South Florida is good. If you don't like it, too bad.
Lots of you don't like it. Lots of famous you. Bobby Bowden doesn't like it. Jimmy Johnson doesn't like it. Nick Saban hates it. To which I say: good. Show me a topic that can unite a coddling faux-father like Bobby Bowden and a self-pleasuring blowhard like Jimmy Johnson and a despicable man like Nick Saban, and I'll go the other way. Just on general principles.
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| George Selvie (95) leads the Bulls defense. (Getty Images) |
Now then, the other side. Are there legitimate reasons to not like South Florida? Absolutely. And when I say legitimate, I don't mean the Big East argument. The Big East is neither great not terrible, which means it's about the same as this season's version of the Big Ten. A great team can come out of the Big East. South Florida looks to be that great team. Time will tell.
Likewise, when I say legitimate, I don't mean the Boise State argument. South Florida is not some cute little mid-major from a bogus league that wins against a shoddy schedule with overachieving athletes. Boise State was great last season, but Boise State was not accepted into the BCS hierarchy because the BCS hierarchy is run by people who think like Bowden and Saban, people who believe that tradition begets tradition, and that everyone else can beget the hell out.
Tradition is great, but only up to a point. That point being Nebraska or Notre Dame, two of the most traditional programs in college football -- and two of this season's worst.
That point also is South Florida -- which was the right school from the right place to come from nowhere and yet still belong as a powerhouse, not just for this season but for years to come. The state of Florida produces enough athletes to stock the programs at Florida, Florida State, Miami and South Florida. And then some. The state of Florida is so deep that every program worth its weight in booster-fat has a recruiter assigned there. Even if South Florida has been landing the Florida Gators' leftovers, a leftover from this state beats a top-line recruit from almost anywhere else.
South Florida is in such a fantastic recruiting market, and has positioned itself so well by reaching the No. 2 national ranking, and has such a good (and loyal) coach in Jim Leavitt, that the Bulls should stay among the college football elite. Unlike the occasional Boise State or Utah, South Florida isn't going anywhere.
None of that excuses South Florida from criticism, though it does dismiss the disrespectful ravings of Bowden and Johnson as uninformed wishful thinking from a pair of guys who completely lost whatever they once had. When South Florida reached the No. 6 ranking last month, Bowden said he would be "amazed" if the Bulls stayed there, and he was right -- South Florida is now four spots better. Johnson said there were a number of college teams that would beat the hell out of South Florida, and while he might be right, I would love to see Johnson take one of those jobs and try.
Unlike Bowden and Johnson, Saban's complaint about South Florida actually had substance. Saban is a liar and a bully and in general a bad guy, but he was onto something when he said the Bulls were able to get players into their program that other schools couldn't accept academically. Saban gutted his argument when he blew USF's edge completely out of proportion, but the fact remains that South Florida can accept more questionable academic risks than most BCS programs, and the fact remains that South Florida has become a safe haven for fabulously skilled players who couldn't cut it in the classroom at other places.
South Florida also has become a place where discipline has been compromised in the pursuit of victories. Leavitt gave troubled offensive stars Brian Fisher and Carlton Hill chance after chance after chance, for example. Quarterback Matt Grothe and tight end Will Bleakley have been arrested on charges of various alcohol violations and allowed to return quickly -- and, in the case of Grothe, to miss no games. That's just a glimpse of the growing list of USF players/recruits to run into off-field trouble.
That doesn't make USF different from Southern California, whose coaching staff has stuck its head so far into the sand that it has allowed criminals and thugs to run amok and which might become the first program in history to see one of its Heisman winners, Reggie Bush, return the trophy because of incredible alleged NCAA violations.
That doesn't make USF different from Florida State, where Bowden made a career out of apathy, looking the other way while his players skipped classes and accepted free gear. Just two weeks ago, Bowden suspended star linebacker Geno Hayes for a whole quarter after his arrest on charges of assaulting a cop. Hayes then came off the bench to help the Seminoles beat Nick Saban and Alabama.
That's college football. That's the top of the food chain. So what is South Florida doing in the Top 10?
South Florida is fitting in.
