I've joked on here a couple of times that I go to a school many of you have never heard of. Well, if you follow college football, you've heard of us now. Yep, our Bulls have arrived. This is our 11th season playing football. We've had the same coach, Jim Leavitt, the whole time. Before this season, we had never been ranked. After beating the #17 Auburn we made our first AP Top 25 appearance at #23. The following week's win against UNC brought us up to #18. It was the stunning win against then-ranked #5 West Virginia that catapulted us up to #6. We won the next game against FAU, but more than that, several top ten upsets gave us the #5 spot. Then, yesterday, after trouncing our I-4 corridor rivals UCF 64-12 both #1 LSU and #2 California lost. And now we are #2 in for the Associated Press and BCS rankings. Un-freaking-believable. Watching the ESPN guys talk about our program and what an amazing journey this has been is completely surreal. Of course, this whole season has been a little different than most. But let's face it, if the national championship game were tomorrow- we'd be in it. Dean is kicking himself for quitting his job with the athletic department, but I keep telling him how stressed out he'd be having to work all the sold out games, not to mention hours and hours of overtime. Like most of the sports teams I've followed over the years, I keep waiting for them to disappoint me. However, the Bulls have yet to disappoint me. I've always been incredibly impressed with their strength and tenacity. Not to mention the success they've enjoyed during their short existence. I'm so thrilled right now I don't think I'd be upset if it all ended next week. They would still be one of the best stories in college football. It seems the biggest disappointment will be having to miss next season because by then we'll be on the next leg of our own journey.
11 comments:
Hey! Go Bulls!!
Who'da Thunk?!?!
YEA!!
(I'm safe to cheer here...The UCF fan doesn't read your blog)
USF has the #2 team in the country. I also saw a flying pig on my way to work tonight...
I want to see USF go undefeated, though my motives are a bit underhanded. Should they finish the year without a loss, either they're playing in the BCS championship and somebody (probably the SEC champion) will be screaming bloody murder, or UCF will be sitting out watching two teams with one loss play for the national title, and there'll be plenty of fan outrage over that as well. Either way, we're one step closer to a playoff system.
USF, not UCF of course. There's the University of South Florida, the University of Central Florida, Florida International, Florida Atlantic...how does everybody down there keep track?
Congrats!
I watched LSU lose to Kentucky, to my delight. I usually root for the underdog, unless I have a compelling reason to do otherwise.
This won't make you happy, but I am pulling for Boston College to go all the way and finish the season at #1. They looked great when they played us, and were firing on all cylinders.
Seems we're both flaunting our Alma Mater's athletic prowess today aren't we? Penn State finally won again yesterday against Wisconsin and I even got to watch maybe 1/3 of the game before Maya made too much racket and I couldn't hear it over her and then I had to fix supper too. Rats! But I had her doing the Penn State cheer with me while I managed to catch a bit here and there of the game. Good for the Bulls and Good for the Lions too!
WE ARE!!! PENN STATE!!!
Roar Lions Roar!
Hurray for the Bulls! When I first typed that, I mistyped and had Balls in its place. Whole different meaning. =/
runner girl-
More than once this season I have missed our tailgating exploits (not to mention our grilling buddies!). But this season and even the following seasons, things at Ray Jay definitely won't be the same...
dr. s-
The correct analogy would be to discover an animal you never heard of and then see it flying after you learning it's not supposed to! I don't care why you are rooting for USF- I've always been a proponent for playoffs in NCAA football. We are not used to all this media attention and some of it isn't good (questioning USF's legitimacy STILL). I'd almost rather see a championship snub followed by outrage than the outrage that would surely come from a young Big East team in the championship game. That's just me though. The still up and comers I can't keep track of. Especially FAU and FIU. WTF?
fermi-
Yes, the LSU game was awesome. We watched it at a sports bar where almost everyone had been to the USF game and everyone was rooting for Kentucky. We'll see though, there's still plenty of season left...
jeni-
This is my current school. My alma mater is Minnesota, who are having an absolutely abysmal year. Ironically, they lost to FAU, who lost to the Bulls last week. It was still a big win for FAU who is now being known as the team that beat the Gophers.
beth-
Ha! LOL that's hilarious. Thanks for your cheer and at the risk of this thing going down the toilet really fast, balls are pretty damn important too, so hurray for them!
I want to thank you for the USF Bulls tshirt that has gotten extended use this fall! I look like I've been on the bandwagon the whole time! Ha! Congrats with all the football fun. I'm so jealous because the Gophers will lose to NDSU this Saturday. It will be pitiful.
I agree w/ Manda - been sporting the USF tshirt, not realizing what kind of street cred it's been earning me. Suddenly, the admiring looks I received at Joe Sensor's Sports Bar take on a new meaning...
Go Balls! (yep, I meant to type that)
My USF Mom sweatshirt must really have street cred too! Not that I go into many sports bars.
It's just too cool for such a new football program to have this kind of success, however, I think it will come to an end soon. Mind you, I do hope I'm wrong.
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