Top 5 Baseball Players From 2011 Season

Who is the top player from the 2011 season? Is it Randy Fontanez?

The 2011 baseball ended just a few weeks ago for the Bulls and the results were disappointing. The Bulls opened up a new stadium and had plenty of hope and aspirations of going further this season and getting into the NCAA tournament. But a 25-29 (13-14) record left them at home for the Big East tournament and the 2nd straight losing season, the first time in 30 years of the program.

Despite the losing effort this season, the Bulls had plenty of great individual players that did everything they could to help the team get wins and make it a solid season. Here are the top five players, in our eyes, from the season. [keep reading]

USF Watching 8 Florida Teams

The Bulls missed the 2011 NCAA Tournament after finishing the regular season at 25-29 and 13-14 in the Big East and surprisingly Coach Lelo Prado was retained for another season, getting full confidence from AD Doug Woolard while the fans called for a change.

An interesting statistic was brought to my attention yesterday by one of our readers, @CTbrown720. 8 teams from the state of Florida are heading to the NCAA Tournament, while the Bulls sit at home and watch. 

Florida State, Florida, Bethune-Cookman, UCF, Stetson, Jacksonville, Miami, and FIU are all getting to punch their tickets to the NCAA tournament after the official bracket was released, making the Bulls feel even worse seeing teams they played and beat this season getting into the big dance.

Prado will be back next season, but he has to get the job done. Two straight losing seasons is not acceptable for a program that has a long history of success and seeing the other teams in the state of Florida getting into the NCAA Tournament is hard to take. There are no excuses this season, especially with the new stadium, new facilities, and a solid fan base, Prado needs to get the job done.  Maybe by sitting and watching the other teams around the state get a chance at the title will energize the team and coaches and maybe they can get something accomplished.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone!

Happy Memorial Day everyone! Please enjoy the day off with all of your family and loved ones. Whether you are at a BBQ, out to the beach or lake, please party responsibly out there and don't forget to remember why we have this special day.

A huge thank you goes out to the service men and women, both current and retired, that defend our country everyday and make it possible for us to live freely and enjoy our lives (even doing blogging stuff like we do). We owe all our thanks to the services, thank you.

USF Offers 2012 Quarterback

The Bulls have been busy and have recently offered 2012 quarterback prospect Trenton Norvell out of Daytona Beach, Florida (according to Rivals.com).

Norvell, the pro-style quarterback out of Seabreeze High School measures 6'4" 215-pounds and has a huge arm that could be a big weapon for USF. He is a Marshall verbal commit at this point, but with signing day still a year away, it could be interesting to see if the Bulls can land Novell to the roster and help add some more depth to the quarterback position. (also, he is close to my home of Deland).

Norvell has a big arm and will be a name to keep an eye on as the Bulls continue to recruit around the state of Florida and try to build up the depth all over the roster.

Top 5 Softball Players From 2010

Who is the top softball player from the 2011 season?

The 2011 softball season came to a close a few weeks ago. The ladies finished an impressive season, finishing with a record of 33-21 (13-5), falling in the first round of the Big East tournament. The Bulls were a young team and many thought they would not play so well, but they proved everyone wrong and are loaded with young stars that will make them a competitor for years to come.

We will be bringing the top 5 players from the 2010-2011 season. This list reflects who we believe made the greatest impact on the field for the ladies. See if you agree with our countdown should have added someone else. [keep reading]

Welcome, Misplaced UCF Fans!

Recently we installed this application on the site's sidebar that allows us to see where the majority of our readers are accessing our site. It also allows us to see how they accessed the site, whether it be coming to the page directly, coming from a link on another page, or by searching something in Google. I'll be perfectly honest, I am absolutely fascinated with this thing. I can't look away from it or close the tab that has it.

Since I've been able to see what people are actually trying to find when they stumble across our page, I see now that many web surfers are searching "Big East Expansion" on Google or Bing (I actually don't know anyone who uses Bing, but apparently people do use it. That's right, reader in Greenville, North Carolina, I can see you searching "ECU Big East Expansion" on Bing!). Anyway, it's become more and more clear that the internet is cruel and ironic, as it has decided to bring up our site to the people who are searching "UCF Big East Expansion" on whatever search engine they are using. So for you in Orlando who came across this by Googling that very phrase (and I know you're doing it now, don't deny it), welcome! Unfortunately for you, however, I don't work for ESPN, so I am not going to tell you what you want to hear to increase my readership.

If you really have been keeping up with my take on Big East expansion, then you're quite aware by now that I am not a supporter or adding more than one Conference USA team to make the jump up to the BCS level. UCF is not that C-USA team. I'm really twisting my own arm to say that I want even one team from that conference, but if I had to choose one, I'd choose Southern Mississippi. They just seem like a more viable option right now than UCF or East Carolina or Houston. I want to make it very clear that, contrary to what many of you over in the East believe, this IS NOT an anti-UCF blog. I've got better things to do than talk about UCF. I will, however, take whatever opportunity I can to clarify that the Big East is trying to improve themselves by making additions to their league. Adding mediocre mid-level teams is not a prudent move for a conference that is trying to regain the respect of the rest of the BCS leagues in the country.

Big East Expansion: The Subject Everyone Hates to Love

Well, the Big East meetings are over, and as far as we fans are concerned, it seems like not much progress has been made. The meetings were cut a bit short as the Athletic Directors meeting adjourned early (thanks a lot, Holgorsen). So, like any good blogger, I took it upon myself to do nothing but speculate with the vague information I've gathered in the past few days.

First, I would like to emphasize what exactly the purpose of expansion is: Conferences choose colleges as targets for expansion due to the potential assets it could bring the conference. The Big East is looking for several things mostly including a large media market (by which I mean lots of money) and good football and basketball teams (money). Everything revolves around money. TV deals, bowl games, big markets, ticket sales, they all lead to cash. It's clear what the conference officials are after.

The coaches in the league generally agree that it's time to expand, but to how many? Most say 12, but are there really three other teams that are good enough to add to a BCS conference? Of course there are names like East Carolina, Central Florida, and Houston, but do they really add a significant upgrade to the conference?

