USF finalizes deal with Notre Dame 🤘🤘

[bowman1]

1 hour ago, puc86 said:

If we beat UF at home our attendance for the season would magically resolve itself for the rest of the season for students and locals alike.

Yeah, but think of all of the poor Gator fans who would probably drop dead from shock.  

The Sundome already has the Indian Burial Ground - do we really want RayJay to be the Gator Graveyard?

[michibull]

2 hours ago, Peatearpan said:

I think USF struggles to bring in the students and the “area” would rather pull for UF, FSU, or UM.

Completely agree. I think for the most part, in general, Tampa Bay fans are terrible, I mean some of the worst (look at the Rays support or the Bucs pre-Brady). I found it appalling the sheer amount of FSU, UF and UM gear on campus when I went to school, and that was in the early/mid 2000’s when we were relevant. Growing up in Michigan, it takes a whole lot of losing from any team before attendance and interest suffers ( I mean the Lions still sell out). Western Michigan and Central Michigan have better regular crowds and student sections than USF and they are jokes of programs compared to us (by today’s standards, not the BE days). It was a real culture shock for me coming down and seeing the difference. I mean look at QF’s era of football and still NOBODY showed up and that was a good 2 1/2 years of FUN football; it was embarrassing when people would ask why nobody shows up. I don’t want to hear the excuse of good weather because we have everything anyone would want in terms of distractions (all weather sports and activities), but we still make it a point to show up. I have come to the realization that we missed the boat with the last expansion and we will be stuck as a mid major for the rest of my life. The city doesn’t support us, Alumni don’t support us, students don’t support us and the school won’t do whatever it takes to change that; and because of this, no P5 school will ever consider us for expansion. The BE should have forced the B12’s hand and taken Kansas and co, but they were passive and were were destroyed. Just like how UCF got overly aggressive and passed us (and believe me, I HATE that it happened like that) while we sat on our hands staying the course. I’m not saying we should break rules and do all types of shady things like UCF did, but we need to dump money and resources and get aggressive with our sports if we want to change our course, but idk if our athletics department has it in them; which is why nobody cares about us.

[jjlovecub]

6 hours ago, michibull said:

Completely agree. I think for the most part, in general, Tampa Bay fans are terrible, I mean some of the worst (look at the Rays support or the Bucs pre-Brady). I found it appalling the sheer amount of FSU, UF and UM gear on campus when I went to school, and that was in the early/mid 2000’s when we were relevant. Growing up in Michigan, it takes a whole lot of losing from any team before attendance and interest suffers ( I mean the Lions still sell out). Western Michigan and Central Michigan have better regular crowds and student sections than USF and they are jokes of programs compared to us (by today’s standards, not the BE days). It was a real culture shock for me coming down and seeing the difference. I mean look at QF’s era of football and still NOBODY showed up and that was a good 2 1/2 years of FUN football; it was embarrassing when people would ask why nobody shows up. I don’t want to hear the excuse of good weather because we have everything anyone would want in terms of distractions (all weather sports and activities), but we still make it a point to show up. I have come to the realization that we missed the boat with the last expansion and we will be stuck as a mid major for the rest of my life. The city doesn’t support us, Alumni don’t support us, students don’t support us and the school won’t do whatever it takes to change that; and because of this, no P5 school will ever consider us for expansion. The BE should have forced the B12’s hand and taken Kansas and co, but they were passive and were were destroyed. Just like how UCF got overly aggressive and passed us (and believe me, I HATE that it happened like that) while we sat on our hands staying the course. I’m not saying we should break rules and do all types of shady things like UCF did, but we need to dump money and resources and get aggressive with our sports if we want to change our course, but idk if our athletics department has it in them; which is why nobody cares about us.

