Is the Bucs' recent lack of success good for USF?

[PitBull]

I dont know if this has been brought up yet, but I am a lifelong Bucs fan and watched them lose today against the Seahawks.. normally, i'd be in tears, but with them losing so much these past 5 years or so, i've become immune to the pain...

i spent most of my sunday watching NFL, keeping track of my fantasy teams, but BY FAR the biggest thing on my mind was the big win vs. Auburn last night.. to the point where i really don't care about the outcome of the bucs.

does anyone else think the negative publicity of the bucs and fan apathy for them will only deflect Tampa area fans to the college game and what USF has accomplished??  if the bucs keep on sucking and the bulls keep on doing well, they could very well capitalize on their success in tampa and become the talk of the town.  i kind of relate it to when the Tampa Bay Storm won over the area with their Arena Bowl dynasty when the Bucs were sucking.

[Matt]

i gotta agree.

i dont think it will make too much of an impact but as more and more fans grow tired of this boring Bucs team they will realize that for a much cheaper ticket they can watch some exciting football that really does have national impact.

part of the reason why we havent gotten much support from the common tampa sports fan is that they dont really see the Bulls being on the national radar.  they want to be involved with what others are talking about (bandwagons, see Tampa bay Lightning)

if USF can beat West Virginia this month and the Bucs are 1-3 I think you will start to see a changing of the guard among common fans.  obviously a lot of Bucs fans are huge gator fans so that wont affect them too much but for a tampa sports fan who is looking for somethign worth cheering for...they will come over to the Bulls.

[Sunil]

I think that this is a perfect oppurtunity for the Bulls to steal some thunder. Already on message boards and tv segments, there have been joking references to the most succesful team in RayJay this year will be USF. Kidding aside, last year we don't even get that reference.

I'm a Tampa native..and football is king..and when they are good...the Bucs are the unquestioned king. However, this area also loves a winner. Their downslide plus our upswing will at least get the program some community attention they wouldn't otherwise get if the Bucs were sniffing the playoffs.

If nothing else, it will get some of those depressed Bucs fans to dust off their diplomas and remember they went to USF...and maybe...just maybe...buy a T-shirt and a few tickets as a casual fan. Things that might never have happened in different year.

[Triple B]

I think I heard there are still tix available to all Bucs home games. First time this has happened in a long while. wouldn't surprise me a bit to see USF syphon some of those fans off if we keep up this climb...

[bulls96go]

bucs suck!