It looks like I'm not the only person who thinks UCF isn't right to add to the conference right now, as UConn head basketball coach Jim Calhoun doesn't think UCF is a "sexy name right now", saying they'd be "kind of good," but not really an ultimately attractive option. I have to respectfully disagree with Calhoun in his next sentence, where he says "I don't think South Florida will care about that, having them come in so close by." Clearly Calhoun isn't a frequent visitor of The Bull Rush, or else he'd know what was wrong with that statement. It is nice to have someone whose opinion matters to the Big East share a view with those of us in Tampa who no one's listening to.

Someone tossed Army and Navy onto the stage, suggesting that they join as football-only members. Whoever suggested this didn't take into account the fact that Navy is quite happy touring the nation, seeing all the other schools and having their annual Navy-Notre Dame game televised nationally in the middle of the season. They also failed to recognize the fact that Army was a part of Conference USA as the same time that current Big East members Louisville, Cincinnati, USF, and TCU were still around, and scraped together a 13-67 record as a member. So maybe those two aren't truly viable options for football either.

So who is the right choice? Is it one of those regular choices, Houston, UCF, or East Carolina? Or is it someone who hasn't gotten enough attention, like Southern Miss or SMU? Or maybe someone else that no one has really mentioned yet? Tell us what you think in the comments.

I'm going to go on the record right now as saying that Northern Illinois is every bit as qualified to join the Big East as UCF in football standards, so take things like that into account. I seem to be the only supporter of Southern Miss joining the conference, so please, tell me why no one agrees with me. Maybe I'm wrong, but I need someone to tell me why. I also am a big proponent of trying to lure a school or two away from a BCS conference, so keep that in mind as well.

USF vs. UF Postponed

B.J. Daniels and the Bulls won't be heading to Gainesville in 2015, for now at least. (Picture:www.zimbio.com)

From Greg Auman last night -It appears that the rematch against the hated Gators has been delayed again and may not happen for some time as the 2015 match up has been postponed, again. 

AD Woolard stated that the game that was scheduled to play in 2015 is no longer on the schedule, but the Bulls and Gators are still contractually bound to each other, so the game will happen at some point.

Woolard and USF tend to schedule home-and-home non-conference games, much like they have done with FSU and Miami, the only exception being the road game against Notre Dame this season.  The Bulls are also hesitant to schedule too many games in the future with the possibility of expanding the football conference and adding more games to the schedule, limiting the number of non-conference games USF can have.

Personally, I am disappointed in this outcome.  The Gators are a tough in-state opponent and drew a huge following for the show down last season.  The game will be played at some point, but it could take several years to get the conference schedule straightened out and get each side on the same page as well.

USF Offers 2012 Quarterback

The Bulls have offered quarterback prospect Tyler Cameron (3-star prospect according to Scout.com). Cameron, the 6'3" 216-pound left-handed quarterback is a rising star and has a lot of interest in the Bulls.

The star quarterback out of Jupiter High School in Jupiter, Florida, missed the better half of his junior season due to a torn labrum in his shoulder. But before going down with the injury, Cameron had thrown for 860 yards and rushed for 600 more, showing his versatility and athletic ability (runs the 40-yard dash in 4.65 seconds).

Cameron will be graduating early from high school and will be enrolling early into college, so he is looking for the best situation for him and USF is high on his list due to the stability at quarterback the Bulls have.

Cameron has a ton of offers on the table right now and will probably get many more. Schools such as Boston College, Cincinnati, FAU, Illinois, Louisville, Marshall, Michigan State, and Rutgers have already offered, but USF remains high on the list. Cameron will probably make a visit this summer as he wants to wrap up his recruiting process soon.

USF should be a good fit for him. With Gunsby leaving the team, the Bulls have a need for another quarterback on the roster and help add talent and competition to the position after Daniels leaves in two seasons. Cameron would be a great fit and a great pick up for the Bulls if they are able to land him. Check out the footage below. The kid is very talented and should be a top target for the USF coaching staff.

Big East Football Preview: West Virginia

Now we come to the last team in the Big East to preview, and we saved the (almost) best for last. Many bloggers and poll voters have

West Virginia as the lone Big East team on their preseason top 25 ballots, and even more have them winning the Big East this season. As you can see in our top 25, many of the Big East bloggers tend to agree. Look at my ballot, though. You'll find that mine is the only one that doesn't have West Virginia as the highest-ranked Big East team. Does this mean I'm biased? Maybe. But it also means that I see USF and West Virginia in a dogfight until the very end for the Big East title, and I think USF is going to come out on top.

2010 Record: 9-4, Big East Co-Champions.

The Mountaineers had a relatively successful regular season, but were almost as disappointed as the fans in Tampa when Connecticut K Dave Teggart hit that 52-yard field goal to seal the Big East championship and send an 8-4 UConn team to get thrashed by Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl. It wasn't like they didn't have other chances to make some room for themselves, though. They followed their win over USF with the two sloppiest games they played all season, against Syracuse and Connecticut. It was that loss to UConn that kept the Mountaineers out of the Fiesta Bowl once again. They played a great game against LSU, who turned out to be a top-10 team, and against Maryland, who had their best season in recent memory. I don't know what happened at the end of the season, but not going to a BCS game must have really taken the wind out of their sails, as they got beaten down by a slightly-above average NC State team. So maybe West Virginia wasn't as good as we thought they were, and maybe they would have been beaten just as badly by Oklahoma had they gotten the ticket to a BCS game.

This coming season, the Mountaineers welcome in someone that is going to make a huge difference for the offense. Offensive Coordinator and future Head Coach Dana Holgorsen came over to Morgantown from the outrageously successful offense of Oklahoma State, and has plenty of tools to make his magic. He'll have a pretty easy time with the shot-caller as well, as QB Geno Smith has already appeared on several Heisman watch lists. I don't know if he's that good, but all that attention can't be a bad thing. They did, however, lose their two most productive offensive players in WR Jock Sanders and RB Noel Devine. Devine's vacancy has already been filled by Tavon Austin and Shawne Alston, who should each have an outstanding season on the ground, but Sanders leaves some pretty big shoes to fill. WVU will always have receivers, but Sanders's pure athleticism was what made Geno Smith look good for most of the season.

