It was cute, wasn't it?
It was cute five weeks ago, when I predicted an undefeated Bulls season and a victory against Auburn.
It was funny, too, when the Bulls beat fifth ranked West Virginia and earned a trip to the Top Ten. It was a great story. It gave Kirk Herbstreit and Lee Corso (on College Game Day) something to get worked up about: an eleven year old team that had never been ranked now in the top ten? Preposterous. Crazy. Hell, I think the word “zany” even made it into a few USF conversations.
Then the BCS rankings came out and the University of South Florida was ranked second in the nation.
Now it's not so cute.
Now people are pissed.
Now, the Big East doesn't deserve to have a representative in the top ten, because that representative is not named Louisville or West Virginia. Now, the Big East is a cakewalk compared to the storm-trooper-esque challenges offered in the SEC and the PAC 10. Now, everyone in Sports Media Land is equal parts dazed and confused.
“Who the hell are these guys?” they're asking themselves.
Matt Grothe is a sophomore quarterback from Lakeland. He's got a little Jeff Garcia in him. He scrambles, he breaks tackles and, unlike Garcia, he rushes the ball like a mad man. He keeps the explosive, inexperienced, sometimes downright sloppy receivers in check with his persistence and his gritty focus (and no, I don't know if focus can actually be gritty, but if it can be, then Grothe's is).
“So what if you just dropped another easy touchdown pass,” he tells his teammates. “We'll just do it again.”
And then they do it again.
But if you really want to know who these guys are, you must look at the defense, which is one of the best in the country. They have the NCAA sack leader, the NCAA tackles leader, they kick ass at creating turnovers and despite their small size, they are incredibly awesome tacklers. They're mainly seniors and they know this is their last shot. They play with all the grace and dignity of a gang rape. They do more than take away opposing offense's yardage. They do more than take away the opposing offense's football. They take away the opposing offense's confidence. Their collective defensive energy says to all who play them:
“We are the South Florida Bulls. We will destroy you. And you will remember our name.”
And that goes for you too, Corso. And you too, Herbstreit. And to all you other fine folks out there who think that it is impossible for an eleven year old team to go from being unranked to undefeated in the span of one year, I say to you, “These are the USF Bulls.”
And they're good.
And you will remember that.
But don't take my word for it. I'm so messed up in the head I wouldn't even take my own word for anything. I watched the team. And you can too. Because, even though they're in the Big East, and even though they're only eleven years old, and even though their coach has messy hair and looks a little bit like a Fraggle, the USF Bulls are on national television all the time.
That's what happens when you're ranked second in the nation.
You'll probably remember that, too.