Bulls No. 2 in AP, No. 3 in coaches poll

USF's wild rise in the national polls continued Sunday, as the Bulls are now ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press rankings with 11 first-place votes, trailing only top-ranked Ohio State.

The Bulls' convincing 64-12 victory against Central Florida allowed them to leapfrog Boston College, which had a less impressive 27-14 win against Notre Dame. With No. 1 LSU dropping to fifth and No. 2 Cal dropping to 10th after losses Saturday, USF is now one upset away from an incredible No. 1 ranking among the AP voters. Five different teams earned first-place votes in the AP poll, including one-loss Oklahoma and LSU teams.

No current member of the Big East has ever been ranked as high as No. 2 while a member of the Big East. The next-highest ranking before Sunday was No. 3, attained by West Virginia and Louisville last season and by West Virginia in 1993. Pittsburgh and Syracuse held the No. 1 ranking before the Big East started playing football in 1991, but neither team has done so since 1982.

Among former Big East schools, Miami is the only school to ever be ranked higher while a member of the Big East conference. The Hurricanes held the top ranking in four seasons, 1991, 1992, 2001 and 2002.

USF is one spot lower in the coaches poll, ranking third behind Boston College but garnering three first-place votes to the Eagles' one.

Comments

[702JV]

Outstanding! Great job Bulls. Rutgers is going to be hunting us Thursday night.

[Bulls Fan]

GO Bulls! The team needs to stay focused and FINISH STRONG each and every week!!! Look what has happened to others!

[Ken]

2nd and 3rd; with 11 1st place votes in AP and 3 in Coaches poll. We just have to keep winning.

[Mike]

This is great for the program. But do I think they're the second best team in the country? Absolutely not. I just don't see them beating an Oklahoma. But they are undefeated. And they are in a BCS conference. Greatness is at their fingertips.

[Mike's Conscience]

Mike, you don't see them beating Oklahoma at home with Big 12 referees. Look deeper and you'd see USF beating Oklahoma at a neutral site.

[Mike's Conscience]

Mike, you don't see them beating Oklahoma at home with Big 12 referees. Look deeper and you'd see USF beating Oklahoma at a neutral site.

[Haterade]

Please....this team is a joke, if they played my gators and my main man tim teboh we would work them

[Ari]

You guys should work on beating Auburn before you worry about how South Florida would do against the Gators.

The gators just can't fathom losing to USF.

its so funny.

[brandon cox]

the gators suck !

[Tad]

I think USF should be #1, b/c of the "quality" wins they have. If OU or UF or LSU are better, thats only an opinion, and you cant say without head to head match ups. If USF was 6-0 with the schedule OSU has, would they be sitting at the #2 spot? No, b/c voters would have giving them the ranking of what Cincy or UCon had. Just finish strong bulls!

Go War Pelicans!!

[Tad,]

Whoes tim teboh?

[Jim]

Anybody seen cee?

[steve stacy]

Tad,

It's "War Pelican."

Trust me on this one...

[Tom]

No publicity could be greater for the young Bull football program than the national exposure we are receiving today. And there's more to come as we keep winning.
Are we the best football team in the country? Could we beat Ohio State, USC or Oklahoma? Time will tell, but we'll never know if we can beat most of those teams because we won't play them this year or even in the next few years.
Enjoy the ride, USF football fans. I've always been so proud of my alma mater's successes in football, baseball, soccer, softball, tennis and on and on.
Every administrator, student, coach, player and all involved who have represented the school over the years should be proud of everything happening today. USF is successful because of dedication, hard work, sweat and even a little bit of luck.
Go, Bulls! No. 1 or No. 101 in the polls, you are the best. And you are continuing to spread the word all over the U.S.

[Tampabaysportsfanatic]

USf definetly has had the toughest schedule out of the top 3 teams.

OSU's schedule is a joke and so is BC. The Big 10 and ACC are terrible this year and OSU played terrible out of conference teams as well.

The BCS should have them at 2 I would think

[Dave]

The BCS poll comes out soon. Be interesting to see where they end up.

[Jim Reese]

USF has speed, speed, and speed at every key position. That is why they win. No long runs after catches or long runs from scrimmage against the Bulls because they are so quick to react. Are they the second best team in the country right now? Who is to say they're not? This race to the wire will be to the swift and that is where USF excels. Let's all enjoy the ride!

[Tampabaysportsfanatic]

The Bulls control their own destiny pretty much, thats the important thing. Keep winning and they should be in

[terminator]

get real USF'ers and enjoy it while you can.
the Big East is one of the easier conferences to win a championship.
USF couldn't win in Columbus, Ann Arbor, State College or Madison. Nor would they win in Baton Rouge, Gainesville, or Norman.
while you've got a good team, they won't make it to the BCS championship game, bet on it!
GO BUCS (and that's not the Tampa Bay Bucs either)!
I suspect they'll get beat by either Rutgers, Louisville or Cincinati.
Not bad for a second tier program though.