This season will be successful if: West Virginia wins the Big East. Personally, I don't think they're going to do it. There's one team standing in their way, and it's USF, the team who has had their number three of the past four years. And they're at home. All that is a recipe for a fantastic season finale at Raymond James, but the Mountaineers may have some road blocks in the way of their quest for a title. Out of conference, they take on Maryland and LSU again, which may just beat them up enough to allow Connecticut to catch them off guard. Syracuse beat them last year, there's no reason they can't do it again. Louisville is turning into the strong defensive power that Charlie Strong wanted, and they may just be a great match for Holgorsen's explosive offense. The hardest part of the schedule is going into the Backyard Brawl, which always has some physical toll on each team, and then having only six days to prepare for championship week.

2011 Record: 11-2. Like I said, I do think it will come down to the last game of the season, and they may even beat USF, but I think they also have a lot of potential to slip up with their arrangement of conference games. I think USF wins the conference this year, but I think it's going to take an undefeated conference record to do it. West Virginia is going to be excellent this year, but you have to think there's going to be some kind of drama with Bill Stewart in his last season. Remember what happened with Bobby Bowden? Florida State entered the year ranked #18 in the country, and ended up going 7-6 in Bowden's last year. They ended up being good after their coach-in-waiting took over, and I think that's what's going to happen to West Virginia. I think a second trip to the Champs Sports Bowl will be a nice consolation prize, and they'll likely meet up with (and beat) a formidable Virginia Tech team in Orlando. Better luck next year, WVU.

USF Offers 2012 Offensive Tackle

The Bulls continue to recruit outside the state, this time offering an offensive lineman/defensive lineman from Wyoming, Ohio (no I didn't get that wrong either).

6'4" 295-pound prospect Terry Davis (Wyoming High School) is a rising 3 star prospect (according to Scout.com). Davis is being recruited heavily by the local schools in that region, such as Akron, Ohio, and Cincinnati, so USF is a very unique offer for Davis and he has stated he plans to make a visit to the state of Florida this summer.

USF needs to continue to build the offensive line and the defensive line as well and Davis is a perfect fit due to his size and his athletic ability, being able to play on both sides of the ball.

Once again, USF coaching is recruiting far and wide out of the state. While Holtz wants to build his wall around the bay area and keep the local prospects in the area at USF, it is interesting that the staff has extended this far to a recruit.

Big East Spring Meetings Today, Expansion May be in the Mix

As I'm writing this, about 215 miles Northeast of here the coaches and officials of the Big East conference are discussing conference expansion among other things. You can imagine my anxiety as the fate of future conference competition may be in the hands of these coaches. Most of the coaches support expansion, but would rather move on to 12 teams instead of stay at 10. USF Coach Skip Holtz said just that:

"There's been a lot of talk about do you go from nine to 10, which I don't know how much sense that really makes, when the Big Ten left the model of 10, the Pac-10 has left the model of 10. Both of them more or less said 'This model doesn't work. Let's go to 12.' I think we have to look hard at it. Having TCU come into the league will add an awful lot of instant energy when you look at the success they've had right now as a program. It gives you a balanced schedule with four (home) and four (road). I think we need to look hard at going to 12."

As USF fans, we should be particularly concerned that we aren't getting updates on the minute, because what happens here has a huge bearing on what our future will look like. Here are some potential candidates, and what they could mean to USF after the jump.

USF Offers 2013 Wide Receiver

Now that baseball and softball seasons are in the books, football now becomes the big focus and the recruiting offers never stop. USF has offered 2013 wide receiver prospect Tramel Terry out of Goose Creek, South Carolina. It looks like Coach Holtz is going back to his old stomping grounds and looking to recruit some of the same area that did while at ECU.

Terry, the 5'11" 170-pound speedy receiver (runs the 40-yard dash in just 4.4 seconds) is starting to get a lot of attention. He already has verbal offers from Clemson, ECU (figures), Georgia, UNC, NC State, and South Carolina (big surprise there).

USF will have its hands full with competition to land this young star.Check out the video below to see some of his footage. He is very quick and elusive after the catch, showing great hands. His overall speed is dangerous and could be a big time weapon if USF was able to land him.

Big East Football Preview: Syracuse

If you've been following these posts, you may have noticed that I've been going alphabetically across the league. If you did, then you may be wondering why I'm not doing a post on South Florida today. No, I'm not doing it tomorrow when "USF" would fall between Syracuse and West Virginia. We're going to be spending the entire summer talking about USF football, so one post would be ten pages long. So, for now, you only get seven of the eight Big East teams, but trust me, it'll be worth the wait.

Today, we've got Syracuse, who is coming off their best season in a long time with an 8-5 record and their first bowl victory since 2001, both over Kansas State. Head coach Doug Marrone did a great job of turning the team around and bringing Syracuse from the bottom of the barrel to a respectable candidate in the Big East. SU beat USF for the first time in series history, and had other signature conference wins over traditional conference powers West Virginia and Cincinnati.

2010 Record: 8-5

The Orange were led mostly by their star running back Delone Carter, who accounted for a large portion of the team's stats. Their quarterback, Ryan Nassib, was "eh", playing in eight games and only throwing three touchdowns. There was a lot of experience on the field last year, as seniors graced 25 roster spots. A lot of those seniors ended up being difference makers on the field, like TE Nick Provo who was a prime target for Nassib in many tight situations. Defensively, Safety Max Suter was a major factor in keeping those Big East passing offenses in check.

The problem with all this is the fact that their best players were mostly seniors. Luckily, TE Nick Provo, OG Andrew Tiller, and CB Kevyn Scott will be returning as graduate students in 2011 and their experience will be vital for the team to succeed. Ryan Nassib will be a senior, and so will his favorite target Van Chew. Delone Carter is gone, though, so senior Antwon Bailey will have to pick up the slack as his role will likely be more important than any other on the team. Nassib is going to have to be a better passer this year, and his receivers should help him improve enough to do just that. Aside from Chew, Nassib has two other seniors in Dorian Graham and Marcus Sales who should hopefully be able to keep the stats up.

This year will be successful if: Syracuse matches last year's record. Syracuse made a huge step forward, and now it's imperative that they refrain from taking any steps back. 8-5 is a great record for a team that's spent the past 6 years with a losing record, and it would be a big deal if Doug Marrone could keep his team's heads above the water for a second straight year. The last time they had a winning record in consecutive seasons was when current Connecticut coach Paul Pasqualoni was at the top for the Orange.

