Hack job by the Tampa Times?

[NewEnglandBull]

Can’t blame ‘Ol Joey Knight on this one...

 

USF had better pray that 2020 was rock bottom for its football program

John Romano | It’s not just the 1-8 record, but the lack of visible hope outside the Bulls locker room.

 

 

USF RUNNING BACK BRIAN BATTIE, WHO ECLIPSED 100 YARDS, SHAKES A UCF DEFENDER FOR A FIRST DOWN FRIDAY AT RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM.[ LUIS SANTANA | TIMES ]

By John Romano

Published 1 hour ago

TAMPA — Early on, the uniforms had you distracted. They were that garish.

Later, the score had you fooled. It was that close.

But by the time the season ended and the band played the alma mater to a near-empty stadium, the harsh reality of a once-promising football program’s decline no longer could be denied.

The University of South Florida has never been in a more precarious position.

It wasn’t the 58-46 loss to UCF on Friday that left USF at this critical juncture. In fact, that entertaining performance will probably go down as one of the season’s highlights. Instead, it is the accumulation of more than two years of disappointments and the effect that will have on USF’s reputation going forward.

 

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There is just no way to spruce up a 1-8 season. Not when your team has given up an average of 40 points a game. And not when you finish behind Temple and East Carolina in the American Athletic Conference. 

“I told our players that I’m hoping that three, four, five, 10 years from now we’re talking about the 2020 season and all the adversity and the challenges,” USF coach Jeff Scott said. “I told our team when you face adversity, that creates change, it creates growth.”

The problem is that there is more to this than the pandemic, and the eight-game losing streak and the roster that was depleted by players who chose to leave, players who were told to leave, and players who had to leave because of illness or injury.

This is a problem of faith. And of hope. It just seems harder to see better days than it once did around Fowler Avenue. The Bulls have won only five of their past 27 games, and have dropped 11 consecutive conference games.

Of the 126 Division I-A teams in 2020, the Bulls came into the week a lowly 110th in scoring. Showing admirable solidarity among units, they were 111th in scoring defense.

Even more concerning is that USF is clearly playing second fiddle to UCF for players who are not quite Power Five-level recruits. USF was trailing only 45-38 and had the ball with nine minutes remaining Friday, but the end result was another UCF victory. That makes four in a row in this series and the average score has been 45-26.

 

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“For these guys to continue to show up each and every day and, with all the disappointment we had this year, to come up with the effort they had today, that’s uncommon,” Scott said. “I truly believe we’re going to look back on this season and know that even though we didn’t get the results we wanted, this is really where the foundation was laid.”

This isn’t Scott’s fault. At least not in a big-picture sense.

He inherited a program that had lost its bearing and months later got shut down by the pandemic. All of his original plans were put on hold, and so he deserves a freebie in 2020. Like a test that’s been wiped off the books.

Yet, there are still costs involved. The excitement over his arrival is gone, and the program’s reputation has tumbled further in the eyes of boosters, recruits and the national media. Even if you do not hold Scott responsible for what happened this season, your faith in his potential as a head coach has at least been tested.

 

Maybe Friday’s game will be a turning point. After a year of indecision at quarterback, the Bulls seemed to find an answer against the Knights. Sophomore Jordan McCloud threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns, although it must be said UCF does not have a great defense.

USF also had a pair of 100-yard rushers with sophomore Kelley Joiner and freshman Brian Battie, just days after leading rusher Johnny Ford was dismissed from the team.

 

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Senior receiver DeVontres Dukes, who caught two touchdowns against UCF, said the players who bought into Scott’s system and philosophies soon will benefit from their devotion and an influx of new talent.

“Don’t believe the record,” Dukes said. “This team, as you could see tonight, fought hard. You would have thought we were playing for a conference championship tonight the way we played.

“Just because we have a 1-8 record it doesn’t show what this team really is.”

Let’s hope he’s right. Because the alternative has never been worse for USF.

John Romano can be reached at jromano@tampabay.com. Follow @romano_tbtimes.

[hm101]

Just got called out by WIll Turner too for the poor choice of language. 

Look, it's not the media's job to be fans, that's our job, but this is by almost every quantitative fact you can pull about this game, false. As in not true. Almost everything about this game actually leads TO hope about the future. 

[Roaming Bull]

[Triple B]

4 minutes ago, hm101 said:

Just got called out by WIll Turner too for the poor choice of language. 

Look, it's not the media's job to be fans, that's our job, but this is by almost every quantitative fact you can pull about this game, false. As in not true. Almost everything about this game actually leads TO hope about the future. 

An excellent way to put that. Just another columnist with a cursory knowledge of USF looking for some low hanging fruit to write a column on ...

[Rex Havoc]

People still read the TBT? 

[Rocky Style]

Those unis are definitely rock bottom.

[jjlovecub]

He probably didn’t watch the game. Just looked at the score and wrote the story. He needs a roster in front of him to tell you who is on the team. 

[Rocky Style]

He can start the turnaround next year.  2020 was a neverending horror.

[NewEnglandBull]

14 minutes ago, brybull1970 said:

Nothing factually wrong with what Romano said, and I even think he sugar-coated it a bit. If you get upset with that article then you have thinner skin than a 3rd degree burn victim.

USF football is now one of the worst programs in the FBS. The few fans that are left are the diehards and delusional ones that think that a program rotting from within is just a QB away.

Kind of like the delusion that a person on this board thinks that this program should be playing on the 1aa level...

[NewEnglandBull]

Just now, brybull1970 said:

Embrace the possibilities. There are all things to enjoy:

• Align our budget to the actual level of ****s the university gives about its athletic department
• Reduced travel expenses
• Drivable road trips for our Olympic sports
• The ability consistently make the 24 team FCS playoffs
• Scheduling flexibility to play northeastern teams that you could go attend like URI, Maine and New Hampshire

Sounds a whole lot better than 1-9 and having to see Kelly out on the corner of Fowler and Nebraska panhandling for money.

You have gone full moron...