The Sporting News Ranks USF 21st

[E.T.]

...I wanna see it justified, earned, and sustained.

We are talking about "preseason" rankings ... that's all you can do in the summer. AND this team "earned" the preseason rankings they have been getting on performance of last year and the Spring Game. That's how it works.

Of course it means nothing more than press & hype ... that's all you can do when you are not playing.

Of course it would be "better" to be ranked at season's end, this is not an either/or situation.

:GoBulls

[smazza]

That PapaJohn's score was straight bull$hit. If Grothe didn't go down, it would of been 45-7. Which in turn could have pushed us up 1 or 2 more spots in the preseason polls. I'll take #21 ranking though, as long as we dont have let downs to teams like Kansas and Cin again.

IF.  .  .

usf needs to prove it on field

[dabull80]

Better to be ranked in the pre-season that way when you win you move up much quicker then trying to break in the top 25.  It so very important to be in the top 25 as much as possibble with all the coverage you get from the media.  ESPN always covers the top 25.

[Joe]

ESPN always covers the top 25.

...Your right...the coverage ESPN gave Hawaii, Oregon State, Maryland, BYU, etc was through the roof...

In all seriousness ESPN covers the popular teams more because they have more fans...when equals ratings...and like those not in the upper echelon, USF received a decent about of coverage last year.

As to the main point of this topic.

I could care less about rankings now. Great someone thinks were good enough to be a top 25 team. However in 2006 people thought the same thing about Alabama, Arizona State, and Fresno State. In 2005 Pittsburgh was the hot team coming of a BCS berth and wins at Notre Dame and against a ranked WVU team.

As much fun as the preseason rankings are...especially for teams outside the top 10, where it is generally a crap shoot, lets not put any weight on them. USF still has not had a consistent season since joining the big boys on a full time basis. We always have a couple games we should have won and played better in. I'm cautiously optimistic about our top 25 and Big East chances until proven otherwise.

[BullsFanInTX]

That makes at least 2 respectable sources that have USF on the top 25 for next year (National Champs. Net).

I think we might see USF on the AP or the Coaches' top 25 poll if the momentum picks up by fall.

That's been one of my sports dreams for my beloved Bulls!  8-)

Actually I think there have been 4 preseason polls having us in top 25: SI, NC.net, Steele, and TSN, And I think a couple others had us at 26.

[Skingraft]

Big thing...and I think everyone is hitting the mark with this one...NO MORE CINCI's, UCONN, and Kansas games....one thing the bulls have lacked is consistantcy....i have seen the stadium grow over the years...we need to continue that and help promote USF through numbers.....USF has to perform though...the stage has now been set for what they have been working for....now it is time to get it done...the nice thing about being up there in the rankings is pressure....now can we have a positive pressure experience or will we, i say we because the fans matter, or will we all crumble and get complacent....