Re: USF football approved 10 years ago today!

[E.T.]

96 - 98 - 100 miles ... which is it !? !  >

8)

[OracleCamunas]

I used USF's address. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for reading though.

[Brad]

Then, now, coming soon

by Mike Camunas

September 15, 2005

Everybody knows what has happened, what’s going to happen and what could happen.

The past:

In 1993, the USF Athletics Council, in a 15-2 vote, awards a football program to the University. Two years later, Jim Leavitt is hired as coach. Two more years pass and the first game is played — and won — against Kentucky Wesleyan: an 80-3 dominance on Sept. 6, 1997. In 2003, the move to Conference USA is made after the 9-2 season in 2002.

The present:

The move to the Big East is made after just nine years. The game — moonlighted as a rivalry, promoted as a rivalry, desperately wanting to be a rivalry — with UCF on Saturday. The gaining speed into national spotlights.

Though everything before has been a step forward, sooner or later things could eventually go downhill.

The possibilities: Losing to UCF on Saturday. Running back Andre Hall out for the remainder of the season. Another 4-7 season or worse.

Unthinkable things, right?

It’s happened to many others long before USF: Florida, Miami, LSU, Oklahoma. Endless other schools, but especially UCF.

What baffles the minds of many of you USF fans — though helps you sleep at night, as well — is how a 25-year-old program is sluggish and way behind in the race with the nine-year-old program?

How did UCF go from Daunte Culpepper and 9-2 to a good — but old, exhausted and lying — George O’ Leary and 0-16?

It has to do with something between a gypsy hex and the Curse of the Jade Monkey.

But, everyone knows the Bulls’ story.

It can be glorious and tearjerking. Fast and furious. Wonderful and mesmerizing.

So, why does Tampa succeed and Orlando fail at anything that doesn’t have mouse ears?

Why does USF keep sprouting and UCF seem like it needs more Miracle-Gro to make it through another season?

What it really boils down to is expectations.

The higher the bar, the higher the athletics will rise. USF’s program was — and is — miles ahead of UCF’s, which kept spinning its wheels in the swampland of Orlando during the nine years USF propelled itself faster than anyone could handle.

The Bulls worked harder, fought harder, bit the bullet harder and finally got through all the way.

So now comes what everyone knows is going to be said.

The rivalry.

The War on I-4.

It yearns to be done, to happen every year.

Some say it needs to because it’s so natural, being only 96 miles away. Natural to most college football fanatics is Michigan and the Ohio State. Florida and whomever it pissed off in the past season, but mostly FSU. Auburn and Alabama. Longhorns and Boomer Sooners.

Legacy and tradition, permanent and historic, anticipated and extravagant are words used to describe those match-ups.

New. First time. Fresh.

Those are what the Bulls against the Golden Knights represent in football.

A test. A weekend exam as well.

If the teams pass, you’ll be grandparents telling your grandchildren to go to USF or UCF because of the longstanding tradition that was established when you were their age.

If the Knights fail, they fall even further behind. USF plays another game, the waiting game, until the likes of Louisville and West Virginia — Pittsburgh is not included now because it’s chewing on its own losing streak — to lose recruits to the warmer team in the Big East.

The Bulls have been charging hard since 1997. There hasn’t been a point where they — or Leavitt, for that matter — have slowed down to catch their respective breaths. They always plowed ahead, full of steam and courage, and it paid off.

This is why Saturday needs to repeat. It should keep occurring, keep happening. Keep chugging until players, fans, coaches, trainers, directors, field crews and media personnel are all red in the face.

To morph from the youthful words to the seasoned ones.

Former athletic director Lee Roy Selmon and former USF presidents Betty Castor and Francis T. Borkowski couldn’t have dreamed up the “good” possibilities that Saturday brings.

Although, with student athletes such as Hall, they aren’t worried about the test this weekend.

He knows a challenge when he sees one and doesn’t care who’s on the other side of the offensive line but what’s past those defenders awaiting him.

“We can be rivals with anybody,” said the senior, who needs 79 yards to pass Clenton Crossley for second on the all-time rushing list. “Every game is a rival for me. I want to face every team. Rival talk is just to get the fans going.”

He’s right. It’s for the fans. It helps tailgating, barstool conversations, message board smack-talking. It promotes a true virtue that is the cornerstone of any level of any football game.

A test? Maybe. Ancient history? The game hasn’t even occurred yet. A rivalry?

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Leavitt said.

The future.

Story Link

[USFMikeB]

Good story, Mike.  It appears that the Oracle finally has a decent writer, keep up the good work!

[BullsHater]

96 - 98 - 100 miles ... which is it !? !  >

8)

95.71 miles

[OracleCamunas]

I never was good at math, so I rounded up. Thanks for clearing it up for me. Its obvious that UCF is way ahead of USF in mathematics and general arithmetic (stifle laugh).

Thanks for the compliment Mike B. Appreciate everyone reading. Been getting plenty of compliments today. Keep up the feedback.

Mike

[Guest]

Mike,

I know I have been a severe critic in the past, however, this is a very well written column.

I can see why you also work for the St. Pete Times from time to time.

I hope, with your guidance, you can turn the Oracle around for years to come.

I was in school when Billy Lee Newland was the editor and the Oracle was the Best College Daily in the Nation.  The overall image I have of the Oracle is FAR below that standard.  (Long story, but I was at his wedding in the Marshall Center).

I believe this column would have lived up to Newlands standards.

[CoolBull1]

Thanks Mike C...encouraging stuff from the Oracle...looking good.

[OracleCamunas]

Thanks guys. Also, The Oracle came in second last year as the SouthEast's Daily College Newspaper, only behind University of Georgia's The Red and Black. Depsite all the critism we get, we do work hard and sometimes having the benefit of a daily newspaper all over campus is taken for granted, so like I said, THANKS FOR READING. Felt like I've said it so many times today, but it always makes me smile to get a compliment from a reader and get recognized. I know you think we're always done on sports at USF, and we're not, but we are being watchdogs is all. That's our jobs in every section of the paper.

BTW, has anyone seen the Tabloid back I've been running on Mondays? Guys who are alum, read the PDF verison. That looks even better than in print. I know it takes a while to load but its worth the wait.

Just wondering what everyone was thinking.

Thanks again,

Mike Camunas

[USFFan]

Mike,

I know I have been a severe critic in the past, however, this is a very well written column.

I can see why you also work for the St. Pete Times from time to time.

I hope, with your guidance, you can turn the Oracle around for years to come.

I was in school when Billy Lee Newland was the editor and the Oracle was the Best College Daily in the Nation.  The overall image I have of the Oracle is FAR below that standard.  (Long story, but I was at his wedding in the Marshall Center).

I believe this column would have lived up to Newlands standards.

I don't know who the editors were at the time, but when I was an undergrad ('80 - '84), the Oracle was something I largely enjoyed reading.  Now it seems they're more interested in doing more harm to USF than anything else.  I've seen countless articles ripping the USF athletic program almost to the point of the way L'Equippe has made it their mission to tear down Lance Armstrong.  I don't know if it's writers who are out to make a name for themselves or what, but I've lost all of the respect that I once had for the Oracle.  

USFFan