2011 Record: 8-5. Syracuse has an excellent chance to go 4-1 in non-conference play, with their toughest games coming against USC and maybe Tulane. That means if they can just get above .500 in the league, they'll be in very good position for a great bowl game. With that said, I don't think they'll win four conference games (which would have been enough for a share of the Big East championship last season) this year. I do, however, see them winning a bowl game, which I project to be the Pinstripe Bowl again, this time against Baylor. As long as Rutgers or Army isn't going to be playing in that bowl, you can pretty much chalk SU into that. I think they're going to have a season almost identical to last year, and that's definitely not a bad thing.

Quick Thoughts on 2011 Baseball Season

It was another losing season for Coach Prado and there is no big change in sight.

The baseball season came to an end last night even with the Bulls beating Pitt and improving their record to 25-29 (13-14). The Bulls missed the Big East tournament for the first time under Coach Prado and now have consecutive losing seasons for the first time in 30 years. It was a painful season to watch and so many painful games to witness first hand. [keep reading]

Bulls Baseball's Season Ends in Bittersweet Fashion

The USF Baseball team entered the field knowing two things: They needed a win no matter what, and they needed a bit of help. If the Bulls got a win today, it would put them in good shape for a spot in the Big East Championship tournament as long as one of the teams ahead of them would lose.

Even if they could seal a win today, USF would need help in the form of a Seton Hall loss (vs. Georgetown), a Cincinnati loss (vs. Connecticut), or a Notre Dame loss (at Louisville).

By the way, they were giving out these sweet posters at the gate to the first 1000 fans to enter the stadium.

It was senior day, and after honoring all the graduating players, Kyle Parker got the ball to get this game started. The Seton Hall-Georgetown game was already underway. Georgetown had jumped out to a 2-0 lead by first pitch, and the Cincy and Notre Dame games were just beginning. Things looked promising for the Bulls early as Daniel Rockhold hit a 2nd inning solo home run to put USF ahead 1-0. At the same time as this, Notre Dame plated one run in the top of the 2nd to take the lead. Over in Cincinnati, the Bearcats jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third as well. Seton Hall cut Georgetown's lead in half to 2-1.

USF's lead stood until the 5th when Pitt LF John Schultz doubled to score a run, ending Parker's day. By this time, Seton Hall had taken a 3-2 lead, Notre Dame was up 2-1, and Cincy exploded for 4 runs, jumping out to a 5-2 lead. Things were not looking promising for USF. It got worse in the 7th, where Pitt tacked on another run on an RBI single by Schultz again, but the damage was minimized when a second run trying to cross the plate was gunned down by Chad Taylor. At the end of 7 it was 3-1 Pitt, 6-2 Cincinnati, 2-1 Notre Dame, and Seton Hall had won 6-3.

When the 9th came about, things looked all but over for South Florida. After Kevin Quackenbush made a throwing error in a pick-off attempt, sending the runner to third. He then struck out two more, but allowed an RBI single to increase Pitt's lead to 3-1. Cincy was up 7-2, so that game looked over, and Louisville was hanging around, but still trailing 2-1.

Then the bottom of the ninth came. Sam Mende drew a leadoff walk, followed by another walk to Daniel Rockhold. Alex Mendez ripped a single to load the bases with no outs. Todd Brazeal had a long at-bat, but closed it out with a walk to bring in a run. 3-2 Pitt, 7-3 Cincy, 2-1 Notre Dame.

Chad Taylor dribbled a ball in the infield, where Rockhold got thrown out at home, but a throwing error by the Pittsburgh catcher trying to turn a double play (which would have been USF's sixth double play of the day) sent Mendez across the plate and Brazeal to third. 3-3-in the USF-Pitt game, 7-4 Cincy, still 2-1 Notre Dame.

The Cincinnati game had just ended, 7-4, and there was one out with runners at the corners for USF. In more than one sense, this was their last chance. USF sent out Luis Llerena out to the batter box to try and get Brazeal home to walk off with a victory. The other games weren't in their minds right now. This was it. Llerena squared off to bunt, and sent a dribbler back to the mound. Pitcher Alex Caravella scrambled for the ball, losing control of it and having to dive to the ground to grab it. Brazeal raced home, but there was no play. Caravella never got a handle on the baseball, and Brazeal crossed the plate without a play. The entire USF team spilled out of the dugout and piled on Llerena at first base. The Bulls had won, the seniors were sent off with a win they'll remember forever, and the Louisville game was not yet over. There was still a chance. The score in Louisville was still the same in the bottom of the ninth. With two outs and two on base, U of L's Drew Haynes grounded out to close out the game. 2-1 Notre Dame. The Cardinals weren't too worried about the loss, as they had clinched the sixth seed in the Big East Tournament.

USF got their first win in the new stadium with a walk-off against Elon. It seemed fitting that their last win of the season would be in such dramatic fashion. There really was only one word for today's victory: bittersweet. The win was the most exciting of the season, and the suspense of watching all the other games made it that much more interesting. Now USF has tallied a losing record for the second straight season for the first time in 30 years, and AD Doug Woolard has assured us that Coach Lelo Prado will indeed be returning next year. So, it looks like at least for the next few years this fantastic baseball stadium will be hosted by a mediocre team.

At least we have football.

Big East Football Preview: Rutgers

Last season, Rutgers took the place previously held by Syracuse and Louisville as the bottomfeeder of the Big East Conference. Only one year after having a great regular season and pounding UCF in the Beef O'Brady's Bowl, the Scarlet Knights failed to even make a bowl game, finishing 4-8 with 7 of their games on the season decided by 5 points or less. It's easy to say that given a few changes here and there, Rutgers was on the edge of 8-4 season if all those close games went their way, but they just as easily could have been 1-8.

2010 Record: 4-8. There's no other way to say it, Rutgers was bad. They had so many troubles with coaching and with the quarterback position that it looked like the season never really started for them. The Scarlet Knights ended up being led by freshman QB Chas Dodd for most of the season, with some help from sophomore WR/Return man Mohamed Sanu accumulating most of the stats. It looked like a rebuilding season all year, but they didn't seem to be building toward anything. The final whistle at the West Virginia season closer couldn't come soon enough, as Rutgers closed the season on a 6-game losing streak.

