Fenelly: "USF Dropping The Ball If It Drops UCF"

[Joe]

It's not just UCF though there are several schools that would be "better wins" than Indiana.

Boise State - They got smacked as bad as UCF did to UF at UGA in 2005, yet the media loves them

Fresno State - Hasn't won their conference in 7 years...still considered a good win by the media.

TCU - Probably the best non-BCS team out there.

UTEP - They lost to TExas Tech and are still receiving votes

There are several others out there. There is such a thing though as a Mid Major that is better than a BAD BCS program. Just because you're a BCS school doesn't mean people view you as such (Indiana, Duke, Baylor, etc...)

[___ Eats It]

Hell Lee Corso picked UCF v. UF to be his game to look out for because he thought O'Leary's coaching would keep the game close.

The sad thing is, THESE are the same kinds of guys who vote.

Clueless.

[Bull Dozer]

If you told Joe average fan from around the country that you beat Indiana  they would say "Oh ya", UCF they would say "who"?

actually joe average fan only cares about top 25 teams.  UCF should only be dropped for OOC games against good BCS teams end of stroy thats it.  IN & IL are garbage period, just because youre in a big conference doesnt mean your a big program and people will respect a team for beating you.  So because UK is in the SEC people respect the teams that kick their head in for beating them? No they dont its what a good program is supposed to do.  People talk about this program going and gaining exposure you do that with wins over GOOD PROGAMS IN BIG CONFERENCES if your scheduling the bottom feeders of major conferences its just as bad as scheduling top teams in garbage conferences.  Unless we're dropping UCF for a middle top of a major conference team it makes no sense.  It will be a good payday, in state recruits (who obviously make up the majority of our roster) considering the two schools will lean more on the winner, if the two dont play dont you think the one thats building a OCS has a pretty good advantage over a program that doesnt have one in the works.  You can hate on UCF all you want but if talk to someone who doesnt care about either program and told them the plans both schools have for advancing their programs over the next say 7 years they would obviously say UCF is trying harder than we are.  

[Triple B]

I have this question.  Besides UCF and USF fans who will care if we beat USF?  I say no one.  Which means we don't have a lot to gain by beating you all.

Let's see, you say you don't have a lot to gain by beating us. We don't have a lot to gain by beating you. The majority of our fans, for whatever reason, don't care enough to go one hour east to watch us play you. It appears the only reason to have this game is so UCF fans can have an away game every other year that's within short driving distance so they can come here, trash our parking lot and verbally abuse every Bulls fan within earshot........  No wonder the USF admin is doing what it's doing.

Thanks for simplifying this for everybody.

[BigShoop]

Yes, that hot bed of talent around WKU is where we need to compete.

Don't be as shortsighted as the Trib writers.  I said we were creating exposure for USF, not trying to create a recruiting trip for USF football.  

Doesn't KY and Indiana have some of the best High School Basketball talent in the country?  Maybe not a hot bed of football talent, but potentially a hotbed for basketball talent.  Maybe a little exposure to the fact there is actually a USF and maybe we can actually get a BB player to look our way.

I doubt that would a primary reason for possibly scheduling something like this, but it sure doesn't hurt in that regard.  Didn't UCONN build their football team based on the success they showed with the BB team.  Why can't we do it the same way in reverse.

Again, if you look at the bigger picture, while there is not a downside to playing UCF, there is a bigger upside to growing the USF name outside of the Bay area region.  I wouldn't mind playing some more Texas teams or West Coast teams myself, but Woolard is midwest guy and has lots of connections there.

If we want to continue with a reputation as a regional/commuter school then fine, let's just keep playing teams within driving distance.  If we want to start becoming known as a school with national reach let's spread our wings a bit.  Right now our football team is our  school's biggest advertising vehicle, let's use it.

Good points..............but why do we have to REPLACE the UCF game with games across the country? Why not play UCF in addition to those other teams?

[Don Toro]

As for recruiting, how many recruits did we "steal" from Louisville by beating them last year? How many recruits did we lose after the WVU game? How many recruits do you see switching to UCF if we lose the game? I don't know much about recruiting but I would like to know if a win or a loss really make that much of a difference since that is one of the arguments against playing UCF.

[Triple B]

Hell Lee Corso picked UCF v. UF to be his game to look out for because he thought O'Leary's coaching would keep the game close.

C'mon, Joe, throwing Corso out there as some reference on this is ridiculous. He lives in Orlando. He picked UCF to upset us last year. We saw how that turned out. When he made that remark, Herbstreit gave him a look like "WTH??"

[Triple B]

You can hate on UCF all you want but if talk to someone who doesnt care about either program and told them the plans both schools have for advancing their programs over the next say 7 years they would obviously say UCF is trying harder than we are.

Why? Just because of an OCS ........... That's ridiculous. Just what "plans" do they have that says they are trying harder than us?

[Bulls Are We]

As for recruiting, how many recruits did we "steal" from Louisville by beating them last year? How many recruits did we lose after the WVU game? How many recruits do you see switching to UCF if we lose the game? I don't know much about recruiting but I would like to know if a win or a loss really make that much of a difference since that is one of the arguments against playing UCF.

I agree.  Do we really go head to head with UCF for many players?

You can count on one hand the number of players on our roster from the "Central Florida" area.  

[Bull Dozer]

As for recruiting, how many recruits did we "steal" from Louisville by beating them last year? How many recruits did we lose after the WVU game? How many recruits do you see switching to UCF if we lose the game? I don't know much about recruiting but I would like to know if a win or a loss really make that much of a difference since that is one of the arguments against playing UCF.

I agree.  Do we really go head to head with UCF for many players?

You can count on one hand the number of players on our roster from the "Central Florida" area.  

You dont have to be from central Florida to go to UCF.  Im sure there are recruits in south and north FL considering both schools.  Contrary to what most people here see (with their green and gold goggles) our programs are pretty much viewed as at the same level by people nationally, UCF may even be starting to pull ahead there (of course building a OCS and especially having O'Leary help ALOT).  So if a kid knows he prolly wont sniff playing time at the big 3 till hes prolly a senior and wants to stay in state and play soon its us and them.