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Bulls' Run Has Horns Locking Over No. 2

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By JOEY JOHNSTON The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 16, 2007

TAMPA - The University of South Florida Bulls are the fresh-faced football program, newcomers to the big-time national scene, the best sports story east of the (Colorado) Rockies.

The Bulls are the opportunistic interlopers, the beneficiaries of unprecedented circumstance, the team that may soon be exposed.

USF football is lucky. USF football is good.

Depending upon your perspective, it can be any (or all) of these things. In this case, reality has been sliced into everyone's wildly varying perceptions.

But one thing is certain. The Bulls (6-0), heading into Thursday night's nationally televised Big East Conference game at Rutgers (4-2), are No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings. That translates into the very real possibility of USF playing for a national title if it finishes undefeated.

"If we keep winning games, what can anyone do or say about it?" USF senior nose tackle Richard Clebert said.

Well, they can gloat. Or they can argue.

It's all driven by the modern communications era, 24-hour sports networks, radio shock talk, Internet chat rooms, enough emotionally charged opinions to make your head spin.

If your loyalties lie elsewhere - namely, to the brand-name teams at LSU or Oklahoma, which happen to rank behind the Bulls - the success of USF's 11th-year program makes you question everything, especially the system that determines college football's national championship.

"In a way, I do have trouble believing this can actually happen," said former LSU football player Jeremy Shealy, now a lawyer in Lafayette, La. "I have respect for what South Florida has done. But on the other hand, it's like, 'Who are these guys?'"

'An Amazing Turn Of Events'

The Bulls, in their seventh year as a full-fledged Division I-A program and third season as a Big East member, won at Auburn 26-23 in overtime Sept. 8, positioning themselves for the program's first leap into the national rankings.

On Sept. 28, in front of a sellout crowd at Raymond James Stadium, the No. 18 Bulls defeated No. 5 West Virginia 21-13. After a weekend of upsets, USF shot all the way to No. 6 in one poll.

And now, because of the winning streak, because their strength of schedule has been embraced by the six computers that help determine the BCS standings, because the upsets simply haven't stopped, USF has been lifted into college football'srarefied air.

"It's an amazing turn of events," said ESPN's Chris Fowler, host of the network's College GameDay program and play-by-play man for Thursday night's game at Rutgers. "The problem for a lot of people is they are USF, not Florida, not LSU, not Oklahoma. Instead of embracing the story, some people are saying, 'Hey, this just doesn't seem right.' They might not make the connection. They might not even know where South Florida is located."

They wouldn't be alone.

Within the past two decades, in news releases composed by opposing schools, USF has been called Southern Florida, Florida Southern and even South Florida State.

In 1991, the USF men's basketball team defeated nationally ranked Iowa at the Sun Dome. The next day, USA Today led its basketball roundup with this headline:

"Tiny South Florida Upsets Iowa."

"We're not little," Bulls junior wide receiver Taurus Johnson said. "We're big."

And now the Bulls are big-time.

"You can't put a price tag on this type of exposure," USF Athletic Director Doug Woolard said. "Athletics are providing a window into this university, and it deserves this type of platform."

The Fans Weigh In

Meanwhile, in cyberspace, an argument rages on the message boards.

Buck: Already sick of USF. The Bulls have a tough game one week, then a joke the next. The Big East is laughable, let's be honest.

Point.

Tampa Ed: When my team USF gets ranked No. 2, you expect some people to love you, and many more to hate you. What has been the most shocking is how 90 percent of the hate comes from University of Florida fans. Why is that?

USF beat Auburn. Auburn beat Florida. What happened UF? We didn't ask you to lose. Maybe that home-field advantage was too tough to overcome.

If UF was in the national title game, I would still cheer for them. Too bad they aren't secure enough to do the same.

Counterpoint.

Chris: What the USF defense did to West Virginia, no other team in the country could have done. USF has not chosen a creampuff schedule. Teams simply haven't wanted to schedule USF since they have seen it as a program on the rise.

Pro.

JD: The whole Big East is a joke. USF has a real tough game this week against … Rutgers! Just tell USF to lock their doors once they get into NJ.

Con.

Even passionate LSU supporter James Carville, the Democratic political consultant and commentator on CNN's "The Situation Room," has been drawn into the conversation.

"Mississippi State, perhaps the worst team in the SEC, beat Auburn at home," Carville wrote in Sports Illustrated. "South Florida, the best team in the Big East, beat Auburn at home. So the best team in the Big East is just as good as the worst team in the SEC. I'm impressed."

USF's official reaction?

Sigh.

"Fans are fans," USF junior defensive back Ryan Gilliam said. "You can't take it personally. At least we're being talked about. At least we're on somebody's radar screen. After that, it's up to us to perform on the field."

Reporter Joey Johnston can be reached at jjohnston@tampatrib.com or (813) 259-7353.

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