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Bulls Beat: With A Little Help, BCS Bowl Looms If USF Wins Out

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Brett McMurphy/The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 25, 2007

TAMPA - Even after losing at Rutgers last week, the University of South Florida still has a legitimate shot at winning the Big East title.

All the Bulls need to do is win out and have Rutgers lose another Big East game (perhaps Saturday against West Virginia?). If both USF and West Virginia win out, USF would earn the Big East's BCS bowl bid by virtue of a head-to-head tiebreaker against the Mountaineers.

However, if that happened, the Mountaineers - and not the Bulls - would have the better chance of reaching the BCS title game even though they lost to USF last month.

That's because in this week's BCS rankings, the Mountaineers are ranked No. 7 and USF is No. 10.

With the amount of upsets already this season, both teams could easily climb up the rankings. But USF likely can't pass the Mountaineers if WVU wins out because WVU is ranked No. 6 in both the coaches and Harris polls, compared to No. 12 for USF.

If WVU reached the title game without winning the outright Big East title, it wouldn't be the first team to do so.

A team has reached the BCS title game without winning its conference twice: Nebraska in 2001 and Oklahoma in 2003. And both Big 12 schools lost in the BCS title game.

So if both the Bulls and Mountaineers win out, they both could be headed to New Orleans - but USF would be playing in the Jan. 1 Sugar Bowl, while WVU could be in the Jan. 7 BCS title game.

FAMILIAR POSITION: Senior C Kentrell Gransberry was named to the preseason All-Big East team Wednesday, but the Bulls were picked to finish last in the coaches and media's preseason polls.

Georgetown and Louisville were voted the co-favorites by the coaches; Georgetown was the media's pick.

'When you see yourself at the bottom of the list, seeing yourself at No. 16, you try to come together and work hard every day and try to shock people,' USF guard Solomon Bozeman said. 'Our football team shocked people. We want to be like the football team and shock people.'

First-year USF coach Stan Heath said he doesn't worry about the preseason polls.

'We might throw it in there when we need a reminder of what people think of us,' Heath said. 'To make sure we stay very motivated, very hungry and realize we have a lot to prove.'

Gransberry, the nation's leading returning rebounder, also was one of 50 preseason candidates for the John Wooden Award, given to college basketball's best player.

WOMEN NINTH: Despite losing the all-time leading scorer in program history and its leading rebounder, the Big East coaches don't expect USF's women's basketball team to be any worse.

USF was picked to finish ninth in the coaches preseason poll after finishing tied for eighth place last year.

ODDS AND ENDS: The 1997 inaugural football team will be honored at halftime of the Nov. 3 Cincinnati game. For information, call (813) 974-2125. ... Radio broadcasts of USF's women's basketball games are moving from WTBN, 570 AM to WQYK, 1010 AM this season and play-by-play announcer Tom Krasniqi will not return. Krasniqi declined comment. WQYK will broadcast a number of USF baseball games this spring. ... Rachel Constantine, who worked in USF's sports information office the past four years, has accepted a job at St. John's. ... The outfield fences at Red McEwen Field will be moved in from 340 to 325 feet this season. 'We want the ball to fly out of the park,' Coach Lelo Prado said. In 60 games last year, USF hit 22 homers.

USF Shorts

HONOR ROLL: Former softball All-American Holly Groves was inducted into the USF softball hall of fame. Groves, who played at USF from 2002-04, is the ninth Bull inducted into the softball hall of fame.

SOUNDBITE CENTRAL: "The first thing that went through my head was, if he got listed at 5-11, how come I'm not listed at 6-3?" - USF's 6-foot QB Matt Grothe about talking to former Boston College QB Doug Flutie before last week's Rutgers game.

LOOK OUT FOR: The men's basketball team hosts Saint Leo in an exhibition game Wednesday at 7 p.m.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What will be USF's final regular-season record? To vote and monitor results, visit TBO.com, Keyword: Bulls.

Listen to reporter Brett McMurphy discuss the USF-UConn game on 'Hot Lunch with JP Peterson' on WHBO, 1470 AM, today between noon and 2 p.m.

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