USF Notches 8th Win of the Year in 4 Sets Against FGCU

There was plenty of reason to be excited as the Bulls notched their 8th win of the season (Picture: www.gousfbulls.com)

As the Bulls prepare for their first Big East game of the season, the ladies had to face FGCU in a mid-week game.  The ladies battled tough and took the match in 4 sets, running their record to 8-5 on the season with the big win.

Kayla Walton had 8 kills on the night.  Andrea Rodriguez Gomez had 8 kills and 1 dig.  Claudia Cabrera had  18 digs on the evening.  Wylie Devlin had 27 assists.  Valerie El Houssine had 7 kills and 14 digs.  Natalia Soares had 17 assists and 7 digs.  Erin Fair had 11 kills and 11 digs and Ciara Brown had 10 kills as the freshmen class continues to come up big for the Bulls early in the year, gaining a lot of experience before Big East play begins this weekend.  The Bulls face Rutgers this Saturday at 2PM on the road to get the Big East portion of the schedule, stayed tuned.

Sara Nevins Named Big East Pitcher of the Week, Again!

Sara Nevins continues to tally up the awards as the Bulls continue to rack up the wins.  Nevins, after throwing a no hitter on Saturday against Pitt and completing the sweep on Sunday, was named pitcher of the week for the 4th consecutive time, 5th time in the last 6 weeks for her as well. 

Nevins is 19-2 on the year, anchoring the rotation, and throwing heat no matter who steps to the plate.  She leads the nation with a .56 ERA and has 185 strike outs in 149 innings of work.  Nevins is one of the many reasons for the team's success as the Bulls look to make it to the postseason.

The team returns home to face St. John's on Friday for a double header starting at 2PM before finishing the 3-game series on Saturday at 1PM.  Congratulations to Nevins for just another honor, one of many, many more to come.

NOW WILL YOU GO TO SOFTBALL GAMES PLEASE

If you thought you needed some more convincing to go to softball games, consider yourself convinced. USF just traveled to #4 ranked Florida and pummeled them. They'll be awaiting a top-20 ranking next week, and they've already achieved 30 wins. Last year, Coach Ken Ericksen said they'd need 35 to make the tournament. They're five wins away from that mark now, and they still have a month and a half left in the regular season. Riding a ten-game winning streak, they're about to travel to Pitt to try and go 6-0 in the Big East.

The Bull Rush Podcast: Episode 1

After extensive planning, we are proud to present the first ever Bull Rush podcast. The USF basketball team has made a great run, and with that comes the ability to play in the post season. Me and Matt cover what is in stock for the Bulls in the next couple of days/weeks, how the rest of their season could look, and who needs to step up for USF to succeed.

One Small Step for College Football, Another Giant Leap Backwards for the Big East

Yesterday, it was announced that the United States Naval Academy is going to join the Big East in 2015. Today it became official; they're having a conference call to introduce Navy as I type this. Here are some John Marinatto quotes on the addition:

"When people look back, they will mark this as a truly historic day for the Big East Conference"

"That Navy would give up 100 yrs of football independence speaks to the long-term viability of the BIG EAST"

"We are not done yet. We will continue to be getting stronger"

USF's (Very Slim) Shot at an NCAA Tournament Appearance

By now, you've probably noticed USF's uncharacteristic success on the hardwood. The Bulls have made routine business of winning conference games that they would typically be blown out of. Their first conference game was a three point loss to then-9th ranked Connecticut, showing that the Bulls may have some life in them. Their wins, though, are the more impressive factor. USF grabbed its first-ever regular season win over Villanova in Philadelphia in blowout form, and they came home to scratch out a close win over #24 Seton Hall before obliterating St. John's, another team who has made a habit of beating the Bulls. They went away to beat down DePaul this weekend, and are now sitting on a 5-2 conference record.

Many fans are already looking ahead to watching USF in the postseason. You've probably seen my tracking of USF's season on twitter with #TheQuestFor16. But anyone who has looked at USF's conference schedule can see that the Bulls still haven't seen their real competition. The guys at V5 have made a point to tell Bulls fans to hold up a bit. They're about to travel to Top-20 ranked Marquette, and they've still got games against Syracuse, Louisville, Georgetown, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia. And it's not likely that the Bulls stay in third place in the conference for long. But the beauty of playing in a conference like this is the championship tournament, where everybody's in. You'll see a pretty unlikely, but very USF-friendly scenario after the jump.

Big East Blogger Bowl Bonanza results

As usual, it's been a wild bowl season, with as many frustrating last-minute wins as there were thrilling shootouts. Of course for us here in Tampa, there were no games that particularly jumped out to us as USF was home for the holidays. Despite the Bulls' absence, we found a way to occupy ourselves and even make a game of it. Here's a link to the final results of the picks for this year's bowl season.

