If the BE breaks apart, Do we really deserve to be in an AQ conference?

[BullFan98]

Of course we "deserve" to be in an aq conference.  We also earned the right to be in an aq conference.  In my opinion we are far better than any non aq conference team. 

[mikebeau]

It doesn't have anything to do with "deserve."

Except we deserve to be in an AQ conference that doesn't play EVER on Thursdays.

this x 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

[Bullmeister]

Yes - and so does UCF and everyother school that plays "division I" football. BCS is just an unfair way of making sure all the money stays with certain schools/conferences/bowls. I say open it up to everyone. If those schools are so superior then what's the problem?

[Bull94]

Yes - and so does UCF and everyother school that plays "division I" football. BCS is just an unfair way of making sure all the money stays with certain schools/conferences/bowls. I say open it up to everyone. If those schools are so superior then what's the problem?

+1

oh wait it is open to everyone. I don't understand why people think AQ is all that. as long as you are good enough, you will get a BCS slot. look at boise, utah, tcu and hawaii. AQ just means an 8-4 Pitt  team can get their head handed to them by a good Utah squad.

[Ghost]

sooooo true

[cophbulls]

I say we don't. What have we done to deserve it? So what we've beat a few teams, that means nothing to those who are reshaping the conferences. What does matter is,

a) Travel fan base - I would venture to guess that we are one of the worst. Teams with big travelling national fan bases = $ for the home team

History, 14 years don't make an Ohio State and you can't expect USF to be one but the bottom line is we don't have history. This isn't our fault but it's the way it is. History encourages interest = $

c) Big money boosters. Big money boosters = $

d) Reputation. Reputation doesn't necessarily translate to $ but indirectly it does. Our reputation? We choke in games of national interest. Start big, end small. Every time ESPN starts to back us we lay an egg. How many more times are they going to stick their neck out? Improved reputation = Greater TV chances = $. I would say if you can measure reputation, ours is the second lowest in the state.

Folks talk about the teams that are "worse" than us and theoretically deserve an AQ standing less than we do, but most of those teams aren't in a conference that is falling apart. What makes us more deserving than a Vanderbilt? Because we are so good at what exactly? You know what are we good at? We are good at ********. About everything. Waaa, we only won 8 games this year, waa, we don't get to go to a BCS bowl this year. Waa, this coach sucks, that coordinator sucks, fire this commissioner, fire that director. *****, *****, *****, *****, *****. So maybe we need to have that status taken away from us so folks will stop taking AQ status, above .500 seasons and non BCS bowl-games for granted.

[CousinRicky]

I say we don't. What have we done to deserve it? So what we've beat a few teams, that means nothing to those who are reshaping the conferences. What does matter is,

a) Travel fan base - I would venture to guess that we are one of the worst. Teams with big travelling national fan bases = $ for the home team

History, 14 years don't make an Ohio State and you can't expect USF to be one but the bottom line is we don't have history. This isn't our fault but it's the way it is. History encourages interest = $

c) Big money boosters. Big money boosters = $

d) Reputation. Reputation doesn't necessarily translate to $ but indirectly it does. Our reputation? We choke in games of national interest. Start big, end small. Every time ESPN starts to back us we lay an egg. How many more times are they going to stick their neck out? Improved reputation = Greater TV chances = $. I would say if you can measure reputation, ours is the second lowest in the state.

Folks talk about the teams that are "worse" than us and theoretically deserve an AQ standing less than we do, but most of those teams aren't in a conference that is falling apart. What makes us more deserving than a Vanderbilt? Because we are so good at what exactly? You know what are we good at? We are good at ********. About everything. Waaa, we only won 8 games this year, waa, we don't get to go to a BCS bowl this year. Waa, this coach *****, that coordinator *****, fire this commissioner, fire that director. *****, *****, *****, *****, *****. So maybe we need to have that status taken away from us so folks will stop taking AQ status, above .500 seasons and non BCS bowl-games for granted.

Now you are on to something.  We can do this with all the major conferences.  Seriously - Beer league softball rules.  Win your division one year and you move up and the lowest team moves down.  You could make it so that the top 2 or 3 move up and the bottom 2 or 3 move down.  So, USF finishes in the Top 2 of the BE, we move up to the ACC and their bottom two move down.  The bottom two from the BE move down to Conf USA.  The ACC top 2 move up to the SEC and the bottom 2 from the SEC move to the ACC.  So someone like Duke can wind up in Conf USA in just a few years.  Divide the country and conferences in half.  Make the Pac 12 the top of the West and the SEC top of the East.  Would make for a way to start a playoff system as well. 

Wow, lack of sleep can work wonders for the imagination.

[WoolyBully]

I do not think 'deserve' would apply. With an overall career winning percentage of 63% - which is somewhat deceptive given our short lifespan thus far - it would appear that USF would be an asset to an AQ conference. Then again, we play in; arguably, the worst/weakest BCS conference and we have not exactly cut a wide swath through it. I dunno. It's not like the budding mega-conferences are tossing their weak sisters to the curb for the sake of expansion, but they don't appear to be inclined to adding seats to the big people's table just for the sake of symmetry. As the cherry picking of teams continues, although I would hate to see it, I can envision scenarios where USF is not part of the AQ equation.