[Kyle]

The only reason the gators got into the title game last year is because USC lost late to ucla.
All we have done is win, so of course these jealous overrated "tradition" schools are jealous.

[gordon]

i just want to give a shout out to cee..how the hell are ya buddy??

[Just Not Right]

Once again, after beating a mediocre team, USF rises again. They could never beat LSU, Florida, Oklahoma, etc. Honestly, I have more respect for a team with a loss that is in a tough conference and plays good teams than the Bulls who play an easy schedule. Elon, NC, UCF. How about playing a qulity team? Who is it next week, Clearwater High? Does anyone think USF is better than LSU? Even Michigan? Come on.

The Bulls have done well but it is not right that they be ranked higher than teams that would kill them.

[Andy]

Hey JNR...Let's see...

USF beat Auburn at Auburn, Auburn beat Florida at the Swamp. Florida out.

LSU lost to Kentucky. Still a loss.

Oklahoma lost to Colorado. Yes, once again, Oklahoma lost to Colorado. Oklahmoa out.

We've played more quality teams than those schools so far...and they have lost!!! Check your respect at the door.

Now's the time to start pumping up Bull basketball. The Bulls have the smallest attendance at their home games of any Big East team.

[Ken]

And, to add to Andy's remarks, the BE has 2 teams in the top-10 (25% of the conference), 3 in the top-25 (37.5%), and 6 teams receiving votes (75%). I haven't checked, so I might be wrong, but I doubt there's another conference with that kind of record right now.

[Rickey]

USF should be #1. We have the best resume in the nation with wins over Auburn and West Virginia!

[Dave]

We'll *all* know if it's real Thursday night.....Rutgers is always tough at home...if USF can handle them there, the Bulls have everybody's complete attention.

This is funny and scarey at the same time....bad time to be a Gator fan this year, huh? lol....

[Tinny Vestaverde]

Just remember, whoever scores the most points wins. I don't know why more teams don't follow this philosophy. Works every time.

= + =

[See ya!]

USF ... enjoy the next5 days in the top ten. The Big East is HORRIBLE this year and you will lose to a weak
Rutgers team!

[Dave W]

Ahhh! More "Daves." I'm throwing the "W" after my name from now on. I would never spell "scarey" wrong.

Why are there so many anti-Bulls on here? Andy made a good point up above. We did schedule someone- we went to Jordan-Hare an won, something rarely done. At the same time, how on earth is the Big 10, Big 12, or ACC any tougher than the BEAST? I'm still waiting for someone to actually prove this. But they will just fall to rhetoric and scream and yell until we can't listen to anymore. I know we'll have our detractors, but some of the stuff they come up is worse than anything out of the mouth of a knight.

WAR PELICAN!

[steve]

hey listen up the number one thing that helps teams win championships is a good defense. well guess what USF has a great defense. George Selvie leads the nation in sacks and TFL in fact he has more sacks then 77 of the 119 div 1 teams. not to mention the two best cover guys in the nation. Add a QB that is just a softmore and has more playmaking ability then timmy tivo and you tell me who would stand a chance when the all play at the top of there game. 'nuff said.

p.s Gators suck enjoy some kinda dot com bowl.

[Chris]

Attention All you knuckleheads, especially the one who wrote "Go BUCS", I check with a few actual OSU grads and they all agree, you obviously never attended the school,it is spelled Bucks. Now, to the rest of you, USF beat Auburn, Auburn beat UF in the swamp, enough said about that. Everyone else has now lost, and the computers obviously know the truth. USF deserves to be ranked #2 in the BCS, and will represent our state in the championship.

[Richard]

This can all be said upon any perspective:

USF Football, only 11 years old, has taken down Top-10 teams three times in three attempts. Once against Louisville(#9) and twice against West Virginia(#7 & #5). Granted, I will admit what allowed USF to play against them is the fact that USF joined before playing against those teams at those ranks.

As for beating teams such as Oklahoma, Florida, Ohio State and such. Who's to say? USF beats Auburn on the road and Florida loses to Auburn at home. USF is undefeated, in a prime BCS conference. If they continue to win with their nearly-suffocating defense, there's nothing stopping them from playing for the National Championship.

I will give Florida, Auburn and Ohio State their credit though. They have been high in the rankings for at least some time now, and deserve the accolades that come along with their accomplishments. Again, I can't say that USF can beat any of these teams yet. The only way to find out is to see them play against one of those three in a BCS bowl game. With the current progress, I'd see OSU and USF playing in the BCS Championship game.

