So, Stewart, how high up do you think you'll move the Bulls? Are they a top 15 team? will you vault them over WV?

Jim

USF IS CLEARLY THE NO.1 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY! USF-PURDUE IN TITLE GAME, WITH RUTGERS-OREGON IN THRILLING NATIONAL SEMIFINAL MATCH WHICH ENDS IN 1-1 DRAW!

Top 15? The Bulls should now be in the 9-12 range in the rankings. WVU should be in the 15-18 range.

Saw the game live at RayJay Stadium last night and it was thrilling. WVU was stopped dead in their tracks for a second straight year by USF and it was truly inspiring play. Bulls in the Top 10? Dunno. Definitely Top 15...and climbing. Rutgers and Louisville have got to be feeling the heat.

jake2 said...
USF IS CLEARLY THE NO.1 TEAM IN THE COUNTRY! USF-PURDUE IN TITLE GAME, WITH RUTGERS-OREGON IN THRILLING NATIONAL SEMIFINAL MATCH WHICH ENDS IN 1-1 DRAW!


Dude, great win, but do you have any crack left over???
Once your buzz goes away, remember LSU, USC, Florida, OU.
Get a grip!

Maybe Auburn wasn't overrated after all, Stewart, if USF is THAT good, as you bear witness they are. I, personally, think that's the case: WVU plays an extremely weak schedule and IS overrated (like Louisville), while USF is the new "Miami" of the Big East (I would say the new "Miami" period, meaning a truly strong team in a truly weak conference, but that would be USCal).

Oh, Mandel. Of course USF is the greatest thing to happen to college football since Rutgers won a few games last season. If they weren't then you'd have to admit that you've been so busy drooling over WVU and Louisville for the last two seasons that you forgot they spend over half of their schedule beating up on the likes of UConn, Temple and the rest of the perennenial pretenders that compose the Big Easy. This is what happens when teams are overranked and overhyped because of poor preseason projections by so-called "experts." See: Michigan v. App. State.

To the haters, USF is for real. Try and discount everything they accomplished but anyone who has followed this team for year will know where they were and where they're at, and I dont mean as far as the program. Their D a few years ago was horrible. Trae and Mike got harassed their freshman year their last year in Conference USA, especially that UAB game. With OU losing, Michigan State hanging in with Wisconsin, Texas down by Kansas State and the winner of Cal-Oregon Game, USF will be ranked as high as 9, and rightfully so. Numbers dont lie and this team has put up incredible numbers against big time teams when it comes to this defense. On offense we got a little to work on but nothing we cant fix before the Rutgers game.

If it wasn't the fact that Groethe is more runner than thrower and their receivers cannot catch with their hands USF would have been ranked higher and destroying their competition.

good win by south florida. But WVU is wildly overrated. Saw them in person against Marshall and was not impressed at all. White doesnt have a deep ball that scares teams and a decent defense can shut down the many, many screen plays that offense runs. they also arent very physical and it showed when S. Florida controlled the line of scrimmage.

WVU might be overrated, but is this team really any different than the team that beat SEC champ Georgia a couple years ago? They seem to me to be at the same level. Let's not use any "they couldn't do it week in and week out" arguments because those arguments don't have any validity. Louisville overrated? Yep. Definitely. They look like the 4th place Big East team, maybe 5th behind Cincinnati even. But they barely lost to Kentucky, who appears to be the 3rd or 4th best team in the SEC. Seems equitable in my opinion after Florida/LSU.

Kentucky is not the 3rd best team in the SEC. Expect them to lose the next three against USC, LSU, and Florida. Georgia should also beat them when they meet. It will be a good season for Kentucky but they are at best the 5th/6th team in the SEC. Big win for USF but lets try not to give the ball away 4 times in a game before we consider them national title contenders.

The Big East's only signature win was WVU beating UGA 2 years ago. Does no one remember that when Georgia finally woke up in the 2nd half, they outscored West Virginia 32 to 3 and were very unlucky to lose? Rutgers today proved that they were the most overrated team in the country. I was in the stadium last night as a very average USF team beat a very average WVU team. Next you're gonna tell me Cincinatti is the real deal. Please get off the Big East bandwagon!!!

Nice article on the Bulls, and a very astute analysis. If this team can put together a contending offense, and the D can shut down plays at the end, look out...

Given that 7 of the top 25 have already lost, and 4 of the top 10, it's not unimaginable to see the Bulls with a Top 10 ranking this week.

It's Saturday night and the #3, #4, #5, #7, #10, and #13 teams from this week's top 25 have all lost. I have USF no lower than #3 for next week.

I thought USF played a great game and everything went their way (a charged atmosphere with the whole city rallying behind them). Even with that, and the despite WVU's horrendous play, the Mountaineers almost came back. But it would be dumb to say we didnt lose to the better team playing that evening. Congrats to the Bulls. But Bull fans, keep your wits about you. Don't become overly exuberant. As you can see, any team can lose on any given day. Your offense is weak.

