TAMPA - About 1,000 free student tickets remain for Saturday's University of South Florida football game against cross-state rival University of Central Florida. ...more

October 11, 2007

It was late on the night before the University of South Florida football team was to play Auburn University last month. As is his custom, Coach Jim Leavitt gathered his team for a meeting before sending his players off to their rooms. They talked about the game and the challenge of facing a program like Auburn. ...more

October 10, 2007

TAMPA - It was late on the night before the University of South Florida football team was to play Auburn University last month. As is his custom, Coach Jim Leavitt gathered his team for a meeting before sending his players off to their rooms. They talked about the game and the challenge of facing a program like Auburn. ...more

October 9, 2007

It may be some time before a real Rocky the Bull charges out on the field for University of South Florida football games. ...more

October 7, 2007

It's in the student section at Raymond James Stadium, where body-painting "studs" and "babes" cheer on the USF Bulls. ...more

October 5, 2007

When asked the other day about the University of South Florida football team's rapid rise to a national top 10 ranking, University of Alabama coach Nick Saban responded to the Birmingham News saying that USF had players that weren't academically good enough to play at Florida or Florida State. ...more

October 4, 2007

TAMPA – University of South Florida football coach Jim Leavitt vehemently disagreed with a quote from Alabama coach Nick Saban that claims USF's quick success is because the Bulls have lesser academic standards than other programs. "It's not right [what Saban said], we've done what we've done because we've worked extremely hard," Leavitt said to reporters after today's weekly news conference. In today's Birmingham News, Saban was quoted saying: "The distribution of players is not the same for everybody. There's a significant amount of players who don't qualify [at some schools] and they end up being pretty good players at some other schools. I think there are six guys starting on South Florida's defense who probably could have gone to Florida or Florida State but Florida and Florida State couldn't take them. And if you do a good job of recruiting that way ..." Leavitt disputed Saban's statement. "Of 110 players, we have two nonqualifiers, one starts, one doesn't," Leavitt said. "The Big East doesn't allow nonqualifiers. For a guy to make a mistake like that is not right. "I'm not down on [Saban]. Whoever gave him that information needs to correct it. Certainly this person [Birmingham News reporter Ray Melick], what right does he have to write an article without verifying all the facts. This is why I get disturbed sometimes, because now this article goes out. "It's an absolute wrong to do that." USF senior Mike Jenkins disagreed with Saban's statement, even noting Saban offered Jenkins a full scholarship to LSU when Jenkins was a senior at Bradenton Southeast High School. Ironically, USF freshman running backs Jamar Taylor and Mike Ford both initially signed with Alabama. Taylor enrolled at Alabama in January and was the Tide's leading rusher in the spring game, but transferred to USF over the summer to be closer to his family. ...more

October 2, 2007