More USF hype: You never sausage links!

Apologies, first, to Pedro at South of the Border for stealing a terrible, terrible pun. There's just a ton of newspapers dropping references to the Bulls today -- you could practically call them the No. 25 USF Bulls, the way everybody's sliding them in as a chic punctuation mark at the end of their preseason polls.

Who's giving the love? We'll start with the New York Daily News, which drops USF in at No. 25, citing the big three official talking points for USF love: Grothe, defense, and West Virginia and Louisville at home.

-- The Orlando Sentinel, with a roundtable discussion among its college writers, has high praise for USF, with one writer picking the Bulls as a surprise team that could move into national prominence. More Sentinel talk here.

-- I think this is a first: Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Rick Bozich has picked the Bulls to win the BIg East. "When in doubt, go with the schedule," he writes. Their league preview gives USF 19 returning starters, a bit generous, and the Bulls get a mention in their league scouting report. Eric Crawford puts the Bulls -- where else -- No. 25 in his preseason poll, and predicts the Bulls upsetting Louisville.

-- The Arizona Republic gives some rare Pacific Time Zone love to USF, putting the Bulls No. 22 in their top 25 and calling Grothe "one of the best quarterbacks you haven't heard of."

-- Didn't see this in the Sentinel, but the Detroit Free Press picked up former Sentinel editor Mike Huguenin's feature ranking 120 Division I-A schools by their quarterbacks. He has USF No. 19, with Louisville No. 1 and West Virginia No. 3. Florida, for the record, is 16th; FSU is 29th, hometown Central Florida checks in at No. 89. More good news for the Bulls defense: Syracuse is ranked 101st, North Carolina is 105th, Florida Atlantic is 108th. Fun feature and a good conversation starter, but there's some serious guesswork in the bottom half of that list.

-- The Charlotte Observer, which could get a close look at USF if the Bulls go back to the Meineke Car Care Bowl, ranks USF second in its list of underrated teams.

-- MSNBC.com picks up an Associated Press piece ranking the conference. They have the Big East sixth, below the ACC, which is a little 2005 of them. "South Florida might be good enough to make it a four-team race," they write. Conference USA ranks ninth on their list.

Comments

[Seth]

Hey G.A. check out Kirk Herbstreits rankings on ESPN.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview07/news/story?id=2990155&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

Specifically... best new school QB'S; Moven on Up; Sleepers; And players who dont get enough respect (Defense)

Go Bulls!!

[Dave]

Oh, and Josh, that comment isn't an argument nor does it counter anything cee said. cee hasn't really been calling anyone names. Rise above it; we're in college or are graduates, not 8th graders.

[Dave]

Yep cee, we sure have lost a lot of games this season that we should've won. You might not have noticed, but the team is improving incredibly quickly, and the media sure has noticed. The increased exposure ought to help our recruiting "problems" that you rail on about.

[cee]

Unfortunately, you don't win BCS bowl games based on the amount of times your program is mentioned in articles; you win through the recruiting trail and winning games you are supposed to win-- unfortunately, we fall short in these last two.

[usfmike]

yeah that ucf beat writer seemed like he drank just a bit too much of the kool aid much like the rest of their fanbase. new qb, no mike walker, same crappy defense and o-line equals another ucf meltdown. at least the lying irishman can sleep tight knowing ucf doesn't have the cash to buy out his undeserved fat contract.

[BA]

Greg,
Great job as usual. I just returned from 9 days in Ireland. The one day I find USA Today (Wednesday) there is a story on USF in the sports section. What a great omen!

Go Bulls!

[Timmy]

I never thought I'd see the day when USF would be getting alot of national press. Viva la Leavitt!

[Dave]

Thanks for the links, Greg. It's always interesting for a national perpective on our not-so-little secret here in Tampa.

[D.T.]

I agree, give this guy a raise and more space on the paper!

[Mark]

You don't blow smoke up our HO, HO. You let the national media do that. Sorry for the mess up on last post. GIVE GREG A RAISE! GO BULLS!!!

[Mark]

Somebody get me out of Orlando, Please!! I just read that article. It has lots of positive comments mainly from one guy. But the guy who's a beat writer for UCF. WOW, I was surprise he didn't have UCF in the championship game with USC. That's the reason why I respect Greg Auman. You blow smoke up our ho, ho. Thank Greg. p.s. GIVE GREG A RAISE!!

[Steve Stacy]

"War Pelican" won't stick. I just use it b/c "they just like to say War Eagle" made absolutely no sense to me. Here's what will stick:

Matt Grothe rhymes with Heisman Trophy

[G.A.]

Umm ... thanks for the heads-up, Steve.

You can find the Times' college football preview online at ...

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/ncaafootball/index.html

The Times has a solid, frequently updated blog, The Quad, including Big East preview info here ...

http://thequad.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/big-east/

That "War Pelican" cry could stick.

[Steve Stacy]

Umm...ever hear of a little paper called the New York Times? Matt Grothe's picture is on page 17 of the Sunday Sports section. They list the Bulls as one of 4 teams who could be BCS spoilers. They say Grothe's numbers last year were better than McNabb's at Syracuse during his freshman year. Grothe is also listed as an "Other To Watch" in the Heisman race. Also, the Bulls game against Auburn is listed as one of the best games to watch in week 2. Grothe, Williams and Jenkins are listed in another area as players who are good but you may have never heard of them.
WAR PELICAN!!!