When I was in high school I used to attend a team football camp every summer at the University of South Florida headed by Bull's Head Coach Jim Leavitt. At that time, they were just a small team in Conference USA that few cared about. If you were to ask me if there was any chance of the Bulls being ranked in the top 25 within the foreseeable future, I would have laughed in your face. If you were to ask me if the Bulls were going to be ranked, with the Miami Hurricanes NOT ranked in the polls, I would have told you to check-in to a mental hospital. Well, not only are the Bulls ranked and sitting on top of the Big East Conference, but after No.18 South Florida's 21-13 victory over powerhouse No. 5 West Virginia in front of a national television audience, the jokes are over for South Florida.
ESPN.com's Ivan Maisel was telling Bulls fans to act like they've been there before, before quickly realizing the school has never "been there" before. In front of a sellout 67,018 fans at Raymond James Stadium (their first in school history), the Bulls pulled off the biggest victory in their schools short football history.
As St. Petersburg Times writer John Romano says, this will be remembered as the game that introduced South Florida to the world.
South Florida's fast defense kept them in a sloppy ball game, with a total of 10 turnovers, 6 coming from West Virginia. The Mountaineers came into the game averaging 357 yards on the ground in their first four games, with talented players in QB Pat White, and RB's Steve Slaton and Noel Devine. Against South Florida they were only able to muster 188 rushing yards. On offense, Bulls Quarterback Matt Grothe and tailbacks Jamar Taylor and Mike Ford did just enough to take down the Mountaineers for the second year in a row. Last year when the Bulls won in Morgantown, it was called a fluke. With a win in back-to-back years over the Mountaineers, and an early road win over Auburn in week 2, South Florida has a chance at not only being in BCS bowl discussion, but even National Championship discussion.
But the person who definitely deserves most of the praise for this win is Bull's head coach Jim Leavitt. At that same football camp I mentioned earlier which I attended six years ago, I had the chance to learn from the Bull's only coach in school history. At that time he knew that his program was on the rise, and hoped that one day would reach the top of college football. Well, Jim, with you new ranking this week at No.6 -- your well on your way.
1 comment:
It's official...USF is No.2! I currently have two friends that attend South Florida, one of whom is a LB for the team, and I have gotten to the point where I just can't talk trash anymore. The program is fairly new and has definitely come a long way. It is going to be interesting to follow them for the rest of the season because they are about to get into a long stretch of conference games. Although I'm starting to root for the bulls I'm dying to see if they are doomed for an upset as well.
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