Then again, being a realist, anything can happen.

But being a 5-year Bulls fan, let's just say GO USF!

[Mike B]

terminator, it's "Bucks" and your ignorance has just offended me as a born and bred Buckeye. And if you think USF couldn't hang with anyone in the country, you obviously haven't been paying attention. They may not be the 2nd best team in the country, but until someone beats them, sad souls such as yourself can cry all you want and it will make zero difference. Until someone beats MY (not yours obviously) Bucks and USF, they deserve to be right where they are.

[Larry]

Why in the world is OSU ranked in the top5 much less number 1? When will the world realize what a sad, pathetic excuse for a team they are? OSU - PLAY A REAL TEAM FOR A CHANGE!! I don't know if USF could beat Florida or LSU, but I know they can beat Auburn and West Virginia. I am sure they would beat FSU and Miami. As I recall, everyone said Florida didn't deserve to play OSU last year because they "weren't in the same league as a Michigan or Ohio State." As I recall, they scored the same points - just arranged differently! Go Gators and great job Bulls!

The Bulls will be brought down to Earth. . .when they actually play a real team.

This Bulls worship that's been going on lately is laughable.

[Vincent Do]

Some of these comments with the Gators or Noles fans against USF are ridicolous. You guys have your chance to win against the same teams that USF has beaten. If those teams are so good, why can't they just win like USF. They might not be the #2 best team in the country, but neither has UF proved to be the top team yet. Just remember this, UF lost at home to the same team that USF beat at their home.

[Mike]

I still don't think the Bulls could beat Oklahoma, and I'm not a Sooners fan. I'm a USF alum. I also don't think they could beat Florida, despite beating Auburn. That's not to say that Florida should be up there. They've got two losses by mid-season. That's not going to cut it.

Let's face it, the Big East is relatively weak. There is far more parity in the SEC and the Pac-10. I think that's pretty evident, as all of the teams are knocking each other off.

Again, this is awesome for the program. Regardless of their schedule, if they run the table, they should be in the Nat'l title game.

[USF ALUMNI]

I just think all this talk about how USF isn't worthy is ridiculous. It is insane, that people from the state of Florida can't be happy for a group of kids who have worked their butts off to get where they are. Why all the jealousy? Why all the trash talking? Why can't you just be happy for a team of kids who are playing hard? What is this??

[Greg A.]

Teboh? Definetly? Qulity? Softmore? Scarey? Ridicolous? This is bulletin-board material for the English language.

Good stuff here, guys, spelling aside. And Dave is now Dave W., something he probably hasn't had to sign off as since like second grade.

[Richard]

Just so the bias of coaches/reporters/etc can be eliminated, the computers don't discriminate based upon favoratism. They look at the entire resume for each team and base their findings upon that.

There are plenty of surprises in the top 10 of the initial BCS standings. One reason for USF's rise from being unranked in the preseason polls to #2 in the first BCS standings isn't just who they played (mindful that they played very good WVU and Auburn teams in hostile terrotory) it's how they won.

If USF wins 21-10 against the #22 team, and OSU wins 58-21 against an unranked team, OSU should receive the better standard nonetheless. This is just an example, however.

The human polls, I'll admit, are based upon some bias. It explains in part why preseason rankings are as they are. I'm hoping to see USF in the polls for at least several years to come. Those kids have worked their butts off to get where they're at today under the tutilage(sp?) of an amazing coach. Florida State had it in their storied history with Bowden. Florida had the same with Spurrier. Miami was even one of the better teams of the 90's.

I'd also love to see USF build a healthy rivalry with any of these teams, regardless of their ranks. Instate rivalries are always the best for bragging rights.

Just remember, the polls are based upon progression. Do good enough one year, be ranked at the start of the next. I'd say leave the playoff scenario to the NFL. 32 teams in two four-division conferences is much simpler in building a playoff system than 119 teams in 11 conferences (5 with two divisions, requiring an extra game to determine conference champion before the bowl) In essence, some teams play more games than others. Some teams play AA class opponents.

I did give some thought about this, since NCAA basketball has a playoff format for their tournament. But that'd require somewhere around an additional 6 football games. Too many for a season after the regular schedules. It's flawed, I'll admit. But that's the human aspect of the pollings. That explains why the three main polls always have differences in who's ranked where. But nonetheless, it still works for the college level.

[busybaghead]

you minor red tom car yes stay boy day joke america

[Dave W]

What?

Anyways, this was a fun trip down memory lane. And this is when I became "Dave W". Cool.