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Goals Still Lofty For Bulls

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Joey Johnston/The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 19, 2007

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – For the No. 2-ranked South Florida Bulls – make that the soon-to-be-former-No. 2-ranked Bulls – the chance at playing for a national title is all but gone.

Winning the Big East Conference championship?

Still very much alive, even after Thursday night's 30-27 loss against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

If unbeaten Connecticut loses tonight against Louisville, the Bulls (6-1, 1-1) will be in a mix of seven league teams with one conference loss (only Syracuse, at 1-2 in the league, looks like it's looking up at all the other contenders).

In other words, for the most part, Big East destiny remains in USF's hands.

"Big East football is pretty good," USF coach Jim Leavitt said. You better be locked in. Our goal was never about rankings. That's not something I even think about. I have nothing to do with that.

"Winning the Big East is still our goal. We took a hit tonight. Now there's no room [for error]. You probably can't win the league with two losses. You've got a shot with one."

Which brings us to a huge Friday night game – Louisville (4-3, 1-1) at Connecticut (5-1, 1-0).

It's a far cry from the Big East's preseason outlook – when West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers were touted as teams with top 10 potential – but still it's a fascinating race.

Two things to remember:

* If two teams finish in a tie for the Big East lead, the head-to-head winner gets the BCS bowl bid. That becomes a critical factor, particularly if USF ties with West Virginia (USF beat West Virginia 21-13 on Sept. 28).

* If three teams finish in a tie for the Big East lead, the highest ranked team in the final BCS standings gets the BCS bowl bid.

"It's still out in front of us," USF receiver Marcus Edwards said. "We have to look at it that way."

Everyone looks at it that way.

"I think it's wide open," Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe said earlier this week. "I felt like going into the season. This is a wide open race."

Even though one door has closed for USF, the race has just begun.

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