Two games into USF’s football season, they have earned two wins. They will not be awarded style points, however, and they may have damaged their reputation for the entire season.
Looking Back
Some will say, “a win is a win”. And, most of the time, that is true. Except when it is not. College football has long been a mix of beauty contest combined with competitive athleticism. Winning, in college football, has never been as important as winning big. USF dodged bullets named San Jose State and Stony Brook by overcoming early deficits with late game scoring. And, while the game wasn’t broadcast on national television, it did not go unnoticed that the #19 ranked team in the FBS was tied with an FCS team without a winning record since 2012.
The game against Stony Brook, against whom the Bulls were 35 point favorites, had the fourth worst home attendance in program history. So, this should be a warning to the program’s administrators. First, scheduling games against weak opponents when playing in a weak conference does not excite your fans or boosters. USF had sold 26,460 tickets for the game, but just 18,192 showed up. While both numbers are extremely low for a top 25 ranked team, those 8,000 extra empty seats could be filled up with more interesting scheduling. The second warning to the school should be the lack of interest that ranking has earned in the metro area. They need to do more to generate interest in the team. Playing teams like UConn, UMass, Illinois and ECU will not move the needle.
USF soccer had a rough weekend. The men’s team lost a pair of games to #17 Butler and #7 Indiana and the women lost to Ohio State.
Looking Forward
CBS Sports’ Chip Patterson predicts that USF drops in the rankings.