School is back and football camps continue. The season, soon begins.
The 2016 season was the first time ever that four football teams from the state of Florida enjoyed simultaneous top 25 rankings. Now, four teams are consistently ranked in the top 25 preseason polls. Sports Illustrated is the most recent media outlet to release a preseason ranking, where they rank USF #17. That ranking is one spot better than the Gators and three spots higher than Miami. The only team in the state that is ranked higher is #2, Florida State, one of only two teams to beat the Bulls last season. This is the first time USF has been ranked higher than Florida in a pre-season poll.
All of these rankings are nice advertisements for an improving football program, but they beg the question of meaning. Or, to put it the way of Lindy Sports, “Can USF overcome schedule, crash 2018 CFP?”
Fox Sports reports that even winning the conference is against the odds for champion favorite, USF. No pre-season favorite has ever won the AAC football championship outright.
But, Sports Illustrated writes that the Bulls have both the schedule and the talent to go undefeated.
And, here’s another pre-season ranking from the San Francisco Mercury News. Their sports writer, who happens to also be a Heisman voter, Jon Wilner, ranks the Bulls 13th.
Tampa Bay Times’ Joey Knight has some player stories worth sharing. Tajee Fullwood and Valdes-Scantling are back from injury. Zack Deitz is a former student manager who walked on to a starting role at long snapper. USF offensive lineman, Billy Atterbury took questions and gave answers.
Bay News 9 tells another story about hard work paying off. Greg Reaves transferred to USF from the Air Force Academy and spent a year on the scout team before getting playing time in 2016.
