South Florida is the class of state teams (Orlando Sentinel)

[kastofsna]

GREAT COMPLIMENT from bowden

well....Bianchi left out the first part of Bowden's quote where he said something like "they're ranked 6th, but i don't expect them to last there for too long."

[MikeG]

maybe Bobby sees us going higher (yeah right)

Bianchi is such a joke-- gives us crap since day one and NOW-- miraculously-- we are the best team. Whatever-- keep trying to get our goat.

[TyBull]

orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi0307oct03,0,4318437.column

OrlandoSentinel.com

For best in state, South Florida is the team

Mike Bianchi

SPORTS COMMENTARY

October 3, 2007

Somewhere up on that Big Coaching Tower in the Sky, Andy Gustafson -- the hall-of-famer and longtime Hurricanes coach who helped bring distinction to Miami's rich football tradition -- is tossing down his headset and cursing this column.

And somewhere up in that Big Hunting Ground in the Sky, Chief Osceola angrily is aiming a flaming spear at my laptop.

And somewhere up in that Big Luxury Suite in the Sky, Ben Hill Griffin is looking down in disbelief and disgust at what I am about to write:

With all due respect to the dead, there's no denying it now: The best college football team in our state is not the Miami Hurricanes. Or the Florida State Seminoles. Or even the defending national champion Florida Gators.

It's undeniably and unbelievably the University of South Florida. And that's no Bulloney. Even the dean of state coaches -- Florida State's legendary Bobby Bowden -- doesn't argue the point.

"They deserve it," Bowden says of USF's perch atop the Florida pecking order. "They deserve it because they're playing winning football. I'm glad to see somebody in the State of Florida is holding up the banner while the rest of us try to get up off the floor."

In The Associated Press poll, the unbeaten IncrediBulls, in only their 11th season of playing football and sixth year in Division I-A, are ranked No. 6 in the nation -- three spots ahead of the Gators. Meanwhile, in the Sentinel's own BCS (Bianchi Cognitive Scale) rankings, here's how the state teams stack up:

1. South Florida, 2. Florida, 3. Florida State, 4. UCF, 5. Miami.

Florida fans, well known for their passion and pomposity, might argue that the Gators would beat USF in a head-to-head matchup, but such talk is simply rambling reptilian rhetoric. In every quantitative measure, the Bulls are a better team.

USF has a better record than UF, has beaten better opponents and has even beaten a common opponent. The Bulls went on the road and beat Auburn. The Gators stayed at home and lost to Auburn.

Not only do the Bulls boast better on-the-field performance, they obviously have better off-the-field leadership, too. Before last week's game against West Virginia -- the biggest game in USF's history -- the Bulls didn't have a single player arrested. Meanwhile, the Gators could be without star safety Tony Joiner for Saturday's monumental Southeastern Conference showdown with No. 1-ranked LSU. Joiner, a senior captain, was arrested by Gainesville police early Tuesday allegedly breaking into a downtown parking garage to retrieve his girlfriend's car.

Maybe UF should change its traditional fourth-quarter sing-along to, "We Are the Burglars from Old Florida."

This is not to say USF is a better program than the more established institutions in the state, but right now the Bulls certainly are a better team. And, personally, I didn't think I would ever in my lifetime utter this phrase: "The best team in the state is not Florida, Florida State or Miami."

Not only that, but an argument could be made that USF -- on any given Saturday -- could beat the state's Big Three. Never in history have we been able to even consider such a possibility.

How did this happen? How did South Florida go from fledgling, first-year Division I-A program to a Top-10 team in a half-dozen years -- the fastest such leap in the modern history of intercollegiate football?

How did UCF go from a piddling, podunk program a few years ago to a thriving university with better facilities than a Miami program with five national titles?

There are a lot of reasons why USF and UCF are emerging as legitimate threats to Florida State, Florida and Miami.

One obvious reason is because the two schools have become serious about their football and invested mega-millions in facilities and salaries.

In addition, the scholarship limitations in college football and the population boom in Florida have meant there are many more primo prep players in the state than the Big Three can accommodate.

Florida is now the country's fourth most-populous state and has five of the largest 25 universities in the nation (Florida, Florida State, UCF, South Florida and Florida International). As these young giants such as UCF and USF continue get older, the alumni and boosters continue to get richer.

"Our graduates are growing up," says influential state Sen. Lee Constantine, a UCF alumnus. "We're moving from middle management to upper management."

Nearly 20 years ago, I remember asking Bobby Bowden, whose team was an independent then, to name the toughest conference in the country.

Bowden chuckled and replied: "The Big 8, the Big Ten, the big this, the big that. Ain't none of 'em as tough as the Big Florida."

Bowden, of course, was making a joking reference to how powerful the state's three major college football programs had become.

Little did he know how profoundly the landscape would change.

The Big 8 is now the Big 12.

The Big Ten now has 11 teams.

And as for Bobby's Big Florida, let's just say it's become bigger, bolder and more Bullish than ever.

Mike Bianchi can be reached at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com.

Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

[Matt]

i still cant stand that guy.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

Ya see, guys?

Bianchi knows his stuff.

[HOTMello2005]

Rocky looks a lil rabid in that pic....

[Juice813]

Bianchi writing good words about USF?? Cant believe my eyes.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi0307oct03,0,4318437.column

[BULLSHTR]

Still throwing UCF out there like it could beat a big 3

[Dev0station]

[THe JAVI]

GREAT COMPLIMENT from bowden

Ol' Bobby has always been a true gentleman.  Far cry from chumps like Saban or Spurrier!