carolina ... Although the Pirates did roll over North Carolina... they also lost to North Carolina A&T... ECU is not a strong running team in these games, averaging 144 yards per game and 3.7 yards per carry.  USF may not blow them out of the water, but USF should be able to out-talent ECU.  I admit it would be nice to see some backups getting reps in the 2nd half.

Sat 9/29 - BYE ... USF, thankfully, has not been too banged up so far.  The bye week will give the team a chance to focus on other weaknesses (*cough* run defense *cough*)

Sat 10/6 - at U Mass ... the 2nd road trip of the season against the Minutemen who are 0-3 against FBS teams, allowing 50+ games to those FBS opponents -- two of them were in Conference USA.  USF could likely play all 2nd stringers and still win this game.

Fri 10/12 - at Tulsa ... back to back road games on a short week have not been good for USF but given the likelihood of USF's starters resting for a good portion of the previous game... the Bulls should be able to hold back the Golden Hurricane... yes, Tulsa did well against Texas (which is looking better after their win last night), but they also lost to Arkansas State and did not look like gangbusters in their week one victory over Central Arkansas.

Sat 10/20 - Connecticut ... There are few words to describe how bad the Huskies played their first three games.... they allowed 167 points by their opponents - including 49 by Rhode Island.  They have been able to run the ball averaging 4.9 yards per carry so far this season, so that could keep the USF game closer than it should be.... U Conn also has 8 turnovers and 2 takeaways so far ... a -6 ratio.  Another USF win should be possible here.

So... after the first seven games of the season, USF looks to be in good shape to be 7-0... likely ranked in the 18-25 range because these are a bunch of cupcakes upcoming... and the team shouldn't really be tested again for a month.

If USF can get bast the road trip at Houston on Sat 10/27, USF should be 9-0 heading to the back to back roadies at Cincy and Temple and then coming home for Black Friday...
 

------------
Incidentally, UCF's schedule over this same timeframe is almost as easy: vs FAU, vs Pitt, vs SMU, at Memphis, at ECU ... and stays within their reach ... vs Temple, vs Navy, vs Cincy...

Black Friday has the POTENTIAL to be 11-0 USF hosting 11-0 UCF...  ("on paper" ... lol)

 

[Hueyhog20]

UCF had a game cancelled and would be 10-0. Doubt they will make up the lost game. 

[E.T.]

Expecting to dominate the next 4 games.

[USFBulls727]

2 hours ago, JimUSFSig said:

So... after the first seven games of the season, USF looks to be in good shape to be 7-0... likely ranked in the 18-25 range because these are a bunch of cupcakes upcoming

7-0, yes, but I'm not sure we even crack the Top 25 at that point. We went into the Illinois game at #39. Not sure Illinois, East Carolina, UMass, Tulsa, and UConn will be enough to get us there.

[NewEnglandBull]

4 minutes ago, USFBulls727 said:

7-0, yes, but I'm not sure we even crack the Top 25 at that point. We went into the Illinois game at #39. Not sure Illinois, East Carolina, UMass, Tulsa, and UConn will be enough to get us there.

It will have a lot to do with who loses in front of us. I think 25 is possible.

[USFBulls727]

4 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

It will have a lot to do with who loses in front of us. I think 25 is possible.

Yes, 24 or 25 tops. It would take an unbelievable amount of attrition, and us winning every game by 70 to get to #20 or higher.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

It will have a lot to do with who loses in front of us. I think 25 is possible.

This is a big part of it.  A 7-0 team will be ranked simply because there won't be more than a handful of ranked teams.

It also has to deal with how USF plays in these games. Winning by 10 points versus winning by 30 points.

[USFBulls727]

North Texas is 3-0. They just blew out Arkansas on the road. Wouldn't shock me if they jumped us.

[LewSFBulls]

Beloved McMurphy has us in at 24.

 

Edited September 16, 2018 by Brad
pasted as plain text

[Thebullsfan]

Just now, LewSFBulls said:

Beloved McMurphy has us in at 24.

https://twitter.com/Brett_McMurphy/status/1041346706133213184

He ranked us...