This season will be successful if: Greg Schiano doesn't get fired before the end. Schiano made this team what it is today, a respected team in a BCS conference with some signature bowl wins. The people in New Brunswick are surely grateful for that. The problem is that Schiano does have a 59-63 overall record in his time at Rutgers, and if he fails to get a winning record for a second consecutive year, it may be the end of his time in Piscataway.

2011 Record: 3-9. I don't even see Rutgers winning any of their conference games this year. They may have a chance at Connecticut, but that's even a longshot. Their best chance comes against their non-conference schedule, where they play an FCS team before taking on North Carolina and Ohio, then their annual games against Army and Navy. They'll need to win all those games if they want to prove to the rest of the conference that they deserve to be there. The Scarlet Knights will likely be looking for a new coach sometime soon unless they can surprise us all with a quick turnaround.

USF Offers 2012 Athlete

Isn't recruiting news always fun? The USF coaching staff is always on the job and recently offered 2012 prospect Marcus Allen.

The 6'2" 210-pound athlete out of Hilliard, Florida is a fast rising star that is getting a lot of attention and a lot of offers as well. He is very versatile, playing on both offense and defense, using his 4.58 in the 40 yard dash speed to make big plays happen. He plays a lot at linebacker for Hilliard High School and could make the transition easily at the college level.

A lot of programs have offered, including Boston College, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, Syracuse, Tennessee, UCF (of course), and Vanderbilt. USF will have to put on a show to win him over, but USF is in good standing and could beat out these other programs if the coaching staff makes a strong impact like they seem to do every time they meet a young player.

Check out some of Allen's high school footage. He could be a great pick up for the Bulls.

Bulls Baseball Wins Game, Loses Control of Destiny

USF went into tonight's game vs. Pitt with one thing on their minds: If we lose tonight, we may as well not show up tomorrow.

With that out there, the Bulls took the field, led by starting pitcher Kyle Eastham, and got to work on keeping Pitt from grinding them out of contention for the Big East tournament. Coach Lelo Prado knew he needed Eastham to keep his game together long enough for the offense to start producing. What he got was a gem, possibly Eastham's best outing of his career. Eastham went through a streak where he retired 16 straight Pitt batters before getting struck with a comebacker on that 17th batter. He got the out, retiring his 17th straight, but was a bit shaken up. He proceeded to walk the next batter before allowing a two-run home run to David Chester. That turned out to be Pitt's only offensive damage of the night, however, as Eastham finished his outing with 7 innings pitched and only two earned runs on three hits. Junior Carlin closed out the game, allowing just one hit in the closing two innings.

Carlin also got a chance to add some insurance runs for himself. After closing out a perfect 8th inning, he slapped a 2-run single to right field to increase the Bulls' lead to 7-2. Alex Mendez hit a two-run homer, the second of his career. Jonahan Koscso was the most productive of the batters, going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

As of now, South Florida is on the outside looking in, as they need to match the amount of wins by Seton Hall this weekend. Currently, Seton Hall has two wins over Georgetown, with the season closer tomorrow. USF plays at 1, but Seton Hall's first pitch is at 12:00. It goes without saying that I'll be watching the Seton Hall-Georgetown game on my phone at the stadium tomorrow afternoon. I think I speak for all of us here in Tampa when I say no one is a bigger Georgetown Hoyas fan than this guy.

So for tomorrow only, LET'S GO HOYAS!

Big East Football Preview: Pittsburgh

As the almost consensus preseason favorite last season, fans and fellow Big East-ers (except probably West Virginia) alike were understandably disappointed that the Panthers didn't live up to what many projected them to do. Pitt's unusual season ended with a series of events that led to the firing, hiring, firing, and hiring at the head coaching position. Out of the teams in the conference, Pitt has probably lost the most stars from last year, whether it was to graduation or to the draft. This year, with new head coach Todd Graham on the sidelines and a significantly less experienced team, the Pittsburgh Panthers may be in store for a pretty tough season.

2010 Record: 8-5, Big East Co-champions

As the season was winding down, Pitt lost to Connecticut and West Virginia, thus losing sight of an outright Big East championship. The Panthers athletic staff was clearly tired of perennial mediocrity and fired coach Dave Wannstedt. In their down time between the end of the regular season and their BBVA Compass Bowl game against Kentucky, Pitt hired, then fired Miami (Ohio) coach Mike Haywood. Interim coach Phil Bennett, previously the defensive coordinator for the team, led the Panthers to a resounding 17-point victory in their bowl game before Pitt's AD decided to head down to Tulsa to pick up Todd Graham to lead the program. Graham will unfortunately be without a good amount of the talent of last year's team, as many of the team's most important players went to the draft this past season. Perhaps the biggest hole left for the team is on the defensive line, where Pitt's Greg Romeus, Jabaal Sheard, and Brandon Lindsey have all graduated and moved on. They also had their two most productive offensive players drafted in Dion Lewis (Eagles) and Jonathan Baldwin (Chiefs). Needless to say, there will be no shortage of growing pains for Pitt this year, and it may turn out to be a year where Pitt just fast forwards to basketball season.

The good news is that Pitt doesn't start with the hard schedule until Week 3. They open with Buffalo and Maine before traveling to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes, then to Notre Dame, then to USF. That three-game stretch may be the hardest out of the entire Big East (except maybe USF's, who plays Miami, Louisville, and West Virginia consecutively to close out the season). That rough part in the early half of the schedule combined with a new coaching squad and the losses of their top players could all be a recipe for a long rebuilding year for Todd Graham.

This season will be successful if: Pitt can win 8 games again. Last year, Pittsburgh won 8 games and it was unsatisfactory for Wannstedt's bosses' standards (actually, Wannstedt only won 7 games). This year, in a rebuilding season with a new coach and new blood on the field, 8 wins should satisfy the fans and the people upstairs. But with Iowa, Notre Dame, and Utah on the non-conference schedule, they may just have to wait until the bowl game to get that 8th victory.

