USF's beat writers need to tap the brakes.

[FazaUSF]

On 6/27/2019 at 8:43 PM, USFBulls727 said:

Should this receive legitimate consideration as a power conference?

BYU, San Diego State, Boise St, Air Force, Army, Colorado St, USF, UCF, Houston, Memphis, Navy, Temple, ECU, Publix Subs

A handful of teams with a National following in there. Would certainly be a good football conference. Some of those add zero in other sports though....

Now that is a power conference! 

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

We should stop talking about Army like they are a real option - that is not going to happen because of the tradition of the Army/Navy game.

They probably don't want to anyway because they weren't competitive in Conference USA.

Edited July 3, 2019 by Jonesy Bull

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, Jonesy Bull said:

We should stop talking about Army like they are a real option - that is not going to happen because of the tradition of the Army/Navy game.

They probably don't want to anyway because they weren't competitive in Conference USA.

They would get curbed stomped in the conference and rarely make a bowl. The only reason they are relevant now is an extra soft schedule. 

[cophbulls]

On 6/26/2019 at 1:05 PM, puc86 said:

If by pump the breaks you mean pour gasoline all over the entire conference and burn this ***** to the ground then yes we should definitely pump the breaks. We are too good for this conference and that has nothing to do with how many conference wins we have in it. There isn’t a single school that wouldn’t change a lifetime of AAC championships for the opportunity to be Vanderbilt or Wake Forrest. Winning the  AAC wouldn’t do anything to show we were a more deserving college football program anymore than winning the national spelling bee would, greatness comes more from where you are playing than winning championships that no one cares about or associates with great football.

Really? We are too good for this conference? By what metric? I am shocked that the fan base believes this. We haven't done anything except get to #2  a dozen years ago. Vandy and Wake got themselves into their conferences long before football was the primary goal of every university. 

[puc86]

37 minutes ago, cophbulls said:

Really? We are too good for this conference? By what metric? I am shocked that the fan base believes this. We haven't done anything except get to #2  a dozen years ago. Vandy and Wake got themselves into their conferences long before football was the primary goal of every university. 

On 7/25/2018 at 10:42 PM, puc86 said:

Be a large university, with a large student population and rapidly growing alumni base in a large and desirable tv market in one of the largest and most desirable states while being one of three institutions in the state with preeminence status (the other two are already in the P5) while being one of the only three schools left that were BCS that were left out of the P5. Other than that not much I guess. 

[puc86]

College Football is not a relegation league and there is a reason Boise State was left out even though they were the most successful at the time where as Rutgers that was a century long cellar dweller was let into one of the top two conferences ( I will give you a hint, where you are stationed from a conference perspective has nothing to do with winning a ****** conference, it never has had anything to do with ****** conference championships and it never will have anything to do with how many times you can win a ****** conference because no one knows if those things are happening because no one knows or cares anything about ****** conferences). College football is only about money and conference alignment only has to do with making more money. If you can make more money for a conference you are in and if you cant you are out, so if your media market is number 200, your student population is 2k and your academics aren't on par with the conference you are hoping to join you will not be getting called up to the big leagues even if you win the AAC 50 times in a row because the first three things are worth money and the last ins't worth a **** thing.

[cophbulls]

15 minutes ago, puc86 said:

Be a large university, with a large student population and rapidly growing alumni base in a large and desirable tv market in one of the largest and most desirable states while being one of three institutions in the state with preeminence status (the other two are already in the P5) while being one of the only three schools left that were BCS that were left out of the P5. Other than that not much I guess. 

ok, theres some good points there but, a large student population hasn't translated to good student attendance. I'll also give you the alumni base and I hear snippets about how we are 2nd or 3rd in the conference in donations. TV size is good but SMU, Houston, Temple all have bigger markets with much grander history. Preeminence is great, dont get me wrong, but its a contrived Florida thing meant to keep the haves and the have nots separate. No one expected USF to gain that status but on a national scale it means nothing. And you last point, I dont think that carries any water. No one is looking at USF saying, aw, poor guys, they got screwed, lets give them a break. No, IMO, and I realize I am a minority, we are exactly where we belong. If we start winning something in any sport on a consistent basis, that is when I think that other conferences will consider us. Of course winning in football/basketball will hold a lot more weight than golf or tennis but at least we are building a base there. I think part of the problem is that the athletic department only seems to be willing to spend money on one sport. Those schools like Vandy and Wake have such bigger and broader athletic programs. We are not in the same ballpark as they are. Why dont we have a rowing team? Or a swim team? Or Lacrosse or rugby, those schools have all of that and more. This I think is the biggest barrier, our athletic department is small potatoes and the perception is that USF will decrease the status of any conference by its inclusion. 

