OK we have our annual upset...now comes the stupid loss

[Apis Bull]

Here, here!!

[usfgrad84]

I know everyone was shocked when we lost to Army, but looking back at that team it really shouldn't have been a surprise.  First of all, that team was mostly made up of kids we recruited and had played most of their career here as D1AA caliber players.  Then go back and lok at how many Freshman we had playing in that game.  There were also a lot of Sophs.  We were young, inexperienced, small and really not a good football team at all.  In many respects we were still a D1AA team posing as a D1 school.  Look at the players that started that game.  They all turned into pretty good players for us.  Mike Jenkins, Trey Williams and Danny Verpeale all started as Freshmen.  Nicholas and St. Louis as Sophs.  On offense we had Andre Hall still learning the offense, then you had Julmiste as a Soph, Chambers, Peyton and JB Garris as starters at WR as True Freshman.  We had unrealistic expectations based on our past success in '02 and '03.  The reality was we weren't a good football team then.

I personally believe that Cincy was abetter team than we were last year and their record being worse than ours was a function of their scheduling VT and OSU rather than FIU and McNeese State.  I think they are good team this year.  It's all about how our offense develops.  I don't see a loss to them as being a stupid loss.  I think they get shortchanged more than we do when it comes to lack of respect.  Probably because they really haven't had that big, media blitz after a signature win.  Don't forget they did beat Rutgers last year as well. 

I don't think we go undefeated, but I also don't think we have a "stupid loss".  I'm not really sure how anyone thinks the loss to KU was a stupid loss last year.  They were favored in the game going into the game and we were very inexpereinced.

[Jihme]

hopefully we've gotten the bug out of our system by now.

i doubt we'll look past ucf - everyone hates them

maybe it will be syracuse??? (yuk)

[nobull.Bulls]

We arent taking no stupid loss this year. Especially not to UNC.

THIS IS OUR YEAR

[RSSMOOTH]

We arent taking no stupid loss this year. Especially not to UNC.

THIS IS OUR YEAR

This is true, this is not the same USF team of the past. The old USF team would have walked into Auburn and laid an egg. THis USF team walks into Auburn and physically dominates them and comes home with a victory. Remember we've beaten two ranked teams in our last 4 games. We will make some noise this year. With UNC getting beat by ECU, I'm pretty sure UNC doesn't want anything to do with us.

[FazaUSF]

I don't think we're going to overlook L'Ville, WVU, Rutgers, or Auburn. Elon, FAU, UNC, and Syracuse don't worry me at all.

That leaves UCF, UConn, Cincy, and Pitt. UCF - we play them when we're in the groove already, so I don't think it will be as close as last year. But, given the emotions and the fact that we're 2-0 on them and look down on them (potentially overlooking them), UCF is a possible trap. Pitt is our last game, and the weather could become a problem, so I can understand why folks might be worried about that one. But something tells me we're not going to lose our last game in the schedule. Frankly, UConn and Cincy worry me, because they've got more to prove than we do right now, and they've both upset us once in the past two years. UConn's got some good things going on, but I tend to think we'll handle them alright, it's Cincy I'm worried about most. They legitimately beat us last year and made us look pretty bad. I hope we turn out to play them 100%. They've got some huge front lines and their record last year was skewed due to the fact that they played so many top-caliber teams. I think if they had played our schedule, they would have done almost as well, with the exception of our win over WVU.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Cincy is the game that worries me the most. They only lost to ranked teams last year other than Pitt, and they played some top-20 teams pretty closely. They smothered us when they played us. And, they just drubbed Oregon State. Cincy would have had as good a record as ours with our schedule last year, at least, and they're going to be the team to watch out for this year even though they're not getting any press.

We'll see if UCF's win over NC State was worth its weight when they play host to a less-than-glorious Texas this week. That'd be the only other team that could lay mild claim to a place on the upset-o-meter.

So, now that we've seen L'Ville get beaten, Cincy spank another opponent and receive votes in the Coaches' Poll (wouldn't it be amazing to have more than half the BE ranked?), FAU win a game, and UCF hang in there with #6 Texas within a field goal, do our concerns for a trap game change at all?

I remain sincerely concerned about Cincy. In addition, while everybody knows Texas is overrated and isn't worth their ranking, UCF still hung with them, and our signature win over Auburn was marred by the fact that they obviously weren't worth their ranking either. I previously said that we'd see if UCF's win over NC State was worth anything - after hanging with Texas, I can't really discredit it at all. I think we may have TWO opponents to be worried about an upset over - Cincy AND UCF. I haven't forgotten Pitt, but they haven't yet given me a reason to think they're ready to outplay us this year. And, the way Rutgers is playing, I have to question my belief that they are overrated. But, that game can't qualify for a stupid loss... overrated or not, they're top-15 and a good team one way or the other, and it would technically be an "upset" for us to win, so this is one that I'm sure we'll be ready for (especially since it's personal).

[BullGrad95]

I think after watching the first three weeks of the college football season, nobody should overlook anyone this year. There have been too many upsets and close calls already for there be any reason to overlook any team.

[USF03]

Shut your mouth!    :shhh  :stfu

[BullBlood]

PITT looked horrible against MICH ST.  Their passing offense is anemic.  Unless their QB gets healthy and returns as a productive QB, they will not beat us even if its 10 degrees and snowing.  Still a lot of time between now and then....

Cinci is going to be tough.  If we lost that game, I wouldn't consider it a "stupid loss."