2011 Record: 7-6. I have a seriously hard time believing that with a new staff and the losses they endured that Pitt can beat any of those BCS (and Notre Dame) opponents. What's going to be even harder is playing USF and West Virginia. If all goes the way I plan, that's five losses already. Add one more fluke loss to Syracuse or Louisville, and you've got a team that will be lucky to make a bowl game. I think they'll have a 6-6 regular season, but their team and coaches are too good to lose a bowl game to another 6-6 team. Much like Louisville last year, they'll probably get matched up against an average-to-pretty good mid-major team and get over the .500 mark there. Allow this as speculation only, but I do think Tulsa might win C-USA West and see Todd Graham in the 2012 Beef O'Brady's Bowl.

USF Falls 6 to 5 to Pitt

Randy Fontanez had a bad outing and now the Bulls post season dreams are all but gone.

With Seton Hall getting a win over Georgetown, the Bulls needed to beat Pitt to have more control of their post season destiny, but Randy Fontanez struggled and the Bulls fell to Pitt 6 to 5.

Fontanez did not have his best game, going 6.2 innings, giving up 10 hits, 6 runs, striking out 4, and walking just 1. He falls to 5-6 on the season in what could be his last start as a Bull. Zach Pietrzyk went 1.1 innings in relief, giving up 1 hit and striking out 1. Kevin Quackenbush pitched a perfect 9th again, striking out 2 batters.

The offense did all they could, but could not score enough for the struggling Fontanez. Jonathan Koscso was 2 for 5 with an RBI as he career comes to a close at USF. Sam Mende was 3 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI on the night. James Ramsay continues to swing well after being moved up in the batting order. He went 1 for 4 with a home run and 2 RBI. Yet, despite the nice output, it wasn't enough as the Bulls fell to Pitt and are now looking at a long summer at home.

The loss puts USF at 23-29 (11-14) on the year and are now a full game behind Seton Hall for the 8th and final spot in the Big East Tournament which means the Bulls now need some help to get into the tournament. The Bulls must first win both games against Pitt which I am not sure they can even do that now. Game two is tonight at 7 PM, so get to the stadium and cheer them on as they hope, pray, and look for a miracle tonight. The Bulls have to win both games, starting tonight, and Seton Hall has to lose both games for the Bulls to get in, so pray they handle business tonight and hope that Seton Hall goes down as well.

Slim Chance Storm Johnson Comes to USF

Chances are lower than slim running back Storm Johnson comes to USF. (Picture:www.scout.com)

University of Miami redshirt freshman running back Storm Johnson is set to transfer out of Miami, making him the 5th player to leave Al Golden and the Canes program this season. It is not surprising to see multiple players leave a team when a new coach enters, but with Storm and his talent level, all eyes are on him now to see where he will transfer to.

The 6'1" 211-pound running back out of Loganville, Georgia was a redshirt freshman last season for the Canes (former 4-star recruit as well). His biggest play during the season was a 71-yard touchdown run against USF, a game USF won of course. Johnson finished the season with just 9 carries for 115 yards and that lone touchdown. Coming out of the Spring, Storm was listed as the 3rd running back on the depth chart, putting the odds against him for getting on the field this season.

So where will Storm Johnson go? This is sort of a mystery at the moment, but immediately USF fans have begun to wonder if Tampa could be a possible landing spot for him (we are still smiling after landing Chris Dunkley of course). The truth is, the chances of Storm coming to Tampa are slim to none at this stage.

The Bulls have several running backs on the depth chart and are still in the hunt for Mike Blakely, the transferring running back out Florida. Plus, it is very rare that a team would grant a transfer to a school they are competing against. USF is going to be facing Miami the next 3 seasons, so it is very unlikely that Storm even steps foot in Tampa.

USF Offers 2012 Defensive End

USF continues to recruit outside the state of Florida (guess Holtz is building his fence even wider than we thought before). [Just a side note as well, this is our 400th post, yes, we have posted 400 stories since the start of the year and it is not even football season, wow oh wow, thank you to our supporters who have been reading since day one and the new readers we get everyday).

The Bulls have offered JaMichael Winston a weakside defensive end out of Prichard, Alabama (from Vigor High School).

The 6'5" 230-pound defender missed his junior season, but has returned healthy and the offers are pouring in for him. Winston holds at least 11 verbal offers, including Louisville, Syracuse, Southern Mississippi, Mississippi State, Arkansas, and now USF. Below is game footage for Winston. He is very quick off the line and aggressive, tackling well and wrapping up the ball carrier. USF will be in tough competition for the young player, but according to Scout.com, he will make a visit to USF soon.

USF Hosts Pittsburgh

The Bulls face Pittsburgh in the final series of the regular season with the fate of the season riding on every game.

The Bulls, 23-28 (11-13) play the final regular season games starting tonight and what could be the last games of the season. USF has had a rough season and will probably end the year with a losing record, the first time in 30 years the Bulls have had consecutive losing seasons. Yet, despite the woeful season, the Bulls have a heart beat left and an outside shot of keeping the season alive and reaching the Big East tournament, but the Pitt Panthers, the final opponent of the regular season, stand in their way.

Pitt enters the game with a 31-19 record (15-9) and an 8-9 record on the road (hurrah, they aren't so powerful on the road, at least according to the record). [keep reading]

Catching Up on the 2012 Recruiting Trail

USF has been busy offering 2012 prospects, let's try to get caught up on some of the news offers and potential landing spots for these players.

Defensive tackle Earl Moore, the 6'2" 250-pound monster out of Hillsborough High School (right here in Tampa) is one of the fastest rising names out there. Moore already has offers from programs such as UF, FSU, Miami, UNC, South Carolina, Southern California (great, Lame Kiffin is recruiting in the Tampa area) and now USF.

USF needs some playmakers up front where the defensive line is thin right now. Young players luke Todd Chandler and incoming freshman Elkino Watson give USF depth, but the need for pass rushers and run stoppers are always a need and it seems the Bulls are targeting a top player, but competition for him will be tough.

Defensive Eric Lee, a weakside defensive end is another target. The 6'3" 226-pound playmaker out of Daphe, Alabama is starting to attract a lot of attention.

Programs such as FIU, Kentucky, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Missouri, Southern Mississippi, Troy, Tulane, and Western Kentucky have already offered him. USF joins a long list of programs hoping to win his talents and add more pass rushing ability to a talented defensive unit.

The Bulls are also active in the state of Florida as well, trying to keep local talent near and continue to recruit the top athletes in the state.

