Spoiler: USF ranked 20th by Rivals.com
Slowly but surely, with one team each day, Rivals.com has been rolling out its preseason rankings, leaving Bulls fans to wonder how long they'll have to wait to see where USF lines up. Thanks to some clever hacking from JimUSFSig on the message boards at Thebullspen.com, you have an answer, a few days earlier than you're supposed to: USF will be ranked No. 20 by Rivals.
Jim noticed the URL for the graphic on No. 25 Pittsburgh, changed out the name to USF and found this, which shows USF as the No. 20 team. Check out this thread and you'll see he's figured out the entire top 25, spoiling what would be three-plus weeks of suspense for Rivals fans. I'm impressed. Lots more notes to come later this afternoon.
Times sportswriter Greg Auman, who covers USF, will post news and thoughts on the Bulletin and we invite your participation in the comments area.
Not a bad start.
Posted by: DELdaBULL | July 08, 2008 at 02:34 PM
I hate preseason rankings.... i dont care if we are #1 we havent earned anything yet we are ranked in the top 25... same with every other team... i wouldnt be so stonchly against it if it truely doesnt mean anything, but it does.... the football season is too short for these polls to not have an impact. When is the NCAA going to learn. I guess its when we start to show how much we care.
Posted by: | July 08, 2008 at 02:51 PM
Would Rivals have any recourse against something like this?
If this becomes national through message boards, they might be pretty upset if they spent $ on marketing their countdown.
Posted by: Miles Lamoureux | July 08, 2008 at 03:34 PM
Actually Rivals should be embarrassed for making it easy to crack, especially if they spent $ on marketing their countdown.
Posted by: Norb | July 08, 2008 at 03:45 PM
Thanks for the kudos, Greg. Didn't realize it would be blog-worthy.
:-P
Go Bulls!
Posted by: Jim Johnson | July 08, 2008 at 03:57 PM
Jim gets not only a mention in the Bulls blog of record, but gets the whole blog entry on his exploits. Way to go Jim.
Posted by: Sanjay | July 08, 2008 at 04:13 PM
Jim is DA MAN!
- crambone
Posted by: Mike Lakeland | July 08, 2008 at 04:13 PM
P.S. I wonder how long before Rivals finds this?
lol
Posted by: Mike Lakeland | July 08, 2008 at 04:16 PM
USF Alum figued that out? Wow I'm impressed. I should have gone to USF.
Posted by: ucf rocks | July 08, 2008 at 04:21 PM
Yeah rocks, then maybe you could learn how to spell a two syllable word.
Posted by: pingbull | July 08, 2008 at 04:52 PM
Yeah rocks, then maybe you could learn how to spell a two syllable word.
Posted by: pingbull | July 08, 2008 at 04:52 PM
I'll be curious to see if Rivals tweaks their rankings, just to throw people off, or just go with it now.
Posted by: G.A. | July 08, 2008 at 04:58 PM
Is this really blog worthy?
Can someone tell me how much the Rivals ranking means to the BCS?
Posted by: Stephen | July 08, 2008 at 05:34 PM
Congrats Jim. Greg never mentioned my name in a blog during the baseball season when I noticed some inaccuracies with the starting pitching rotation, but I digress. Good job deciphering the Rivals Code.
Posted by: JoeB | July 08, 2008 at 05:47 PM
Stephen, it's early July. If you want to wait for BCS rankings, just check back here in October ...
Posted by: G.A. | July 08, 2008 at 06:45 PM
Greg, Any confirmation on Riek being ineligible to play college basketball? I am dying to know.
Posted by: Reality | July 08, 2008 at 07:14 PM
Well. I used to think rivals was a pretty good judge of talent in the college football world. But West Virginia at #8? That ain't right.
Posted by: | July 08, 2008 at 07:22 PM
1. USC
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Mizzou
6. Florida
7. Auburn
8. West Virginia
9. Clemson
10. LSU
11. Kansas
12. BYU
13. Wisconsin
14. Texas Tech
15. Texas
16. Arizona State
17. Virginia Tech
18. Illinois
19. Tennessee
20. USF
21. Oregon
22. Penn State
23. Fresno State
24. Wake Forest
25. Pitt
Posted by: | July 08, 2008 at 07:51 PM
I think that Ari, Champ, Cee, Mike Lakeland, and myself have all been mentioned in the blog, but congrats to Jim for being the first all-blog entry! I was interested to see where they would have us; someone mentioned on here a few weeks ago that Rivals tends to like us, but I think that the 20 spot is actually pretty accurate. I hope we're ranked to start the season, but as long as we're in the top-30, I think we're in good shape as far as national recognition goes (and that is all preseason ballots are worth, but it looks good to recruits and validates our interest and gives us a bragging tool).
Posted by: Dave W | July 08, 2008 at 09:27 PM
I wonder if girls think its cool to be mentioned in a blog?
Swimming is a sea full of virgins. I would love to go to a bar with you guys, it would be like shooting fish in a barrell.
Posted by: Steve Urkel | July 08, 2008 at 09:45 PM
Hey, Urkel. Barrel, one l.
Posted by: G.A. | July 08, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Ya, Urkel I am sure... seeing as you have nothing better to do than get on this blog and type up stuff like that.
Posted by: KLKL | July 09, 2008 at 12:14 AM
Stephon Urkel was a player!
Posted by: Reality | July 09, 2008 at 08:27 AM