University of South Florida Bulls Start at #2 in BCS Poll

The University of South Florida (USF) Bulls football team was ranked at the #2 spot on Sunday in the first week of BCS rankings after beating the University of Central Florida 64-12. Most NCAAF Week 7 predictions had USF winning, but not by such a large margin. The ones who predicted a UCF win predicted a huge upset over the USF Bulls. After all, the UCF Knights came within 3 points of beating the Texas Longhorns earlier in the season. What USF’s detractors haven’t considered, though, is that the USF Bulls have knocked two top 20 teams down in the rankings, including Auburn, who went on to beat the top 10-ranked Florida Gators.

Jim Leavitt has been the coach of the USF Bulls since the team’s inception in 1996. They had no games that first season, Leavitt spent that year conditioning the team and preparing them for their inaugural season in 1997. The team’s perseverance through the tough practices in the blistering Florida heat paid off in the team’s first season as a I-AA team. Their first game resulted in a win over Kentucky-Wesleyan by a score of 80-3. The wins kept piling up, and in about 4 years, the USF Bulls moved up to play I-A football. From there, USF has improved as a football team each season. In 2003, the team accepted an invitation to the Big East Conference, which includes the likes of Syracuse, Georgetown, Rutgers, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati – all teams with a history and tradition that USF did not carry. But what USF’s football program does have is an underestimated strength and determination, along with a coach who is quickly making a name for himself in a state that already has more than an average number of big-time football teams and legendary coaches.

If the 2007 BCS Championship game were played in this, the 7th week of the season, USF would be facing Ohio State in the game. Ohio State is ranked #1 this week, one spot ahead of USF, but what has Ohio State done to earn that ranking? Ohio State has beaten Youngstown State, Akron, Washington, Northwestern, Minnesota, Purdue, and Kent State; none of which were ranked in the top 25. The USF Bulls, on the other hand have bested Elon, Auburn (ranked #17 at game time), North Carolina, West Virginia (ranked #5 at game time), Florida Atlantic, and the University of Central Florida, earning them their ranking as the #2 team in the country. USF will face Rutgers on Thursday for a game that many are predicting will be USF’s final true test of endurance. This is the game that, even the doubters will have to concede, if USF wins, they have truly earned their BCS ranking.

USF fans are excited about the prospect of a BCS Championship bid. Raymond James Stadium, home of the USF Bulls and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has had record sell-outs for all of the Bulls home games since the Auburn win. Students are skipping class to stand in line for the precious few student tickets that are available. Counterfeit tickets have even made their rounds in the last couple of games, after thieves realized the demand for tickets in this monumental season outweighed the supply. Though concerned, students boasted that the illegal operations meant that they had, like so many other Florida teams before them, reached the big time.