The Bulls have offered weakside defensive end Daniel Perry out of Fort Lauderdale (University School). The 6'7" 212-pound athlete fits more to a linebacker than defensive end at the next level, but has a long frame and excellent burst off the line.

A mixture of schools have offered him, including Buffalo (Bulls), Western Michigan, USF, and Oregon. Yes, it looks like Chip Kelly made some offers while he was touring around the sunshine state.


The Bulls have also offered defensive tackle Pat Gamble (6'5" 275-pounds) out of Carrollton, Georgia.  The big playmaker out of Central High School already has verbal offers from Boston College, Georgia, Georgira Tech, Illinois, Mississippi State, Purdue, Southern Mississippi, Stanford (wow), Virginia, and now USF.  So the competition is rough, but reports are he wants to make a visit to USF soon.

The final offer to note is to offensive lineman Robert Conyers (Scout.com). The 6'5" 280-pound lineman out of Miami (G. Holmes Braddock High School, quite the name there). Conyers is fast rising name that is starting to attract a lot of attention so far. He has offers from FAU, Illinois, Marshall, Memphis, Rutgers, and Wake Forest.

Big East Football Preview: Louisville

Let's continue down our path of Big East football teams today with Louisville. In new head coach Charlie Strong's first year, the Cardinals finished 7-6 with a win over their old Conference-USA rival, Southern Mississippi. Since then, Strong has hit the recruiting trail hard and has been pulling some major commitments from some of the top high school players in the nation.

2010 Record: 7-6

Much of Louisville's quick turnaround can be credited to the defensive play that Charlie Strong brought from his days as defensive coordinator at Florida. Offensively, Louisville was consistent, but nothing really stood out. Led by QB Adam Froman and RB Bilal Powell, Louisville didn't have too hard of a time putting points on the board, and four of their five losses were within a touchdown, including their overtime loss to USF, which was a thriller up until the very end. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, those two star players that led the team to their success have now left. Powell got drafted by the Jets (yay!) and Froman is waiting for the lockout to subside. As of now, the season appears unclear for Louisville, as their passing game may very well rest on the shoulders of freshman Teddy Bridgewater is junior Will Stein can't produce. Their non-conference schedule is manageable, but they'll have a rough time getting prepared for conference play afterward. FIU is their first FBS opponent, and they shouldn't be taken lightly. After that, they travel across the state to rival Kentucky, and they close out their non-conference schedule with North Carolina. They also have to play away from home against two of the three toughest teams in the conference.

This year will be successful if: Louisville can get above .500 in conference play. They'll get a good shot at that, with likely chances at victories over Cincinnati and Rutgers to open their conference schedule. I consider their games against Syracuse and Pittsburgh both toss-ups. I don't see them beating West Virginia, and they'll have a lot of trouble with USF. If they can win one of those toss-up games, they can finish with a 4-3 conference record and a good standing going into the postseason.

2011 Record: 8-5. I think they'll get those four Big East wins, and win four of their five non-conference games. As long as they can get one of those two BCS wins, Louisville will be on their way to a decent bowl game with an 8-4 record, but I think their lack of seniority will cost them the bowl win. An 8-5 season is an improvement on last year, and I'd consider that a success at this point in Louisville's building process.

USF Wins 4 to 1 Over UNF

Matt Reed pitched well for the Bulls, picking up his 5th win of the year. (Picture:www.gousfbulls.com)

The Bulls were able to get a nice win last night with a 4 to 1 victory over UNF. USF is now 23-28 on the season (11-13) in Big East play. They finish the regular season non-conference schedule with a record of 112-15 and now turn all their attention to the upcoming series vs. Pittsburgh starting on Thursday night.

Matt Reed did an excellent job on the mound, going 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 1 runs, walking 3 and striking out 4. He picks up the win to improve his record to 5-4 on the season. Nick Gonzalez pitched well in relief after struggling for the majority of the season and getting roughed up at times. He went 2 scoreless innings, giving up just 2 hits and striking out 2. Kevin Quackenbush was the hammer at the end of the game, going 1 inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out 2 to pick up his 12th save on the season.

The offense got the job done. Junior Carlin was 1 for 4 with an RBI. James Ramsay was 2 for 4 as he continues to pick up his game after being moved up in the batting order (great sign to see from a freshman). Todd Brazeal was 1 for 3 with an RBI but struck out twice (not the best sign, patience Todd).

This was a nice win for the Bulls as they now focus on Pittsburgh. This series against them is their season. The Bulls will need to win every game and hope Seton Hall stumbles as well for them to have a shot of making the Big East tournament. The Bulls will need your help, so come to the baseball stadium starting Thursday night and cheer them on as they hope they can keep their season alive.

Big East Football Preview: Connecticut

First, I want to apologize for a mistake in yesterday's article about Cincinnati, as I accidentally confused head football coach Butch Jones' name with that of Butch Davis, who is the football coach at North Carolina. My bad, but com

e on, I can't be the first guy to cross those two names.

Anyway, now on to the important stuff: football. Yesterday, I suggested that Cincy would break out of the bottom of the league this year to make a success out of many of their star players' senior seasons. Today, I'm not so optimistic about UConn. Last year was what made me suggest that the BCS committee and other BCS leagues ought to have veto power to prevent games like last year's Fiesta Bowl (although I bet Oklahoma would have voted to keep them in). The worst feeling I experienced all of last season wasn't throwing away the game in the second half at Florida or watching Storm Johnson's 71 yard run to tie the game in Miami, it was the last few minutes of the regular season finale against Connecticut, where we could have done our part to send a 9-3 West Virginia team to a BCS bowl (they later lost to NC State, but that's neither here or there), but couldn't convert on consecutive goal line plays or keep them out of field goal range, thus making us partly responsible for sending one of the worst teams in BCS history to a Big East championship.

2010 Record: 8-5, Big East BCS representative

This year, the Huskies are going to be experiencing a lot of growing pains, as they saw the coach who just led them to their first BCS game abandon the team for a vacancy at Maryland. Two weeks later, a familiar face came into the picture, as former Syracuse coach and Connecticut native Paul Pasqualoni took over in Storrs. In addition to their coach bailing on them, the Huskies will also have to deal with the loss of their most important player, Jordan Todman. UConn struggled all season in the passing game, so most of the work was left up to Todman and then-senior FB Anthony Sherman. This year, they won't have that luxury as they will have to work with all-new running backs and a battle for quarterback led by a senior who no one would even know if not for his Youtube fame. To be perfectly honest, I believe that K Dave Teggart is the best player on this football team. If the offense can just get him on the field, he'll make sure the Huskies are always alive.

