USF day on r/cfb

[hm101]

Reddit's college football subreddit, r/cfb is spending the offseason featuring a program a day, and USF is coming up on the 6th. Me and another user volunteered to submit a write-up, which I just completed a rough version of. It is below. I cannot incorporate all feedback, but I don't want this to be half-ass, so anything significant or glaring that I missed or should include, please comment on. This is a chance to show a large college football community some USF history. Sorry about some of the formatting, it's reddit specific. Anything between brackets [] is a link, with the URL following

PS: r/cfb is awesome. Anyone that hasn't signed up and using the USF flair, check it out. 

 

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA 

(The Soon Former) Big East Conference

 

Year Founded: 1956 

Location: Tampa Bay, FL (Yes, we know, not technically south Florida. More later...) 

Total Attendance: 47,000+ 

Mascot: The Bulls 

Live Mascot: [Rocky](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Sxp63V28gMI/0.jpg) 

Cheerleaders: [Dem Florida girls](http://collegesportsnation.com/college_cheerleaders/usf_bulls/usf_bulls_cheerleaders_2.jpg) 

Stadium: [Raymond James Stadium](http://www2.tbo.com/mgmedia/image/0/354/100129/its-intersection-traffic-usf-football/) 

Stadium Location: No, not on campus, but one 20 minute intoxicated ride away on the BullRunner 

Conference Champions (0): Not yet... 

Number of Bowl Games: 4-2 all time in bowl games 

National Titles: 0 

 

Rivals: Primarily UCF. We were developing nice rivalries with WVU, Louisville, and Rutgers, but in the current conference configuration this should primarily be UCF, with schools like Cincy, SMU, and ECU in the mix.

 

2012 Season

 

Record: 3-9-0 

Coach: Skip Holtz 

[2012 Roster & Guidebook](https://admin.xosn.com/pdf8/871983.pdf?SPSID=37319&SPID=2981&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7700&) 

Key Players: BJ Daniels, Kayvon Webster

Biggest Plays: Few and far between. The most significant/exciting was the [bomb in the Nevada game to win it](http://youtu.be/E5jCFYSQgzE?t=3m51s).

 

2013 Season

 

[2013 Schedule](http://www.fbschedules.com/ncaa-13/big-east/2013-usf-bulls-football-schedule.php) (Highlights: @ Michigan State, vs. Miami) 

2013 Roster & Guidebook: [This is all you need to know about 2013](https://admin.xosn.com/pics32/400/JW/JWVTJLDKVGDGOVQ.20121208204111.jpg).

 

The Greats

 

Greatest Games: That Auburn win in 2007. Our program was 10 years old, so this was a very exciting "we can do this" moment. Runners up: Beating ND in 2011, FSU in 2009. 

Greatest Plays: Grothe to Hester to win in OT at Auburn in 2007. Ben Moffitt pick-6 vs. WVU at home (this was after the Auburn win, and our young program was soaring. Raymond James Stadium was on fire). 

Greatest Players: Marquel Blackwell, Matt Grothe, Mike Jenkins (current Cowboy)

Greatest Coaches: Jim Leavitt (founded the program, from trailers to bowl games) 

 

Traditions

 

Our program is young, so we lack the kinds of things other programs have passed from generations past. However, we do know how to party: 

- Tradition 1: Giant-slaying. From beating ranked teams as an independent, to coming to Notre Dame in 2011 and winning, we are a team you will lose to if you overlook us. 

- Tradition 2: This is a tad controversial, and has died-off lately, but the War Flamingo does have a place in USF history. Originally, it was a knock on Auburn after our win there, and took on a life of its own. Fans were bringing in inflatable flamingos into the stadium and cried "War Flamingo!" on big plays.

- Tradition 3: Drunken rides on the BullRunner (campus shittle) to games on a sunny Florida day 

- Tradition 4: Our water tower gets lit green when we win, and a [skyscraper downtown goes green for big games](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2078/2210854190_d84e27d8e1_z.jpg).

