Charlie's tenure here....

[USFBulls727]

Taking a closer look at Charlie's 16-2 record here....

* Our opponents combined record at the end of 2017: 64-85 (54-82 against FBS....Stony Brook went 10-3)

* Temple (7-6) UCF (13-0) & Houston (7-5) were the only FBS teams we played with winning records. We went 1-2 against them.

*  The rest of our 2017 opponents: SJ State (2-11) Illinois (2-10) Tulsa (2-10) ECU (3-9) Cincy (4-8) Tulane (5-7) UConn (3-9) Texas Tech (6-7)

* Of our opponents this year, only Elon has a winning record

I'm not on board with the "Fire Charlie" thing, but I'm also far from sold on him. 6-0 is great, but being one or two plays better than bad teams on multiple occasions is why there are some in here who have doubts about him. After UConn, which is about a sure a win as it gets, the last few games will probably be the toughest stretch he's had since he's been here, and we'll learn a little more about what kind of coach he is.

I can't help but compare us to the team in Orlando. There hasn't been much difference at all in the level of recruiting over the past few years between us and them, but there's a huge difference in what we see on the field. These teams that we are barely winning against (ECU, Tulsa, Illinois) get smoked by UCF without a doubt. Frost went 13-0 in his second year and won the conference. Huepel is unbeaten in his first year, and they have mostly looked good in doing it. Hard to tell, but we seem to have regressed a bit in year two with Strong (I could be wrong).

Edited October 18, 2018 by USFBulls727

[TheAccountant]

CCS is a great recruiter, and talent wise I think we have the best team in the American conference and one of the best teams in the country. As a head coach though, I also am not sold on him yet. Despite having all of that talent, we have been unable to put things together and play the way we know we are capable of playing. CCS was known as a defensive coach, but I have not seen much improvement on that side of the ball since the CWT days. I also think that the team is very undisciplined, which shows with all the flags flying during the games. 

That being said, I will give him the benefit of the doubt because he is 16-2 as the head coach and has been able to teach this team one intangible aspect that a lot of teams in the FBS do not possess, and that is the ability to perform under pressure. It has not been pretty, but this team is gritty, stays calm, and finds ways to win despite being down in the 4th quarter. 

[Outlaw]

We are a young team with a lot of new starters. The bulls are going through some growing pains on the fly, but are still winning. I would rather have a new group of players fighting it out on the field and winning then losing while gaining experience. These young players and new players are learning the game isn't over until the end and keep grinding until its over. Yes we have the talent to win by more, and that will come with time.

[NewEnglandBull]

Humm..I don’t know...one of 17 coaches up for coach of the year...in terms of a light schedule, why should he be punished for something out of his control...and I believe he has won those games so there is that...

[TheAccountant]

9 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Humm..I don’t know...one of 17 coaches up for coach of the year...in terms of a light schedule, why should he be punished for something out of his control...and I believe he has won those games so there is that...

A win is a win, but I think OP was just saying that he hasn't really been tested yet. He is 2-2 against teams with winning records. The second half of the season (Houston, Cincy, Temple, UCF) will tell us everything we need to know.  

[USFBulls727]

30 minutes ago, NewEnglandBull said:

Humm..I don’t know...one of 17 coaches up for coach of the year...in terms of a light schedule, why should he be punished for something out of his control...and I believe he has won those games so there is that...

Not saying he should be punished, just saying that he beat ONE FBS team with a winning record last year, and that was Temple at 7-6. None of the FBS teams he beat this year are above .500. It should also be mentioned here that we were respectable in his only two losses, and could have won each of those games. 

Edited October 18, 2018 by USFBulls727

[usfbullrider]

Yes as far as losses go.  We were in position to win.

[Bullrush33]

He was blowing out teams last year. We had Houston won. He made adjustments in UCF game and came back from two tds down. So there is evidence he knows what he is doing. This team is young.

[bullstampede9922]

The team can only beat who's on the schedule and that's what they've done.  In some Bizarro World, we could turn back the clock 2 years and put us in a different conference against better opponents which would also mean better recruiting and better players, who knows....  We're above average talent wise in the American, but outside the conference, we're average.  

[OcalaBull2]

Every single game we've played under Charlie Strong we have been in position to win.  As much as we gripe about the offense (myself included) our defense has proven to be more costly in crunchtime situations in BOTH of our losses.  I think he's doing his job as HC, and that's putting us in the position to win.