What are some of our worst defeats in football thus far?

[USF-PMR]

Most of these posts are right on.  I take issue with loosing to Army, at home, in 2004.  If we have to give up a game, no better team than army, to lose to.  Especially with a WAR on.

Peace - Bulls will beat army in the future.

[80mins]

Army stands out in my mind--Homecoming loss to an abysmal team.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned State in the bowl game yet. Only shutout in Bulls history.

[Yung Money]

05 UConn, I think if they win that the Bulls would have given a much better effort against West Virginia that next week and the Bulls could already have a BCS bowl under their belt. Don't know if they beat Georgia but going to a BCS bowl would have been amazing and given the program some great momentum.

[GarySJ]

Working from memory...

The 22-20 Rutgers game, with the game-tying two-point pass that hit Amp Lee in the chest, still stings. As does the 2007 trip to Piscataway.

The 2003 TCU and UAB losses. Both were at home and a win in either game (or administrative competence on the part of Lee Roy Selmon) would have given us a bowl trip. And we wouldn't have had to listen to all that puke about FAU being the fastest startup team to make a bowl game least season.

The 2005 Miami and NC State losses. I didn't expect us to win those games but we should have been more competitive than that. Similarly, 2001 Utah, 2002 Arkansas, and 2004 South Carolina.

The 05 and 07 losses at UConn were painful. We were good enough to win both games but didn't execute when the chips were down.

The 2000 loss to Middle Tennessee State. We should have been more competitive against a fellow I-A newcomer. Fortunately, we've won enough games since then that nobody remembers it much.

The 1999 trip to San Diego State was painful. The 41-12 score showed us how big a leap it was from where we were to even mid-level I-A competition. It was an incredibly ambitious game, but it still hurt to lose that badly. And I'm proud our team was hurt by the loss; it showed what high goals they had. On the plus side, Marquel Blackwell debuted in that game and quickly became the face of the program.

And, in what is probably the most overlooked relevant moment in USF football history... in 1997, USF scores a late touchdown vs. perennial I-AA power Georgia Southern to cut the lead to 24-23. Jim Leavitt goes for two to win the game. The two-point play fails and GSU escapes Tampa Stadium (yes, that's what it was and what it was called then) with a one-point win. GSU made the final eight 8 in 1997, was I-AA national runner-up in 1998 (beating USF and a gimpy Chad Barnhardt 28-23) and won I-AA national titles in 1999 and 2000. It doesn't seem like much compared to all the big wins we've scored since then (Pitt in 2001, Auburn and West Virginia last year) but a Bulls win over Georgia Southern would have been tremendous at that time in our history. More importantly, it showed us that Jim Leavitt is the kind of coach who will go for two. Like Tom Osborne in the 1984 Orange Bowl. So if USF ever finds itself in a BCS bowl game, keep that 1997 Georgia Southern game in mind.