Crap FL had a couple good years. The last few years they finish in the middle of the AAC with an average season. They are still in the American. The only thing IMHO they have passed us in is fan passion and attendance - which drives me crazy. But in the big picture they are right where we are - nowhere

[chapelbull]

8 hours ago, michibull said:

Completely agree. I think for the most part, in general, Tampa Bay fans are terrible, I mean some of the worst (look at the Rays support or the Bucs pre-Brady). I found it appalling the sheer amount of FSU, UF and UM gear on campus when I went to school, and that was in the early/mid 2000’s when we were relevant. Growing up in Michigan, it takes a whole lot of losing from any team before attendance and interest suffers ( I mean the Lions still sell out). Western Michigan and Central Michigan have better regular crowds and student sections than USF and they are jokes of programs compared to us (by today’s standards, not the BE days). It was a real culture shock for me coming down and seeing the difference. I mean look at QF’s era of football and still NOBODY showed up and that was a good 2 1/2 years of FUN football; it was embarrassing when people would ask why nobody shows up. I don’t want to hear the excuse of good weather because we have everything anyone would want in terms of distractions (all weather sports and activities), but we still make it a point to show up. I have come to the realization that we missed the boat with the last expansion and we will be stuck as a mid major for the rest of my life. The city doesn’t support us, Alumni don’t support us, students don’t support us and the school won’t do whatever it takes to change that; and because of this, no P5 school will ever consider us for expansion. The BE should have forced the B12’s hand and taken Kansas and co, but they were passive and were were destroyed. Just like how UCF got overly aggressive and passed us (and believe me, I HATE that it happened like that) while we sat on our hands staying the course. I’m not saying we should break rules and do all types of shady things like UCF did, but we need to dump money and resources and get aggressive with our sports if we want to change our course, but idk if our athletics department has it in them; which is why nobody cares about us.

I stopped reading after the first few lines when it became obvious you didn't know what the hell you were talking about.   Michigan has been playing football since 1879 .... 142 years ..... Big Ten Conference ..... 48 league titles .... 11 National titles ... They are one of the winningest and most storied programs in college football history.    Central Michigan?    Well they're wee noobs since they've only been around since 1896 .... 16 conference championships ..... 5 bowls in the last 7 years .... Conference championship game loss a couple of years ago.   USF === 24 years!   No conference titles .... haven't beaten an FBS team in 2 seasons.  When we were in the Big East and we were competing, there were no attendance issues.  Even with the crap AAC we have had seasons where we are near the top of attendance for G5 teams.  You're comparing us to those programs? Give me a break

Detroit Lions?   LOL, they've been in the bottom 1/3, maybe even 1/4 in attendance for the past 20 years.  That's the 90 year old Lions.    Several of those years they were below the Bucs or at worst in the same vicinity.  Prior to Tom Brady, the Bucs hadn't won a playoff game since their last Super Bowl run and hadn't won a division since 2007.   They still had a streak from late 90's to around 2010 of consecutive sell outs.

Rays are a different animal.   Baseball is a different animal.  Crap stadium in a crap area with crap owners.  

I'm pretty sure you didn't mention the Lightning for obvious reasons I'm sure.

People wear FSU, UF, UM gear because that is who they grew up rooting for, their families grew up rooting for/attended, and USF hasn't done near enough to change their loyalty.

Don't come here and bad mouth the fans of the Bay area if you don't know what you are talking about

Edited April 6, 2021 by chapelbull

[Triple B]

2 hours ago, jjlovecub said:

Crap FL had a couple good years. The last few years they finish in the middle of the AAC with an average season. They are still in the American. The only thing IMHO they have passed us in is fan passion and attendance - which drives me crazy. But in the big picture they are right where we are - nowhere

Couldn’t agree more. Will add, though, they’ve also passed us in Contributions at this point but when it’s all said and done, they are at the same level we are, just operating better currently. 

[bjef4844]

10 hours ago, michibull said:

I mean look at QF’s era of football and still NOBODY showed up and that was a good 2 1/2 years of FUN football; it was embarrassing when people would ask why nobody shows up.

The city doesn’t support us, Alumni don’t support us, students don’t support us and the school won’t do whatever it takes to change that; and because of this, no P5 school will ever consider us for expansion. The BE should have forced the B12’s hand and taken Kansas and co, but they were passive and were were destroyed. Just like how UCF got overly aggressive and passed us (and believe me, I HATE that it happened like that) while we sat on our hands staying the course.