The positve thing about this weekend...it appears quite a few unbeatable teams are now sharing from the same bowl of misery. I guess we must all be overrated. Some people really should think before they type.

Oh yes, I would like to see the Bulls crack the Top 10, but I guess that depends on the pollsters.

This might seem pedantic, but "USF" is not an acronym. If an abbreviation doesn't spell out a word, it's not an acronym. Sheesh. I'd expect better from Sports Illustrated. :)

wvu over rated? lets look at the 2 teams rated higher who lost to unranked teams this week. USC got lucky. Alot of upsets and I am convinced more to come next week. Always bad mouth WVU but at the end of each year, they are in a bowl and come out the winner. Give USF the credit they deserve. Their defense stopped one of he best offenses in college football. alot of football left in this year. In the end we will see where WVU ends up. If I were a betting man, I would bet WVU does not loose another game this year and wins the Big East and their BCS bowl game.

Roger, How can WVU go to a BCS Bowl Game and win the Big East when South Florida will have a better conference record?

Do people even pay attention to standings, statistics, and trends anymore? There are way too many emotion-driven fans posting here instead of intelligent fans using logic.


Also, Can some of you posters use spell check every once in a while? It would help us take you seriously.

Roger - put WVU in a bowl game with a decent team and they'll get stomped.

USF clearly wanted the game more than WVU...but to say they stopped their offense...i believe WVU had around 450 yards offensively...USF about 250 yards...WVU just did not execute..which the hard hitting USF defense was sure a big factor...the 6 turnovers killed WVU...I still believe they are a top 5 team...not a national title contender by any means...USF does not have the offense needed to contend either...

a.p. boynton, apparently Roger is assuming USF will (likely) falter along the way. I am a WVU fan and a realist. Obviously, USF has a very good fast and aggressive defense. But just as they deserve to rise way up the rankings while WVU deserves to tumble some, lets not anoint USF the 70's Steelers just yet. I think WVU will be fine with their improving defense and the offense is still overpowering.

We hear the same old (put WVU against a good team in a bowl and they get crushed. I suppose he means like they did against Top 10 Georgia in the 2006 Sugar. How did that work out for the Dogs?) slogans from people like Mathew. He must have been referring to the powerful K-State and Colorado taking down a couple "unbeatables" from the Big 12.

Nobody is unbeatable. The days of Nebraska, OU, and others dominating are gone. People need to remember, teams like USF, Kentucky, UCF, K-State, Cincinnati, etc. also give free room & board, books, and tuition to athletes who are pretty good.

Also, apparently Auburn wasnt as overrated as originally thought. Or maybe Florida just wasn't as good as everyone thought. So which is it? Yea, I don't know either. Play the games!!!!!

charbel, you are hilarious with the "did you see what happened in the 2nd half" comment about the Sugar Bowl. Last time I checked, a football game is 4 Qtrs. and if you get your a _ _ kicked like UGA did in the first half, you usually lose. And as happens many times, when a team gets way up they go conservative and good teams will make things close. I suppose we should just chuck Auburns win out from last night over Florida since they were up 17-3 in the 4th and "barely" hung on to win a field goal as time ran out?

It was a thing of beauty to see mighty Urban Meyer have to try and rely on gimmicks to pull out a win by using the now famous time out trick during field goals.

Those Gator fans of another "unbeatable" SEC team must have loved seeing that freshman kicker running around midfield giving them back the beloved Gator chomp. Personally, I loved it!!!

I'm astounded at the continuing WVU bashing, and of the Big East in general. Out of all the top 10 that lost wasn't WVU the only one who played a ranked opponent? Why should they farther then 6th?

Overrated is being used alot this year, but let's face it, so far there is only 1 team right now that looks great and that is LSU. Everyone else looks beatable. I see alot of mediocrity out there and that includes the SEC. Florida will be great, but not this year.

Back to the USF/WVU game. Let's give some credit to WVU's defense who played gamely after all those turnovers. I also don't hear anyone say that Rich Rodriguez didn't prepare his team well, and did not have a good game plan or that his team came out with no intensity. He flat out got out coached. Same happened last year against Louisville. Also, they not only can blind you with speed, but they wear down defenses too. How in the world can you not give Slaton the ball over and over again. 11 carries - please! Rich Rodriguez deserves as much heat in this game as anyone else.

Are you kidding me? Florida and Oklahoma lose to poor unranked teams and they still hold their positions as the top one loss teams. While Oregon and West Virginia are beaten by a higher ranked team and a ranked team respectively. You guys are nuts. If anyone should be getting some credit it should be South Carolina. The Ol' Ball Coach at least was beaten by LSU. After that, Oregon is the only one beaten by a good, dominant team. I love the nostalgia of the great traditional teams, I'm talking the 70's and 80's, but you guys hold on hard to the "good teams" of last season or 2 weeks ago. Start paying attention to what teams do and who they play. Currently the only relevance people involved with polls have is determining which teams will financially benefit the most at the end of the season.