12.5 (now 11.5) pt underdogs and then this crap from a UM Sentinel Beat Writer

[bull2bull]

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/um-hurricanes/fl-miami-shannon-1124-20101123,0,2358086.story

Before everyone replies that he is correct and we are inferior....how inferior does the educated Auburn and FSU fan thinks we are. Granted we may be inferior to UF and UM until we beat them but C'mon Man, you don't write like an ignorant crazy message board geek when you are a beatwriter. His other story "View from Tampa" actually supported that we were not inferior...crazy stuff.

My letter to Steve and I believe the Sports Editor:

Steve,  (please forward to Sports Editor if jschwerdt is not it)

Are you new to Florida College Football? You are from UF and you have covered the Tampa scene for the Tribune. The sentence below sounds like it comes from a crazy canes message board member as opinion and not as part of a story from a beat writer.

It is bad enough the USF coverage from the Sentinel Papers (Orlando, Sun) has gone from very little to nothing the last two years but then you had to write this:

"Despite USF's moderate success, 6-4 in Skip Holtz's first season, it is still commonly regarded as inferior to the state's Big 3 — Florida, Florida State and Miami."

We would be commonly regarded as inferior to the big 3 because papers like yours provide "inferior" coverage of the Bulls.

At least three of the Bulls game had absolutely zero writeup in your paper this year and the daily updates are a day old taken from Greg Auman of the St. Petersburg Times. I have called / emailed over the last 18 years of living down here and getting your paper with many complaints.  The latest I was told last year by the editor was that USF did not provide info on daily basis and Sun Sentinel would only use beat writers provided by Orlando Sentinel (and there were no plans for a USF one).

We may get beat by the Canes for a third time on Saturday but we are a lot closer to the Big 3 than we are to the bottom 3 (UCF, FAU, FIU) where we are undefeated.

A more appropriate sentence would have been to mention we have had sporadic success or we are attempting to join the Big 3 and would need a win over Miami to be considered. But here are some tidbits that suggest we are not that inferior:

- Only team in Florida outside of UF to be ranked 1 or 2 in the BCS rankings: #2 in 2007 (computers had us at #1 over Ohio State) (there was no BCS last time UM and FSU were very good).

- Beat FSU physically and on the scoreboard in Doak just last year a week after they destroyed #8 BYU (you even mentioned this in your "view from Tampa" article)

- Beat Auburn in Auburn 2 weeks before they took out UF in Ben Hill.

- Beat a top 5 ranked West Virginia University.

- Was beating your Florida Gators in the swamp for 28.5 minutes until our QB and RB started turning the ball over. (you also mentioned this in your other article).

- Put more players in the NFL the last 4 years than I believe FSU and UM combined.

- Bowl qualified for 6th year in a row.

Remember, this is only our 14th year in existence and it has become frustrating to hit the plateau the last 3 years.Now we believe we finally have a coach to stop the mid-season swoons and take the Bulls over the plateau of participating in BCS games regularly. Leavitt could do only so much and once we get a few more players to go with this coaching staff, the Big 4 should be commonplace.

We are pretty upset for blowing our chances for a BCS game last week vs Pitt, but it would be appreciated that when you do cover the Bulls, you save opinionated writing for the other section of the paper. The section with extreme liberal oriented cartoonist and self-confessed retiring liberal editor (geessh, another complaint of this paper).

Thanks,

Still a subscriber to the Sun Sentinel but debating next week's renewal

[GaUSFBull]

The article mentioned USF's inferiority in passing, barely a reference.  I actually think it's a pretty professionally written article.  Your reply is nice and touts some of the stuff USF has accomplished but it's probably not necessary.  We just need to beat Miami before we tackle the word "inferior" as it pertains to UM. 

[tau.reanb]

Overreaction, much?  The comment wasn't that bad and isn't that far from the truth. 

I'd actually take more offense that this author still considers Miami to be part of the Big "Three."  Big Two seems more appropriate these days. 

[Bulls Are We]

Anyone know a good bookie?  BJ is dinged up and there is talk of Eveld playing?  There is no way we keep this game within two touchdowns...

[gobulls83]

Overreaction, much?  The comment wasn't that bad and isn't that far from the truth. 

I agree, it was an overreaction.

I also totally disagree with the claim that media coverage is the reason USF isn't held in the same regard as Miami, Florida and Florida State. I think you can tell when a team isn't very good when its fans start whining about media coverage.

If you're so upset about it, the only thing that you could do that would really effect anything is to stop reading. The author is just going to chuckle at a USF fan touting the one-week stay at No. 2 and a 28-minute "victory" against UF as if either of those somehow compare favorably with the mountains of achievements each of those three schools have piled up. Lame.

[USF_Grouper]

Anyone know a good bookie?  BJ is dinged up and there is talk of Eveld playing?  There is no way we keep this game within two touchdowns...

I am not so sure.  I don't bet college sports, but 11.5 seems like a pretty fair line.  I could easily see us loosing this game 21 - 10.  We have a stout defense and Miami hasn't exactly been stellar this year.  Given how solid our return game has been it is conceivable the D keeps this game close and a defensive or special teams touchdown keeps us within 10. 

[CousinRicky]

Anyone know a good bookie?  BJ is dinged up and there is talk of Eveld playing?  There is no way we keep this game within two touchdowns...

I am not so sure.  I don't bet college sports, but 11.5 seems like a pretty fair line.  I could easily see us loosing this game 21 - 10.  We have a stout defense and Miami hasn't exactly been stellar this year.  Given how solid our return game has been it is conceivable the D keeps this game close and a defensive or special teams touchdown keeps us within 10. 

If you are really sure about this, you can probably bet it on bodog or some such site.  USF gets beat by 21 to 28 and won't score and offensive touchdown, no matter who QB's the team.  But I'm going to make the trip and support them in any case.  A friend who is a Miami fan likes to bet the games.  Told him to take Pitt last week, but since he was going to the game he bet on USF.  After a few "I told you so"s he is giving the points and going with his 'canes this week.  Good bet on his part IMO.

[BullsWinBucsWin]

I don't have an issue w/ the article.

[smazza]

years of underachieving

what kind of article would you expect

usf has never won a thing

[USF_Grouper]

Anyone know a good bookie?  BJ is dinged up and there is talk of Eveld playing?  There is no way we keep this game within two touchdowns...

I am not so sure.  I don't bet college sports, but 11.5 seems like a pretty fair line.  I could easily see us loosing this game 21 - 10.  We have a stout defense and Miami hasn't exactly been stellar this year.  Given how solid our return game has been it is conceivable the D keeps this game close and a defensive or special teams touchdown keeps us within 10. 

If you are really sure about this, you can probably bet it on bodog or some such site.  USF gets beat by 21 to 28 and won't score and offensive touchdown, no matter who QB's the team.  But I'm going to make the trip and support them in any case.  A friend who is a Miami fan likes to bet the games.  Told him to take Pitt last week, but since he was going to the game he bet on USF.  After a few "I told you so"s he is giving the points and going with his 'canes this week.  Good bet on his part IMO.

Hope your friend didn't bet the mortgage payment.....