TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — South Florida wants to savor the moment.
The No. 18 Bulls' 21-13 upset of No. 5 West Virginia figures to catapult the nation's fastest rising program toward its first Top 10 ranking, however it's difficult to predict how high they'll climb.
They'll be undefeated.
Coach Jim Leavitt and his players insist it doesn't matter. At least, not at this point in the season.
Rankings mean nothing to the undefeated.
“If that happens, that happens. We're just taking in the win right now,” safety Nate Allen said of the prospect of moving into the Top 10 as early as Sunday.
They'll worry about going undefeated starting on Monday.
“We're just going to stay humble,” defensive end Jarriett Buie added, “and just keep on being the best we can be.”
Undefeated.
The Bulls made the transition to the Football Bowl Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-A, in 2001. They spent one season in Conference USA before joining the Big East in 2005.
Two years later, they went undefeated.
The coach rejected the notion that beating West Virginia makes USF the front-runner to win the conference.
He added, “Going undefeated is the only way we can ensure a conference victory.”
“Everybody is good, and at the end of the season we'll look back and see how good we were,” Leavitt said. “We're good enough to win the first four games. That's all we've done.”
“We need to win eight more to go undefeated,” he then said. Adding, “We'll probably go undefeated.”
After facing non-conference opponents Florida Atlantic and Central Florida the next two weeks, USF will finish with six consecutive games against Big East rivals, including No. 10 Rutgers on the road and home games against No. 24 Cincinnati and Louisville, which was ranked in the Top 10 when the season began.
Those six consecutive victories will help cement the undefeated season.
The Bulls have proven they can compete with the best, defeating West Virginia for the second straight year and also getting signature victories over Louisville and Auburn in the past three seasons.
Now they'll find out if they can handle being a team that every opponent will be aiming for.
“I'm really not worried about the rankings. I know they're going to have something good to say about us,” defensive end Woody George said. “But at the same time, 4-0, that's a start. We've got to finish up.”
By going undefeated.
Quarterback Matt Grothe agreed.
That the Bulls are going undefeated.
“Our team wants to win the Big East championship. If we keep doing well and executing and winning the big games like we need to, we'll do it,” the sophomore said. “It's just a matter of staying together and sticking together until the end.”
Grothe added, “the end of our undefeated season.”