 

Campus and Surrounding Area

 

City Population: 360k, 2.7m metro

[beautiful downtown Tampa](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/26/88462276_e4df355116.jpg) 

Iconic Campus Building: [brand new Marshall Student Center (biggest in FL). Complete with rideable bull statues](http://web.usf.edu/nrotc/nrotc/images/MarshallCenter.jpg) 

Local Dining: Coppertop is pretty classic; typical bar with great drunk food. Many international restaurants around like Mr. Dunderbaks, Acropolis, Saigon Bay, and The Taj 

 

Random Trivia

 

1. We were going to be the Buccaneers. That name won a vote in the 60's narrowly, but was dismissed due to the belief that another school was using it at the time. The second-place name? The Golden Brahmans, to honor Florida's cattle industry. This name evolved into the Bulls over the years.

2. We are called the University of South Florida because at the time of it's founding, the school was the southernmost public university in the state.

 

What Is and What is to Come

 

One of the most special things about USF is the way many fans view the program as their child, in a way fans of bigger programs will never experience. Every time something good happens with this football team, it is all for the first time. Many alumni funded and led the program's inception in the late 90's. When you watch a program go from a dream, to playing in DII, to joining a BCS conference, to winning on some of the biggest stages in college football, you develop a closeness that is indescribable.

###

Our program has struggled badly to get over "the hump". We have bright spots and big upsets, but have yet to win 10 games, or even come close to winning our conference. With a new head coach in Willie Taggart, who put together a top-50 recruiting class, we hope we get our swagger back and get over the hump.

 

Overtime

 

- We are a respectable 8-9 in out-of-conference BCS games since joining the Big East, 9-9 if you include Notre Dame. 

- USF has a 60/40 girl/guy split.

- Once known as a commuter school, USF now houses 82% of incoming freshmen on campus. We are considered a major research university, being in the [top 50](http://www.usf.edu/Research/) in research expenditures (mostly health-related).

More Information

Subreddit: /r/usf

Contributors: newtothelyte, hm101

Please upvote this thread even if you are not interested in the team so that users who are interested will see it

Edited March 4, 2013 by hm101

[outrunner]

Should mention that we've only been playing football since 1997. People might think we were playing ball in 1956 since its the only date.

Also add that the name USF was selected by our founding President because he thought it sounded more prestigious than the other options being presented. I've seen his letters in the USF archives and USF was the best choice (Citrus State University, Jose Gaspar University, University of the Western Hemisphere).

 

The picture you have is a SunDoll, which should be mentioned.

[Lmshaffe]

How many great players are we wanting to name here? JPP is pretty high up there with a Super Bowl ring to boot. He only played one year at USF, but he might be worth noting. We could do this with a few other notable players as well, so I'm not sure how many we want to mention.

 

Looks pretty good though. I'm an avid lurker on Reddit, so I will definitely have to check out /r/cfb

[USFbulls0208]

Yay fellow Redditors!

[Hem]

- Tradition 3: Drunken rides on the BullRunner (campus shittle) to games on a sunny Florida day 

 

^ might wanna change that one lol

 

I'd also mention some more of our "giant slayer" wins and what the teams were ranked at the time of play (ie: When WVU ranked #5). Would be nice for people to know/remember that we've actually beaten top teams recently...and not just top teams, upper top 25 teams.

USF vs. #13 Kansas 37-34 in 2008 would be one to add

[Bullshutter]

[Lmshaffe]

Could also include a "Highest BCS Ranking:" field. I'm pretty proud of the #2 ranking we held, even if we did do a nose dive from there.

[FatDaddyBull]

George Selvie should be on there for being consensus all American.

I'd put the bulls hand sign as our best tradition.

[usfgrad84]

I would think Andre Hall merits a mention as one of our great players. Maybe Selvie as our first All American.

I would also put Miami as one of our best wins.

Drop War Flamingo. It's dumb and it is not a tradition in more than a handful of people's minds.

Maybe gasparilla beads and the guys that dress up and "run with the Bulls" when they come out of the tunnel.

[hm101]

Great suggestions. Forgot beef studs too