Tressel - "South Florida is going to be a power."

[Zonald]

Rob Oller commentary: Mongrels hang with big dogs in college polls

Wednesday,  October 3, 2007 3:50 AM

By Rob Oller

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

As pets go, feisty South Florida is the kind of cute little college football program we adore -- a directional school that pulls off the occasional upset of the state university.

Let that critter breed, however, and suddenly the proliferation of underdogs will overstay their welcome.

This nation likes its college football owned and dominated by teams from Columbus, Gainesville and Baton Rouge. Parity is fine for the NFL, but keep that trend the heck away from Norman and Madison.

It's OK for South Florida to shock West Virginia and Auburn -- unless, of course, the Mountaineers and Tigers are your teams -- but don't let it happen more than twice in one season. And don't let more than one second-tier school do the shocking, either.

Let college basketball have its annual March Madness, where a handful of Davids drop a string of Goliaths with well-placed slings at the buzzer. College football will stick to the script, thank you very much, which says football factories should ingest smaller schools before belching them out like so much vapor from the campus power-station smokestacks.

The problem is that schools such as South Florida, which jumped from No. 18 to No. 6 in the Associated Press poll after defeating No. 5 West Virginia on Friday, seem to be popping up at an alarming rate. Kentucky, for instance, is No. 8. No offense, Wildcats, but shouldn't you be practicing foul shots, not pass plays? Hawaii is No. 16 and faces a remaining schedule that realistically could result in an undefeated regular season and potential BCS bid.

What's going on here? The answer is both something and nothing.

The something: Coaches have long pointed to the 85-scholarship limit, instituted in 1994, as creating a leveling effect in football. It has just taken this long for the results to show, said South Florida coach Jim Leavitt, who arrived at the Tampa school in 1996.

More something: "Quarterbacks are starting to come around again the last few years, and if you have a decent quarterback, you've got a chance," Leavitt said. College quarterbacks are even more important to achieving success than point guards are to advancing far into the NCAA Tournament. If you have one -- and there are more talented ones out there than ever, thanks to increasingly sophisticated high school offenses -- then you're in luck.

Put that quarterback in a spread offense, which allows QBs to pick apart an opponent through the air, and smaller schools join the top-25 rankings mix.

South Florida (4-0) also benefits from a ballooning Florida population, which is why Ohio State coach Jim Tressel predicts that the Bulls will be a threat for years to come.

"When we're long gone," Tressel said yesterday, "South Florida is going to be a power."

Now, the nothing. Despite the rise of South Florida -- and Boise State last season -- the actual number of less-known programs to finish the season in the top 10 is not vastly different from when before scholarship limits began in 1977.

In 1974, for example, Miami of the Mid-American Conference finished No. 10. Wyoming finished No. 6 in 1967, the same year Indiana was No. 4.

Since the 85-scholarship rule began, no more than one upstart program has placed in the final top 10 in any season. Tulane was No. 7 in 1998, Marshall No. 10 in 1999, Miami No. 10 in 2003, Utah No. 4 in '04 and Texas Christian No. 9 in '05.

At the end of the day, the big boys still dominate the top of the polls. Ultimately, that's a good thing. Teams such as South Florida create interest for a season, but more than any other sport, college football is about maintaining tradition.

Underdogs are nice pets that are cute to cuddle, but they need to know their place -- at the foot of the bed and bottom of the polls.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/football/stories/2007/10/3/oller03.ART_ART_10-03-07_C1_AL838E8.html

[smazza]

i said this 10 years ago

[JrGMan2004]

Fear The Sweater Vest!

hehehe

[Mag Pie]

Writer is an idiot.  That cute little school has 45k students and has only had football for 11 yrs.

[SANJAY]

Most importantly, the cute little mongrel has the BCS tag.  It makes a long-term difference for as long as the BCS is around.

[atlbull]

The one thing that this writer is forgetting to recognize is that Notre Dame is the biggest boy of them all.  Where are they now?  20+ years without a national championship and on the verge of having an 0-12 season.   

[bull_roarer]

Given the choice of having a storied program that is mired in mediocrity or a brand spanking new team with a short history of winning, 'first evers' and 'biggest evers' -- I'll take the latter.

Our first ever bowl game, first bowl win, our first SEC win (at last), first sell out, first ever ranking, God willing our first Big East championship and first ever BCS game (win?).

It's a great time to be a Bull!

So let them call us what they want - USF is on the path to greatness (and not just on the football field).

[kastofsna]

the writer thinks of USF as a small program in a mid-major conference, apparently.

[mikebeau]

What a crybaby.

Translation --- " Look at us, We're undefeated!  Yeah, so what if we got wiped out last year in the National championship game.  So what if USF has played ranked opponents.  We beat Akron.  We beat Minnesota.  We have Tra-dition.  We're storied.  Who are you?  Go back to the unknown."

Give me a break.

Overrated

State

University

[kastofsna]

OSU has been doing it for a looooong time, and been going it well for a loooooong time. hardly overrated.