USA Today: Critics take early shots at South Florida

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

If Ohio State wins out they are obviously better than us.   They are the defending runners up to the national championship and they dominated the National Championship game last year for the first 15 seconds.  They will have to defeat one or two teams that should end the year ranked 15 to 25.  They will have to win at Michigan and they have a really-really big stadium that they dominated Notre Dame in.   I can't understand what the debate would be. 

yeah, but what is a win at Michigan?  what does that mean for THIS season?  2 teams have already beaten the Wolverines in the Big House, and one of them (Oregon) is still eating off it in the polls (who else have they beaten?)

OSU beating Michigan in the Big House has "traditional" appeal, but i dont see that its a big win for them this year... Michigan will have already had 2 losses (if not more), will be ranked fairly low, and OSU has something like a 4 game winning streak against them.  PSU and Wisconsin arent strong, and Illinois is pulling a Rutgers circa 2006 by reshifting the landscape of the Big Televen.

of course, OSU would definetely get the nod if there were 3 undefeated teams-- say LSU, OSU and USF-- but that would be based simply off tradition and name recognition alone, not because they are much better than us THIS year.  not to mention their OOC schedule is a freakin tea-party.

[pops94]

If Ohio State wins out they are obviously better than us.  They are the defending runners up to the national championship and they dominated the National Championship game last year for the first 15 seconds.  They will have to defeat one or two teams that should end the year ranked 15 to 25.  They will have to win at Michigan and they have a really-really big stadium that they dominated Notre Dame in.  I can't understand what the debate would be. 

yeah, but what is a win at Michigan?  what does that mean for THIS season?  2 teams have already beaten the Wolverines in the Big House, and one of them (Oregon) is still eating off it in the polls (who else have they beaten?)

OSU beating Michigan in the Big House has "traditional" appeal, but i dont see that its a big win for them this year... Michigan will have already had 2 losses (if not more), will be ranked fairly low, and OSU has something like a 4 game winning streak against them.  PSU and Wisconsin arent strong, and Illinois is pulling a Rutgers circa 2006 by reshifting the landscape of the Big Televen.

of course, OSU would definetely get the nod if there were 3 undefeated teams-- say LSU, OSU and USF-- but that would be based simply off tradition and name recognition alone, not because they are much better than us THIS year.  not to mention their OOC schedule is a freakin tea-party.

Yeah well I don't see USF beating MAC teams at home twice a year.  (disclaimer:  this whole line of reasoning has been sarcastically altered for your reading pleasure)

[The_Reaper]

Fugg Jimmy Johnson and the hair he rode in on!!!!    Go Bulls!  Make him eat some Toro poo poo !!!

[FazaUSF]

You know, the truth is, we only have our Big East brethren to thank for such intense criticism.

Louisville should still be in the top 10. They should be another ranked opponent on our schedule. Losing to Kentucky isn't horrible, but to have lost to Utah and Syracuse is inexcusable.

Rutgers was spanking opponents until they screwed up at Maryland. They also should have been a ranked opponent, even with a loss at Cincy (if it had been their only one).

We really have Cincy to thank for any credibility left in our schedule, and to some extent UConn (if they win against Virginia, who is 5-1 and 3-0 in the ACC - I don't expect them to win but would be pleasantly surprised). If Louisville (primarily) and Rutgers hadn't gone pissing away our conference's fragile credibility, people would be saying something different. They'd be saying "wow, look at South Florida, with a schedule against 5 ranked opponents (Auburn, WVU, Louisville, Rutgers, Cincy), it's conceivable that they would deserve a title shot if they run the table." Of course, in that case, Cincy may not have been ranked if they had lost to Rutgers. And, UConn may yet be ranked when they play them, if they beat Virgina and Louisville.

I've rooted for all of our Big East conference-mates for every game on their schedules other than ours (obviously). After all that smack they talked in our first two years about the fact that they didn't feel we belonged in their conference, it is now the "big boys" in our conference (with the exception of WVU) whose fault it is that our conference is yet again perceived as weak, and at the same token, why we will receive so much criticism for a weak schedule outside of our two signature wins early in the season.

[JoeB]

Just like Thin Lizzy said, ".......if that chick don't wanna know, forget her!"

So to all these experts I say F 'em!!

Just keep Winnin' Jim!!

[USF-PMR]

You bet S.Florida's schedule will rank up there with anyones.  Good article.  The former coach of the Miami Hurricanes - and quite possible the worst commentator on TV - is a flunky.  Simply put, Butch Davis was much better than him and Butch just got his clock cleaned by UNC.

Bulls goard Golden Knights:  36 - 16!  No BULLoney.