Stewart Mandel leaves USF out of top 25

[smazza]

he is usually very supportive of USF.  but really, i could careless about top 25 polls in May.  They are just something for fans to talk about.

I really want to see USF be pre-season top 25 in the real polls when they come out.

so true

if usf takes care of business we are in a bcs game

[Jamie]

If you read through the teams, it looks like Mandel forgot that defense is almost always ahead of offense in spring practice. Look how many coaches are in there raving about their defense. I mean, look at Texas Tech - number eight? Seriously? Their defense is consistently horrible and they don't have anywhere close to the kind of talent that Texas and Oklahoma have.

[BULLfreak]

SI.com's Stewart Mandel has #14 WVU, #22 Cincy, #25 Pitt with UConn on the cusp.  Are we really the 5th best team right now in the Big East?  Everyone of those teams are losing starters.  I don't think our defense will be that far off of where it was and we get our whole offense back.  We had a lot of underclassman last year.  How does Pitt, Cincy, and UConn get picked ahead of us?  Other than playing on the road I think we are better than WVU as well.  I guess that 3 game losing streak and the debacle in El Paso have really hurt the perception of our program.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/05/01/spring.rankings/index.html?eref=T1

UCONN AND CINNCY BEAT US LAST YEAR

What happened last year means nothing

PITT HAS MORE TALENT

More talent doesnt always mean a better team (just ask the YankMEEES) and I disagree with you on PITT having more talent than USF

[ProudBull]

I might be the odd guy out here, but I don't think OU really was that good in the bowl game; they just kept running the same play over and over and it we did nothing about it.  Besides the 3rd quarter we were still alive.  I think it was one of the rare cases of bad coaching on our part.

[Bull Martin]

SI.com's Stewart Mandel has #14 WVU, #22 Cincy, #25 Pitt with UConn on the cusp.  Are we really the 5th best team right now in the Big East?  Everyone of those teams are losing starters.  I don't think our defense will be that far off of where it was and we get our whole offense back.  We had a lot of underclassman last year.  How does Pitt, Cincy, and UConn get picked ahead of us?  Other than playing on the road I think we are better than WVU as well.  I guess that 3 game losing streak and the debacle in El Paso have really hurt the perception of our program.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/stewart_mandel/05/01/spring.rankings/index.html?eref=T1

UCONN AND CINNCY BEAT US LAST YEAR

What happened last year means nothing

PITT HAS MORE TALENT

More talent doesnt always mean a better team (just ask the YankMEEES) and I disagree with you on PITT having more talent than USF

Last year is at least a partial assesment.  Cincy will be good again this year.  They will definately have an awesome defense.  As for UConn, I'm still not sold on what they did last year.

And yes, Pitt does have more talent.  They just have an idiot coaching them.

Pitt, Cincy, and WVU will give us some trouble this year, and I'm more worried about Pitt than WVU.  Their running backs shredded us last year, and I don't really see us stopping it this year.  We jsut have to out score them.  That game was pretty close if you don't remember.

[JoeB]

I agree with Eats It.  Mandel was high on the Bulls way before anyone else.  A few wins (Kansas, NC State) will put us back in the Top 25 in his mind.

[BullsOnThaRize8]

Oregon was impressive to say the least. They ran the same play? They ran the same 4 plays and it worked every time so should we be upset that they continued to run it. I would of done the same thing. The fact is we are a really good team. We faced another really good team who happened to exploit us on that given day. If we played them at Ray Jay we probably win. For the longest I was pissed but they brought us back down to earth. If we want to move on we must learn from these kinds of experiences to become better. We will be there when it matters.

[SRQ]

Cincy will be suspect at QB, Pitt has not proven it can win consistenly under Wanny and UConn was very lucky lasy year.

Mandel got burned by his early robust support of USF when Bulls folded. 

[BullsandGatorsfan]

It's not how you start, it's how you finished? I think USF is second or third best team. Seriously, Pitt ahead of the Bulls, Really? Weren't they like 5-7?

[theman123]

I don't have a problem, its the first i've seen where we aren't in the top 25 anyway.