Think back to just after we won the Pizza Bowl....

[Bullschmutz]

What were your honest goals for this season? And perhaps the program in general.

Mine was, with so much of the team intact, getting older, but losing our two best players (Stephen Nicolas and Pat St. Louis) who were not only great individuals but who basically choreographed our defense on the field... Mine was that I would be happy and like it if we had a 9-3 season. I figured our returning team would be at the minimum, one game better than last year. But we really had a horrible off season with say, extracurricular activity by our star players and our vastly underpaid staff getting raped to be demoted into other programs (while making more money) or going to lesser schools. Getting ranked to #2 wasn't even on the menu, though I thought we could approach the top ten after a supposed win at AUB and with UWV.

Though we are not out of the woods yet. My two most feared games were uConn and Wannstashe's Pitt, simply because of away game weather, and away game performance in general.

My philosophic goal was to just not lose any games we were obviously expected to win, and I think we suceeded. I think the game FAU gave us woulda been a loss last year.

My best assessment of our program is that we would win the Big East in 2009. Schedule-wise it fits. UL and UWV at home. This year I factored in a sophomore slump for Grothe which he kinda showed in our wins.

But now I believe we can take the BE in 2008. Winning on the road at UL and UWV, I don't think odds makers would touch it, but I now think its possible.

So, in short, before the season began, what was your goals. Mine was 9-3 and I saw that as a respectably step up. For next year, We should hit 10-2, but with our schedule I'd accept a 9-3 again. 2009 is ours though. Ours.

[E.T.]

On the field, I expect to win every game this season. But I am not disappointed in our season - so far ... 2 more games to go!

Off the field, we exceeded my expectations Big Time !

- 2 Sell Outs

- Avg. Home Attendance over 53K

- So many games on ESPN/ABC

- Getting great ratings for 2 of those televised games

Go BULLS !!!

[Bull Matrix]

I thought we would have contended for the BIG EAST title. Too bad those dang refs didnt want to see it that way because it felt like we were battling them against RUTGERS, UCONN, and CINCY. It has been a strange season for USF as we were #2 in the nation, and we then became a big target to teams lilke Rutgers and UCONN. It seems like USF is back after the easy wins against Syracuse and UL, so I think we are now hunting instead of the hunted right now. I am hoping that we all learn from all that hype this season, so that we will be able to handle it better the next time we get that exposure. I thought USF handled it well against UNC, WVU, and UCF. FAU was a tough win because they used that as their Superbowl, so I am happy that we prevailed in that one. Overall, it has been a great year, and I hope we finish it off with two more wins to get to 10.

[BJ]

We still have people saying this was a great season.....ugh, let them live in their naivity.

Things I expected:

win 9 or 10 games in the regular season (should happen)

contend for the big east (did not happen)

don't lose games we shouldn't lose (did not happen....i.e., we did lose games we shouldn't)

Things that happened that I did not expect:

to be ranked #2 at one point

to go from unranked to #2 to unranked in a month and a half

to be mathematically eliminated from the conference title halfway through the Big East schedule

two sellouts

We've had a decent year, with some of the best individual moments in USF history, but it still blows my mind when people say it's been "great". But hell, we could be 2-9 at this point and there would be people saying how great of a year it was.

I disagree with the original poster's assessment of winning the Big East next year. I think we had a muuuuuuuch better shot this year than we will next year. Is it possible for us to win it next year? Of course, but we had a much better opportunity this year. We lose a lot of starters next year.

[Bull Matrix]

I think it was great because USF has never received that much national exposure before. It was great to get USF's name out there. Yes, it sucked when we had it right in front of us by losing three in a row, but I believe we will learn from this and get better as a program. The offense has been outstanding as of late, so I am hoping that the extra TV $$$$ will go towards our coaching staff. We need to keep them.

[BJ]

I think it was great because USF has never received that much national exposure before. It was great to get USF's name out there. Yes, it sucked when we had it right in front of us by losing three in a row, but I believe we will learn from this and get better as a program. The offense has been outstanding as of late, so I am hoping that the extra TV $$$$ will go towards our coaching staff. We need to keep them.

I agree that we will learn from losing three straight, but that doesn't make losing three straight "great".

When the goal of the season is to win the Big East, and we don't even contend for the Big East, I just find it a little hard to say it was a great season.

[E-3driver]

Great season and 9-3 is what I predicted, but that was losses to WVU, UL, and Auburn....dangit we could be undefeated without some turnovers...recruiting this winter will tell the tale of whether we are in the entrenched in the national picture or just a cute Cinderella story.  Having said that, we are LOADED for next year.  Entire offense returns.  Defense..should be able to replace Cray and Clebert, and as much as I will miss Ben, we are full of LB, I am concerned who will be our CBs.  We will miss Mike and Trae the most!!!  Would be nice to snag a top rated CB.

[Bull Matrix]

BJ,

Losing three straight sucked. I was not myself during those three long weeks. Football sucked all together because USF was on that losing streak. Take away that dang three game losing streak, and the season would have been more awesome. And as I stated, the goal is to win the BIG EAST championship each year. The last three years have been a disappointment if you look at it that way. You have to find something positive though in knowing that USF's name got through out there to the national media. Also, the city of Tampa became bandwagon USF fans during that 6-0 start which shows that USF will be ok when we do win that title. This year proved that the bandwagon fans are out there, we just cant afford to lose three or even two games in a row like we did this season. The sad fact is that USF would have sold out Cincy and UL games if not for the losing streak

[Bull Matrix]

And we are not a Cinderella program like the national media wants you to believe. We are becoming a football power, but the media just cant aknowledge that because they are still too high on UF, MIAMI, AND FSU as the only state powers. When will they learn??? I say in time as USF will continue to make noise on the national level. It took Gonzaga a few years of success to shake that Cinderella label, so I believe it will take USF a few years to shake that label also. Should be a fun ride though.

[BJ]

BJ,

Losing three straight sucked. I was not myself during those three long weeks. Football sucked all together because USF was on that losing streak. Take away that dang three game losing streak, and the season would have been more awesome. And as I stated, the goal is to win the BIG EAST championship each year. The last three years have been a disappointment if you look at it that way. You have to find something positive though in knowing that USF's name got through out there to the national media. Also, the city of Tampa became bandwagon USF fans during that 6-0 start which shows that USF will be ok when we do win that title. This year proved that the bandwagon fans are out there, we just cant afford to lose three or even two games in a row like we did this season. The sad fact is that USF would have sold out Cincy and UL games if not for the losing streak

I agree with most of what you said. I'm not saying this was a bad year, or that year wasn't good or didn't have good things. I'm simply saying this wasn't a GREAT year.  I don't why some people just can't seem to take that statement even though the evidence is right there in plain view.