Midweek links: Players like UCF series

Lots to link today, so without the usual preambling rambling ...

-- Was thinking about this during Tuesday's player interviews, and the Oracle has a smart story, writing that to a man, USF's players like the UCF game and the rivalry forged in the last two seasons. "Florida State plays the Gators and Miami, so I think we can play Miami and UCF every year," cornerback Trae Williams told the Oracle. "I would continue it. I think it would be a big-time rival like Florida and Miami, games like that." Before you get excited: Players wanting the rivalry is one thing; Jim Leavitt and Doug Woolard wanting the rivalry another thing entirely.

-- The Orlando Sentinel's Mike Bianchi continues to have high praise for the Bulls, ranking them again as the top team in the state and blogging Tuesday that "With the Big East looking more and more like the Big Easy (what happened to Louisville and Rutgers?), it's not far-fetched to think USF will run the table and play for the national title." Bianchi's back on USF-UCF on Wednesday, writing that if UCF can't beat USF, the Knights don't have much of an argument for keeping the series going beyond next year. The Sentinel had not one but two writers at Tuesday's USF news conference, yielding a Bulls notebook.

-- Speaking of the Sentinel, UCF writer Kyle Hightower has actual on-field news that could impact Saturday's game, with George O'Leary hinting he might start juco transfer Mike Greco -- he of USF feeder program Pearl River CC in Mississippi -- at quarterback on Saturday.

-- ESPN.com's Pat Forde, handing out midseason honors, has USF coach Jim Leavitt as his national coach of the year. He also says the Bulls will win the Big East, but lose one game along the way. The more I think about it, the more I think USF fans want to root for Cincinnati in the next three weeks, to make that showdown in Tampa on Nov. 3 as big as possible, a battle of top-10 teams like the Big East had in November last year.

-- The Sarasota Herald-Tribune's Alan Dell writes that linebacker Ben Moffitt played with a heavy heart Saturday after the death of his grandfather, Duane Moffitt, four days earlier.

-- The Oracle had a solid counterpunch Tuesday from columnist Kevin Smetana in response to a column in FSU's student newspaper that took some shots at the Bulls. The easy path to take would be to fire silly comments back at the Seminoles, but give Smetana credit for simply correcting all the things that were wrong in the FSU column and leaving it at that. Some funny comments added to the FSView column, though.

-- For sheer misinformation, it's hard to beat this open letter from Sports Central, which states that 77,000 students attend classes at USF, and only 41,000 get to see games because only the lower level of Raymond James Stadium is open. And that USF has never been shut out. Well-intended, though.

-- Times writer Bob Putnam tells us that USF women's basketball coach Jose Fernandez got bad news this week, as St. Petersburg Catholic's 6-foot-3 center, Sasha Chaplin, opted to commit to Indiana over an offer from the Bulls. "I just felt like I needed to get away," she said.

Comments

[JL]

He's not going anywhere. He is getting paid a good amount of $$ to stay in a program that will never demand anything from him.

[NB]

BCS conference, big plus but harder recruiting, big minus. Think O'Leary will want to leave fertile recruiting grounds in FL for upstate NY? I don't think many of his recruits would want to follow him from sunny Florida to snow-ridden Syracuse.

[Matt]

Why would Syracuse want O'Leary? The city is dirty enough as it is...

[Pop Pop in the Attic]

Woa,
I hate to see someone from Tampa call another city dirty.

Leavitt should keep the series going. He's a good coach and is doing a lot with relatively little. He might look like a jerk if he cancels the series though.

[mike]

where did the posting about leary disappear......... Greg - is this a conspiracy?

[JL]

Greg, did you read Bianchi's column.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-bianchi1007oct10,0,3269857.column

He sounds like he is about to suit up! Take the uniform off from a stuffed animal and put in on Bianchi!!

It will be a good game.

[JL]

Sorry GA,

I posted the link before I saw all your links...

[Reality]

Yes, Tampa can call Orlando dirty. When you guys dont have your murder rate at unprecedented highs, get back to us. I would rather walk through suitcase city, than go through pine hills....

[G.A.]

Hey guys. First few posts here were about an O'Leary post that got overwritten and now has a different URL. Sorry for the confusion -- no conspiracy, just me getting outwitted by my blog software. I'd transfer the comments, but I can't do that, and don't want to delete them all.

[Dave]

That Frank Longobardo has really taken a lot of heat over this, as well he should. He probably had friends that go here, and he just insulted every last one of them. Even if his column was an editorial, doesn't someone fact check that stuff? Kudos to Kevin for writing a polite but stern rebuke that took the high road. We should just cite him every time a Nole or Knight comes over here to agitate.

Also, I'm sure we all offer our condolences to Ben and his family. His grandfather certainly must have been proud of the man he's become.

[Pop Pop in the Attic]

How can I contradict reality?
Orlando's unprecedented murder rate this year is like a Thursday in Tampa. I like the Tampa/St. Pete area (probably more than Orlando), but you have to admit it's rougher than Orlando.

[g-man]

Good links.
BTW, it's the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, not the Herald.

[Miles Lamoureux]

Greg, the writer from Sports Central is wrong about us being the fastest Div. I-A program to be ranked, right? I think he got the number of polls mixed up. I think we did it in 115 and Boise did it in 104.

No, USF beat Boise to it.

[matt]

... and Sports Central was wrong when it says USF has 77,000 students. actual it's in the 40s, including other campuses.

[Ken]

Not only are they off about USF by about 50%, but that is FAR larger than any other university in the country (Ohio State being the largest campus in the low 50s).

[G.A.]

The whole point of me mentioning the facts from the Sports Central deal was to point out things that were wrong.

[Rob]

Miles you are right, Boise State was the fastest program to be ranked in the top 25. USF was the fastest to be ranked in the top 10!

[Smooth]

USF was the fastest team to be ranked in the AP Top 25 while Boise State was the fastest team to be ranked in the Coach's Poll Top 25