Are we for real...

[Brad]

We're going to win Saturday.  That is all I will say.  Other than I just don't see us losing.    

[Matt]

ill take that comment any day of the week brad.  what i cant stand is something like 'are we for real'

go to practice and ask the players if they really practiced that day.

we are REAL....

[smazza]

we will know this weekend.  There is a lot of discussion on this board about whether or not this team is for real or not because of our weak schedule the first 3 games.  I think this weekend will give us the answer.  We win and I believe we are looking at an 8-win season and a team that makes a statement that we are legitimate contenders.  We lose and we may be looking at a 5 or at most 6 win season.

My take, USF is full of PTP'ers that shine this weekend and we take care of business winning 27-20 on the road.

Go Bulls...prove me right.

contenders for what?

a bad bowl

if we win this week and end up wtih

8 wins  than we finish in middle of big east.that isnt good.

last year we had an old team an won 6 games

this year we have a young team.

what will be the team next year?

did west virginia have an old team last year or young team?

what does west virgina have this year?

[MikeG]

I wish smazzza would just give up on the Bulls already.

I mean-- if they are this terrible and making so many terrible decsions, why follow them at all?

Do us a favor smazza and find a USC board to troll.

[Bull Matrix]

The point is that USF is not at full strength this season. Once we get Ricky Ponton, Josh Julmiste, and Jackie Chambers then you will see a much impoved team. If USF could get one more win in these next three games then I think everything is going to be ok once they all return. We have a very young inexperienced DL that really could use the help of Josh Julmiste right now. Also, Ricky Ponton is really needed at RB right now. Our WRs are great even without Chambers, but I still love the fact that USF will have that extra WR deep threat to help out. Things will get better after these next three games.

[GetAHobby]

I really don't see how everyone keeps saying this game (KU) will show us a lot. I don't think it will, if we win then we just beat a Very Weak KU team, lets face it the JayHawks are not good, and if we lose we suck, but oh well life goes on and you have a game next week. Regardless I think all the games are going to be tough for a young team. I really don't think this game will prove anything, exept maybe a reality check.

[Bull Matrix]

I believe Kansas did win their bowl game last season. Their coach has done a good job at building something at Kansas.

[Bullpride08]

we will know this weekend.  There is a lot of discussion on this board about whether or not this team is for real or not because of our weak schedule the first 3 games.  I think this weekend will give us the answer.  We win and I believe we are looking at an 8-win season and a team that makes a statement that we are legitimate contenders.  We lose and we may be looking at a 5 or at most 6 win season.

My take, USF is full of PTP'ers that shine this weekend and we take care of business winning 27-20 on the road.

Go Bulls...prove me right.

The thing you've got to look at is are we getting better collectively as a team?  Yes, that is clear there's improved play all over the field.

We're extremely young, the guy that had the game saving sack against UCF is a 6-4 240lbs RS-Fr DE, that converted in fall practice to DE from OLB, where he converted in the spring from SS....Robinson has made lots of newby mistakes, but his speed on the outside is also undeniable often bursting by the OT as he did on the game saving sack--he brags himself to be running under 4.6--.  So are we 'weak' not really we're an improving team.  

I read this on another board:

Ummmm......we haven't given up a TD defensively in the second half yet. That sounds pretty good to me.

They haven't given up but 2 touchdowns all season defensively. That's also pretty **** good. The mistakes that have led to close games would be sure defeats against good teams, but if those things get hammered out this is a better than average football team with playmakers in a few key positions.

It wouldn't shock me at all to see these guys win 9 games and that isn't bad considering the youth, suspensions and a freshman QB. A bowl game is easily attainable and looking down the road two years this team looks pretty **** exciting.

See the forest through the trees.  Are we a 'great' team?  No!  But we're not an awful team you can't execute a 90 yard TD drive on the road, with 40k screaming opposition, and a defense that was in a bowl last year, and not be at least a decent team.  The thing I take solace in is there is a lot of areas on this team that are performing excellent and doing great.  Defense is bending but not breaking, they're actually making plays and getting turnovers, and getting QB pressure.  Our offense has trouble running, but the passing game is looking great.  We've finally got depth along the OL, we've now played 10 different players on the OL, and even with Griffins' injury we might not skip a beat.  

We did what we did against FIU, and UCF without arguably our biggest returning playmaker on the DL missing (Julmiste), our most consistent WR the past two years missing (Chambers), our best OL missing (Watson), our top returning RB missing (Ponton), our heralded RS-FR running back gone with an ACL tear (Plancher)....what's better is not to long four out of five of these guys will be returning and only strengthen the team.

You can't be an awful team if you've got the #1 freshman passing Qb in the nation, the #1 punt return man, the #10 overall defense,  a DB tied for the lead in the nation for iNT's.  Sorry, but you can't be a bad team if you can accomplish those situations.  We're a young team, a skilled team, that needs to tighten up a bit, make more plays, get more consistent, and develop.  We're a pretty good team right now but also a team with so much skill that we can be great.  No longer is this an offense where maybe Andre Hall can take it 50 yards to the house.  All of a sudden teams are having to stare at Taurus Johnson, Ean Randolph, and Amarri Jackson as guys who can hurt you everytime they touch the ball.

The last time I remember that many weapons that have actually produced is in 2002.

[MikeG]

they will, as long as no one else gets hurt.

You can't really tell what will happen over the course of a season. You can guess and hope-- but you can never be sure.

Ponton-- while a good option-- is still not a proven option. He is an upgrade but can he be Andre or near Andre Hall-like?

Julmiste-- he'll make some serious impact immediately. Not only from an experience level but from an explosiveness level. Here's the thing though-- our ends have been doing a pretty decent job in his absence. It will be a bump and it's always good to have depth.

Chambers has the least impact, IMO. We are deep at receiver. Deep at return specialist (Ean is better that Jackie). So he is nice to have but not going to change much about our makeup.

I'll tell you this much-- the guys we have in there are busting their asses to win games. In the end-- that's all we can really ask for from a bunch of 18-23 year olds isn't it?

[MikeG]

Bien-- I agree with much of what you wrote. I would caution that those stat-related items/rankings were against 2 or 3 marginal teams. If they can maintain those type of numbers long term, ok-- they are really that good.

Well--- I have no doubt in my mind that Randolph is that good actually. Grothe-- **** good and getting better each game. The defense-- good but underperforming in certain areas. We need to stop that third and long play-- that seems to be an achilles heel for USF. Also, our pass rush needs to get more pressure on the QB more consistently. It's good-- but it needs to be better

The one thing not mentioned is how banged up we are on the interior DL. That concerns me greatly heading into Kansas against those ginormous OL of theirs. Usually I'm thinking-- "You can't run on USF". We saw that UCF could run on us-- not sure why exactly since the previous year we stopped their running game dead in it's tracks (and they reverted to passing the entire second half).

So I'm concerned about this game. I will take a win-- I don't care how we get it done but we've got to get it done.