This season will be successful if: UConn has a .500 record at the end of the season. There aren't very high expectations for this team, and I think their non-conference schedule may be the easiest of all the Big East teams this season. If they can beat their non-BCS opponents (they lost to Temple last year, who ended up not even going to a bowl game), then they should have enough room to make their other non-conference games watchable. In conference, they'll likely struggle in their first year under Pasqualoni, but a bowl game may still be in their sights.

2011 Record: 5-7. The Huskies will miss a bowl game this year, finding it hard to get on their feet right out of the gate. They begin the year with an FCS team, but then have to travel to Vanderbilt before coming home and playing Iowa State. unless they can win both of those games, it'll be hard to see them getting on their feet. They'll have a little time to make up for it with two non-BCS teams coming up, but they open their Big East schedule with games against West Virginia, USF, and Pittsburgh, arguably the three strongest teams in the league. They can probably salvage one conference victory against Rutgers, and maybe another if they play well against Syracuse or Louisville, but this is looking like a few transition years ahead of the Huskies.

Final Thoughts on Anthony Crater

It could be a long season for Coach Heath in 2011.

News broke last night that senior point guard Anthony Crater has been dismissed from the program for violating team rules and failing to reach program standards, this according to Coach Heath.

The rumor is (from multiple sources) Crater failed a drug test, which would be his third failed test during his career at USF. If this is true, then Heath made the right move by dismissing him.

Crater has failed two prior drug tests and was suspended at the start of last season for 6 games for a "violation of team rules." So it appears the young man has had a history and it finally caught up to him and now the Bulls are without a senior point guard who started nearly every game for the Bulls.

I have been hard on Crater since day one and throughout the season. I forever questioned his ability to run the offense (the guy had tunnel vision) and his inability to shoot the ball (ever seen a player have open shots and simply look the other way? Reminds me of Capko). Yet, despite all the laughter and judgment (now I can't sell Crater Time t-shirts), the Bulls are going to be in big time trouble next season, even more than originally.

The Bulls are now left without a starting point guard, something that would kill an ordinary team, but for the Bulls playing in the Big East, this is even worst. As much as we questioned and yelled watching Crater play the point, he had experience. Now the Bulls have no one with starting experience. LaVonte Dority got a few minutes here and there last season, but never started a game and didn't look that great in his limited time on the floor. Anthony Collins seems like a talented player, but will be an incoming freshman, there is no way Heath throws him out there. That leaves Blake Nash, the JUCO freshman All-American. Nash is a gifted player, both running the offense and shooting the ball, but will he be able to adjust to the Big East and the pace change coming out of the JUCO level? That is a major change and it will be hard for him to hit the ground running and learn on the fly in the toughest basketball conference out there.

The 2011-2012 season was already looking rough for the Bulls. After a bad season, faith in Heath and the team is very low, add in an unfinished Sun Dome that could leave the Bulls almost homeless for most of the season, it was not looking like a great start, now they will have to deal with the loss of a starting senior point guard. Good luck to Coach Heath, this could be a very long season for him and it is only May.

USF Baseball Hosts UNF Tonight

Coach Prado and his team are falling flat at the worst time.

The USF baseball team had a rough weekend, being swept by Notre Dame and seeing their chances to making the Big East Tournament begin to slip away. Tonight (first pitch is scheduled for 7 PM) the Bulls, 22-28 (11-13) host UNF, 25-25, in the final non-conference game of the season.

The Bulls lost 3 straight games to Notre Dame after the weekend and are hoping they can get better pitching and better hitting this time when they face a solid UNF squad that has split the series with USF 2 games a piece in their history.

UNF is led by Alex Bacon who is hitting .367 on the season with 9 homeruns and 40 RBI. The USF pitching staff will have to work hard to keep the pitches low and not allow him and the other great hitters of UNF to get long balls sailing out of the stadium. Watch out for Andrew Karmens who is hitting .351 on the season with 10 homeruns and 38 RBI. Shane Kennedy is hitting .338 with 2 homeruns and 23 RBI and Kyle Dahl is hitting .328 with 6 homeruns and 31 RBI. UNF has multiple players that hit over .300 (USF has just one, Koscso) and most of their players have at least one homerun on the season, so they can score runs. They are 12-12 on the road this season, while USF is just 13-11 at home, so this is going to be a wild game for the Bulls that need a win to rebuild their confidence before they host Pitt this weekend in what could be the end of the season for them.

Please come out to support the Bulls tonight. Weather is going to be great and tickets are only $6 (free for students as well). The Bulls are having a rough time and could use the support of the home crowd behind them as they try for one last shot at making the Big East Tournament.

Anthony Crater Dismissed from Program

It looks like there won't be any Crater time this season.

From Adam Adkins - The Bulls will enter the 2011-2012 season with one less player on the starting roster. Senior point guard Anthony Crater has been dismissed from the team. This is according to Coach Stan Heath who specified Crater was "unable to meet program standards and made some mistakes."

The 6'1" 170-pound point guard who originally transferred from Ohio State was the leading point guard for the Bulls last season. Crater played in 30 of 33 games, leading the team in assists with 4.6 a game. He only averaged 3.9 points per game and 2.3 rebounds per game, but his biggest highlight was the game winning bucket against Villanova in the first round of the Big East tournament.

Now, if you are a frequent reader of Bull Rush, then you will know we have "love" for Crater. He has been the topic of great debate on the site from his inability to run the offense to his fear of shooting the ball. As much as we have laid into him, it is sort of sad to see him go like this and it hurts the team as well.

The Bulls have no experienced guard currently on the roster to take over the team and lead the offense. Incoming JUCO star Blake Nash will probably be able to win the job. Anthony Collins, the prep star will be a freshman and LaVonte Dority, the sophomore guard, will battle for playing time.

We are sad to see Crater go like this, hopefully everything will work out for him in the future and good luck to the Bulls who now have to find a point guard.