I’m not saying we should break rules and do all types of shady things like UCF did, but we need to dump money and resources and get aggressive with our sports if we want to change our course, but idk if our athletics department has it in them; which is why nobody cares about us.

Complete agree. Particularly, no one showed up for the QF days because the Tampa Bay area doesn't care about the AAC. Kelly noted that <1% of all alumni have ever, at any point, contributed to the athletic department - that has to change, but most alumni look at their time at USF as a transactional relationship and that's it. UCF did make the investment and it certainly had paid off, and while I am supportive of USF making that move the money has to come from somewhere and you still have to have a strategy on how to use it wisely, otherwise you just burry yourself in debt.

[chapelbull]

2 minutes ago, bjef4844 said:

Complete agree. Particularly, no one showed up for the QF days because the Tampa Bay area doesn't care about the AAC. Kelly noted that <1% of all alumni have ever, at any point, contributed to the athletic department - that has to change, but most alumni look at their time at USF as a transactional relationship and that's it. UCF did make the investment and it certainly had paid off, and while I am supportive of USF making that move the money has to come from somewhere and you still have to have a strategy on how to use it wisely, otherwise you just burry yourself in debt.

Except people did show up during the QF days ..........

[bjef4844]

3 minutes ago, chapelbull said:

Except people did show up during the QF days ..........

Feel free to fact check it, but I don't think our attendance under QF, when we were ranked, was at the same level as when we were ranked and playing in the Big East. 

[michibull]

1 hour ago, chapelbull said:

Detroit Lions?   LOL, they've been in the bottom 1/3, maybe even 1/4 in attendance for the past 20 years.  That's the 90 year old Lions.    Several of those years they were below the Bucs or at worst in the same vicinity.  Prior to Tom Brady, the Bucs hadn't won a playoff game since their last Super Bowl run and hadn't won a division since 2007.   They still had a streak from late 90's to around 2010 of consecutive sell outs.

The Lions have 1 playoff win since 1957, they have playoff banners, not championships; They still average 63k with the exception of the 0-16 era. Fans still show up. I would never compare Mich and MSU to USF, but my whole point is that MAC schools still have loyal following being in a lesser conference  

 

1 hour ago, chapelbull said:

People wear FSU, UF, UM gear because that is who they grew up rooting for, their families grew up rooting for/attended, and USF hasn't done near enough to change their loyalty

Which is a lame excuse. I grew up an MSU fan in an MSU family. I applied there and didn’t get in, you know who accepted me? South Florida baby and I am proud of that!! You know how much MSU stuff is in my house? 0. Me and my family want MSU to do well, but we spend our time watching USF in every sport we can. 

 

1 hour ago, chapelbull said:

Even with the crap AAC we have had seasons where we are near the top of attendance for G5 teams.  You're comparing us to those programs? Give me a break

Is that ticket sales or actual people, because we all know we don’t average 30k people in the stadium like they announce. With USF’s size, resources and growing alumni, we should not compare ourselves to FAU, Coastal Carolina or Western Kentucky, that would be an insult. We are better (all around, not talking strictly sports because we all know the situation) than any G5 schools out there and our students and alumni should reflect that. USF should be a point of pride for the Tampa Bay Area. 
 

Don’t take my criticisms as insults, I actually grew up a Bucs fan more than Lions, truth be told I was obsessed with Florida teams, which is why I applied to USF. I love Tampa, it’s my favorite city and the people are great. Sports are just looked at different up here. 

Edited April 6, 2021 by michibull

[michibull]

6 minutes ago, bjef4844 said:

Feel free to fact check it, but I don't think our attendance under QF, when we were ranked, was at the same level as when we were ranked and playing in the Big East. 

The daily stampede had an article about the attendance woes in 2017, I think it said the last game was in front of 16,000 people and we were ranked. I believe I’m 2018 we average 38,000 tix sold per game and that was a little off set by the 57,000 that showed up for the UCF game. We also know that the upper bowl was rarely used and there was a lot of red seats in the crowd.