AJC Lead Sport Story

[atl86bull]

We have officially made it onto the college football map!!  Living here in Atlanta all you read about is SEC / ACC etc... and the lead story (front page on top) in today's s AJC sport section had a picture of the Bulls with the following article.  Getting this kind of press coverage in Atlanta which is the heart of college football is incredible and it makes me a proud Bull. 

http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/uga/stories/2007/10/14/bcs_1015.html

South Florida crashing BCS party

By TONY BARNHART

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 10/15/07

Since its inception in 1998, the Bowl Championship Series has been, for the most part, an exclusive club for college football's traditional powers.

Well, move over boys. Here come the Bulls.

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See the BCS standings

The University of South Florida began its football program only 11 years ago. But if the Bulls (6-0) of the Big East Conference can win their remaining six games they very likely will be playing for the BCS national championship.

After three weeks of watching traditional powers lose left and right, the team from Tampa was No. 2 behind Ohio State when the first BCS standings for the 2007 season were released Sunday.

The top two teams in the final BCS standings, which will be released on Dec. 2, will meet in New Orleans on Jan. 7 for the national championship.

South Florida went on the road and beat Auburn 26-23 on Sept. 8. It beat West Virginia in Tampa (21-13) when the Mountaineers were ranked No. 5. On Saturday they totally destroyed state-rival Central Florida 64-12. The Bulls were No. 1 in all but one of the six computers used in the BCS standings.

"When we came here [in 1997] a lot of people wondered if it was possible to win here at the highest level," South Florida coach Jim Leavitt said earlier this week. "But all I have ever asked is for people to watch us play. Then they can judge how good we are."

As expected, Ohio State (7-0), South Florida (6-0), and Boston College (7-0) were in the first three spots in the standings.

If there was a surprise, it was that LSU (6-1), which lost in triple overtime to Kentucky (43-37) on Saturday, only dropped to No. 4 in the standings. LSU fell to No. 5 in both the human polls  USA Today coaches and Harris Interactive  which are used in the BCS formula. But the Tigers, who have beaten Virginia Tech, South Carolina and Florida, received an average ranking of No. 2 from the six computers used in the formula.

LSU, which hosts Auburn on Saturday, is in good position to get back into the national championship race should the Tigers be able to run the table and win the SEC championship.

But could a 12-1 SEC champion climb over an undefeated South Florida or Boston College?

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville, a voter in the USA Today coaches poll, said he would not have problems voting a one-loss team over an undefeated team if he thought it was better.

"Right now we're just finding out who the best teams are," Tuberville said on Sunday. "It's not about what conference you're in, it's about how good a team you put on the field. And the best team at the end of the year might have one or two losses."

No. 5 Oklahoma (6-1), which had an impressive 41-31 win over Missouri on Saturday, is another of the one-loss teams waiting in the wings. The Sooners were No. 4 in both human polls but the computers gave them an average rank of 11.

But the computers love Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks (6-1), who were No. 6 in the first BCS standings. South Carolina has wins over Georgia and Kentucky and the Gamecocks' only loss was on the road (28-16) to LSU.

Spurrier has never paid much attention to the BCS rankings. He prefers to focus on the SEC championship, something he feels can actually be won on the field.

"We're not good enough to be worrying about all those goals down the road," Spurrier said. "The goal we set for ourselves was to win the SEC East. If we can do that and get to Atlanta, we'll try to win. If we win the SEC, we'll see what happens."

Kentucky (6-1) did not crack the top 10 in the human polls, but got a big boost from the computers, which gave the Wildcats an average ranking of No. 4. That put the Wildcats at No. 7 in the BCS with Florida coming to Lexington on Saturday.

"When we lost to South Carolina [on Oct. 4] the doubters were ready to drop us like a hot rock," coach Rich Brooks said. "Hopefully we've gained a measure of respect nationally because what we did earlier in the year [a 5-0 start] was not a fluke."

The SEC had seven teams in the BCS top 25 and three of the top seven. Georgia (5-2) was at No. 20.