Another "Big 4" Article

[Brad]

USF is quickly making a debate for a 'Big 4'

By Dwight Collins

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Published: Friday, September 19, 2008 at 6:30 a.m.

It seems preposterous to even ask, considering the fact Miami won four of its five national championships before USF ever fielded a football team, but have the Bulls somehow wedged themselves into the “Big 3,” or at least forced some thought as to a “Big 4” in Florida?

“Seems” outlandish, maybe, but it’s certainly a mammal to tag and keep an eye on its migration pattern.

The Bulls can’t match the Hurricanes past, but they can certainly follow their path. And who’s to say if the programs engaged last season, this season and next season, USF wouldn’t hold the advantage, or perhaps win all three meetings?

The Bulls haven’t been on the radar long enough to convince most the idea isn’t a joke. There have been no high-profile coaching searches capable of keeping the program in headlines during the offseason, as Jim Leavitt coached game No. 1 against Kentucky Wesleyan in 1997 and game No. 101, when the program turned the corner and became a Big East threat.

Sorry, newness isn’t a valid-enough excuse to keep USF out of the everyday Florida football inventory.

During a different time, Miami went through seven coaches in its first 12 seasons; lost to the likes of Florida Southern, Stetson and the Alabama JV at a frightening pace; and sometimes spent decades between bowl appearances until Howard Schnellenberger recognized a sleeping giant and steered the program around a lucrative corner in the early 1980s.

Recently, USF replaced Miami in the Big East when the Hurricanes joined the ACC, and USF has shown nothing but a penchant for applaudable success.

The Bulls have become a staple in the Top 25 — currently No. 12 — while the whole polling process somehow suddenly seems foreign to the Hurricanes, and the ballyhooed “War on I-4” series with UCF was lopsided and now almost beneath USF.

NFL-caliber players are being manufactured on East Fowler Avenue in Tampa, and while no one is yet confusing them with Jim Kelly, Michael Irvin or some of the other Hall of Famers from the heyday Hurricanes, you have to wonder if Robert Marve leaving Tampa for a greener pasture came with the sales pitch of fertilizer.

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[Cow Pie]

NC's are nice but are not necessary to reach the B4 level... we just need to thump Miami, Florida, or FSU when we play them and the media will put us up their all by themselves.

[BULLSHTR]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

[BJ]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

I would love a USF vs FSU Orange Bowl

[flsportsfan83]

I would love fsu in the irange bowl

[Guest nybullsfan]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

I would love a USF vs FSU Orange Bowl

+1

Can you imagine how many times the announcers will make USF FSU mistakes?!??! LOL

[SRQ]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

I think its better for USF if FSU continues its slide and Miami returns to prominance as we have the Canes on the schedule for next 5 years.

[bucbull70]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

I think its better for USF if FSU continues its slide and Miami returns to prominance as we have the Canes on the schedule for next 5 years.

or even better, FSU wins the ACC we win the BE, we beat FSU in Orange Bowl and beat Miami next year?

[bulls96go]

we need to win a game vs one of the big three.

[windbane]

i hope fsu wins the acc and we win the BE

I think its better for USF if FSU continues its slide and Miami returns to prominance as we have the Canes on the schedule for next 5 years.

Might be better for FSU and Miami to both slide and for us to just beat Miami 5 years is a row.  We recruit against them both.

Then again, beating a supposedly good Miami would be more impressive, and then we wouldn't have to win them all to get respect for it.

Beating UF in 2010 would be bigger unless the loss of Tebow is that big of a deal.  They probably have the recruits to do ok.  I wouldn't mind them sliding, too, though.