Gary Shelton Sums Up My Feelings About the 2008 Bulls

[nobull.Bulls]

I'd have been okay with the article, if it was written by Greg.  Because at least he follows the Bulls and knows the good and bad of the program.  Being a st pete times reader for decades, I find Gary's editorial writing to be mostly a bandwagon style.  He never wrote crap about USF for years when we were getting no coverage and on our upward climb.  Only a few years ago did he finally acknowledge that the USF Bulls football program existed.  Now he is quick to jump on and slam USF for this year. 

For the fans, and the media, let's not forget that we could still go 9 - 4 with a post season bowl game.   Two years ago, we would have jumped up and down for that chance.  5 years ago, we would not have believed it could ever happen.

I'm just saying that I am not a fan of his writing because he only writes on polarizing topics of either an unexpected team doing well, or a team falling off the face of the earth.  His style is what epitomizes newspapers and media outlets today.  We want to build you up in the media, only so we can be there when you come crashing down, and we can write about that too.  And if we can sell papers while you are crashing, even better.

I read the article this am, and would not have been upset if Greg had written it.  But since Gary did, I am once again reminded that I am not a fan of his writing, and never will be.  Not saying I disagree with the premise and content of the article, and I hate CJL using injuries as excuses (fix that by recruiting better, sir), but don't really want him writing that article as he isn't qualified to do so. 

i agree

this ***** pays no attention to us all year, then writes his one 'disappointment' article.

Journalists dont just write whatever they want to. Editors assign them their jobs. And if people arent going to read it or they dont think itll sell papers, then they arent going to write about it. When we were a small program, we got small coverage, now were a bigger program, we get bigger coverage.

You guys need to quit taking this journalist stuff so personally

[usfbullcpa]

I was just about to post this. Very good article. And can Leavitt stop ******** about injuries.

I don't think it was ********, just the opposite.  He says point blank he does not think injuries should be a reason, if you have 50 injuries you should still find a way for the others to do more.  How is that ********? 

The fact is though, we looked with promise to the year with a very senior heavy OL, and they were down with injuries most of the year.  To the point we had Freshman in where a 5th year started.  This creates issues, a green freshman, no matter how big, is not ready for the speed of college ball.

Good article, hope CJL makes the changes I know he will.

[smazza]

I was just about to post this. Very good article. And can Leavitt stop ******** about injuries.

he needs to own up to his failure

i am so tired of his excuses

[smazza]

Instead, these Bulls seemed to lose their way. Offensive players didn't seem to get better. Defensive players didn't seem to stay focused. Coaches didn't seem to have the answers. And a promising September turned into a perplexing October.

this is the big reason why i have a problem with our coaching staff.  we had everyone returning, and we STILL regressed.  we have a 3-year starting QB returning, and this happens?  that's not the recruit's fault-- it's the coaches' faults for not developing the players.  i think this is why people are calling for leavitt's head.

a disaster

[Bull94]

I was just about to post this. Very good article. And can Leavitt stop ******** about injuries.

I don't think it was ********, just the opposite.  He says point blank he does not think injuries should be a reason, if you have 50 injuries you should still find a way for the others to do more.  How is that ********? 

The fact is though, we looked with promise to the year with a very senior heavy OL, and they were down with injuries most of the year.  To the point we had Freshman in where a 5th year started.  This creates issues, a green freshman, no matter how big, is not ready for the speed of college ball.

Good article, hope CJL makes the changes I know he will.

I wonder if our o-line was banged up this year due to them losing weight so they could run block downfield more?? I remember several articles at the beginning of the year stating how much weight they lost so we could run the ball.

how did that work out for us?

It certainly didn't help their pass blocking.

what's funny is WVU message boards are complaining about how slow and overweight their senior led o-line looks this year. I bet it's because they tried to gain weight so they could pass block this year as their new OC thought they could use that to their advantage. Oops... he turned a top 10 offense into a team that scores 3 on ECU, 17 on cuse, and doesn't rush for 100 against cincy.

[jjlovecub]

quote]

this is the big reason why i have a problem with our coaching staff.  we had everyone returning, and we STILL regressed.  we have a 3-year starting QB returning, and this happens?  that's not the recruit's fault-- it's the coaches' faults for not developing the players.  i think this is why people are calling for leavitt's head.

[BDYZR]

SOMEONE needs to know how to fix the problem.

Two years in a row is a trend.

[dabull80]

I was just about to post this. Very good article. And can Leavitt stop ******** about injuries.

he needs to own up to his failure

i am so tired of his excuses

What failure ?

What excuses ?

[dabull80]

Instead, these Bulls seemed to lose their way. Offensive players didn't seem to get better. Defensive players didn't seem to stay focused. Coaches didn't seem to have the answers. And a promising September turned into a perplexing October.

this is the big reason why i have a problem with our coaching staff.  we had everyone returning, and we STILL regressed.  we have a 3-year starting QB returning, and this happens?  that's not the recruit's fault-- it's the coaches' faults for not developing the players.  i think this is why people are calling for leavitt's head.

a disaster

What ?

[Bruce Blingstein]

Am I the only one that is sick and tired of hearing about how we would feel if we had this record 5 years ago, or if we talked about going to a bowl game when we were in out first year of 1-A 8 years ago?

We are in the Big Least, a terrible football conference.  We played a crappy out of conference schedule, We have a 3rd year subpar QB who has regressed, we are located in high school football land and still dont land top recruits.  Making the St Pete bowl is less exciting than my morning trip to the toilet bowl.  In all honestly I cant really think of anything positive that came out of this year. 

Its time to step up and stop looking at the past.  It shouldnt be hard to win the Big East in football, its a basketball conference and we are a football university, IN FLORIDA!  Leavitt is getting tired with his excuses and trying to justify this bad year by using our histlry of where we were 8 years ago.  We get it, now time to move up and not plateau.  Because that will get coaches fired, unless you are Leavitt at USF, of course.