[puc86]

13 minutes ago, cophbulls said:

ok, theres some good points there but, a large student population hasn't translated to good student attendance. I'll also give you the alumni base and I hear snippets about how we are 2nd or 3rd in the conference in donations. TV size is good but SMU, Houston, Temple all have bigger markets with much grander history. Preeminence is great, dont get me wrong, but its a contrived Florida thing meant to keep the haves and the have nots separate. No one expected USF to gain that status but on a national scale it means nothing. And you last point, I dont think that carries any water. No one is looking at USF saying, aw, poor guys, they got screwed, lets give them a break. No, IMO, and I realize I am a minority, we are exactly where we belong. If we start winning something in any sport on a consistent basis, that is when I think that other conferences will consider us. Of course winning in football/basketball will hold a lot more weight than golf or tennis but at least we are building a base there. I think part of the problem is that the athletic department only seems to be willing to spend money on one sport. Those schools like Vandy and Wake have such bigger and broader athletic programs. We are not in the same ballpark as they are. Why dont we have a rowing team? Or a swim team? Or Lacrosse or rugby, those schools have all of that and more. This I think is the biggest barrier, our athletic department is small potatoes and the perception is that USF will decrease the status of any conference by its inclusion. 

There is quite simply zero examples of winning having any effect on anyone being called up and every example of things we actually excelled at having everything to do with the call ups. North Carolina has as more P5 schools than Florida does, so there is plenty of room for growth. When you look at the location of our school, the television market, the growing academics and the size of our student base (all of which have demonstrated that we do just fine when we are in a real conference) we are as desirable as any left behind school. There are roughly 10 people on the internet that know or care that we have not won a conference championship and it has nothing to do with if we will be called up or should be called up. 

Edited July 3, 2019 by puc86

[cophbulls]

13 minutes ago, puc86 said:

There is quite simply zero examples of winning having any effect on anyone being called up and every example of things we actually excelled at having everything to do with the call ups. North Carolina has as more P5 schools than Florida does, so there is plenty of room for growth. When you look at the location of our school, the television market, the growing academics and the size of our student base (all of which have demonstrated that we do just fine when we are in a real conference) we are as desirable as any left behind school. There are roughly 10 people on the internet that know or care that we have not won a conference championship and it has nothing to do with if we will be called up or should be called up. 

I think this whole idea of called up/not called up is so new, there are no real rules. I think it comes down to perception. I think we are a sharp, good looking mid-major school but without the extra something that will break us into anything. I certainly hope I am wrong. I think there is so much negativity about the AAC but I also think we are tied to the AAC and have a vested interest in its success. My whole point is we are no better or worse than the UConns and UCFs of the world. The schools in the AAC are the same as we are, sharp and good looking. Yet, we haven't done anything to separate ourselves from the other teams in the AAC and other non-p5 leagues for that matter. UCF has, and although it would crush me, I wouldnt be surprised if UCF got "called up" and we didn't . Final thought, for me, this could also be a instance of self-perception, I would much rather be a big fish in a small pond then a little fish in a big pond, even if that meant I had the opportunity to be a big fish in a big pond, these are just my personal feelings. I like the AAC, always have, I like our conference mates, always have. I hope that rather than this conference dissolving and one or two school get the hand up, we can work with the other schools in our conference to get the whole conference up to that P5 level. I totally get and agree with what they are doing with the P6 marketing, Stronger as a unit than a bunch of individuals

[puc86]

17 minutes ago, cophbulls said:

I think this whole idea of called up/not called up is so new, there are no real rules. I think it comes down to perception. I think we are a sharp, good looking mid-major school but without the extra something that will break us into anything. I certainly hope I am wrong. I think there is so much negativity about the AAC but I also think we are tied to the AAC and have a vested interest in its success. My whole point is we are no better or worse than the UConns and UCFs of the world. The schools in the AAC are the same as we are, sharp and good looking. Yet, we haven't done anything to separate ourselves from the other teams in the AAC and other non-p5 leagues for that matter. UCF has, and although it would crush me, I wouldnt be surprised if UCF got "called up" and we didn't . Final thought, for me, this could also be a instance of self-perception, I would much rather be a big fish in a small pond then a little fish in a big pond, even if that meant I had the opportunity to be a big fish in a big pond, these are just my personal feelings. I like the AAC, always have, I like our conference mates, always have. I hope that rather than this conference dissolving and one or two school get the hand up, we can work with the other schools in our conference to get the whole conference up to that P5 level. I totally get and agree with what they are doing with the P6 marketing, Stronger as a unit than a bunch of individuals

I appreciate your perspective but obviously I could not disagree more vehemently. I hate every single thing about the AAC and I rue the day we created this conference. I hate every single one of our conference mates sans Cincinnati and UConn and I wish them nothing but ill will and misfortune. That we have sunk so low as to be in a conference with UCF literally causes me to vomit at least once a week. As far as I am concerned the only way to win the AAC is to get out of it and I want nothing more than to leave this den of thieves behind never to look back as I trust every other “member” would do to us if given the chance. This is the land of misfit toys and no one is here by their choosing and would destroy every single other conference mate in order to escape for a few glorious years. I am glad you like it and are happy though, hopefully you get that conference championship, you can get someone to make you a shirt on Etsy and it’s everything you hoped and dreamed it could be.