Big East Blogger Bowl Picks Challenge

Since we USF fans don't have any postseason matchups to look forward to this year, I took it upon myself to keep us Bulls fans and the rest of the Big East's bloggers interested in the postseason anyway with a pool of bowl picks. This is the largest one of these we've done so far, so its turnout should put the Big East picks with just me, Matt, and Jim to shame. Here's a list of the people joining us for this challenge, listed by school affiliation:

USF - Mike, Matt, and Marc (The Bull Rush); Collin (Voodoo Five); Josh (ESPN1040)

Pitt - Bryan (Pitt Script)

West Virginia - Jim and Dwayne (HailWV)

Syracuse - Brian (Orange:44)

Cincinnati - Scott (Bearcats Blog)

As for Rutgers, Louisville, and Connecticut, I either didn't have anyone from those schools in my mailing list or they didn't get back to me.

For those of you scoring at home, here are the picks of me, Matt, and Marc, after the jump. Go ahead and make your own picks to see how you stack up.

Six USF Players Make 2nd Team All Big East

After a long season, 6 USF players were honored by being added to the 2nd team All Big East team. No Bull made it on the first team this season, but plenty did for second team. They include guard Jeremiah Warren, running back Darrell Scott, defensive end Ryne Giddins, cornerback Kayvon Webster, safety Jerrell Young, and kicker Maikon Bonani. Congratulations to these players for their efforts and being honored by the conference.

There is just one problem with these honors, where is DeDe Lattimore. Lattimore led the team with 94 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 7 sacks, one interception, 2 forced fumbles, and a fumble recovery. Yet, somehow, someway, he was left off the honor list. While the other members of the 1st and 2nd All Big East are great players, not adding Lattimore is a bit strange after the body of work he put together this season.

Another great honor goes to center Chaz Hine who was named Academic All American, second team. It is quite the honor for Hine as he becomes the 6th player in USF history to be named to the Academic All American team. Congratulations to you as well.

A Reason for Optimism Next Year

I know it's a little soon to dissect the USF football season, but I haven't posted anything in a while and I feel like I'm overdue. If you've endured through this year like a real fan, you already know that the team has definitely had its ups and downs and has shown us where they really need improvement. Fortunately, though, we also see where we can really succeed next year, and that's what this post is about.

USF MBB Takes on Georgia Southern

Heath and company are back home as they take on Georgia Southern.

The Bulls return home after losing two games on the road to ODU and Penn State. They will now try to get back on the winning track as they take on Georgia Southern (game is at 7PM, St. Pete Times Forum).

Georgia Southern, 1-2, is the underdog in this game, but will come out fighting. The Bulls could be without big man Augustus Gilchrist (shoulder) so the front line for the Bulls will be thin. Let's see who GS brings to the court.

Big East Shows us Exactly how NOT to Expand

In the past months, there has been plenty of rumors and movement of teams around the country jumping around from conference to conference. The SEC, Big XII, and ACC have all made some additions during the season, and it appears that they're all just as happy as can be. The SEC snatched up Missouri and Texas A&M from the Big XII, who filled the void with TCU and West Virginia. The ACC grabbed Big East teams Syracuse and Pittsburgh, leaving the Big East conference at the short end of the stick.

This is nothing new to the conference, though, because in 2004 the ACC poached Miami, Virginia Tech, and Boston College from the Big East. To fill the spaces left by those teams, the conference snatched up South Florida before expanding west to Louisville and Cincinnati. Read on about this horrible conference's expansion decisions after the jump.

USF MBB Drops Game to Penn State

We feel the same way Coach.

This has been a rough weekend for USF sports. The men's basketball team dropped their second straight game as they fall 49 to 53 to Penn State. USF scored only 17 points in the first half, battling Penn State the entire game. While the loss is bad, Augustus Gilchrist injured his shoulder and missed the second half. This is the worst news to hear.

USF MBB Takes on Penn State

Victor Rudd will have to come up big against Penn State today. (Picture: www.tbo.com)

The Bulls suffered their first loss of the season as they dropped an overtime decision to ODU. USF, 3-1, now takes on Penn State as they try to get back on the winning track. Penn State got rolled over by Kentucky in their last game, so they enter the game at 3-1 as well (game starts at 2PM).

USF WBB Takes on Bethune-Cookman

Caitlin Rowe (above) continues to impress early in the season (Picture: www.gousfbulls.com)

The USF ladies are 2-2 on the season after beating UNF down 76 to 41 in the last game. The Bulls got the offense going and got plenty of minutes for the bench players as Fernandez develops depth on his team. This game, he will need everyone to take what they have learned in the first 4 games of the season and put it all on the court as Bethune Cookman comes to town.

BCU is 1-0 on the season, coming off of a 74 to 52 win over Ave Maria in Daytona. BCU plays an aggressive style, led by their two outstanding guards will will put pressure on the Bulls. USF has a size advantage and should take full advantage of it.

USF WBB Takes on North Florida

Jasmine Wynee (above) will have to be at her best to beat North Florida (www.gousfbulls.com)

The Bulls, 1-2, return home after a 3-game tournament in Daytona Beach over the weekend. The first game will be played in the Recreation Center (game starts at 7PM). 

North Florida is 0-1 on the season, dropping their opener 59 to 68 to Ole Miss. North Florida runs a similar style to USF, relying on guards to get the job done and dictate the temp. The Bulls have a size advantage with Cailtin Rowe in the paint, but let's see who North Florida brings to this game.

USF Basketball Gets the Win Over Marist

USF is 2-0, please support this team!

The Bulls continue the strong start to the 2011-2012 season with a 81 to 67 win over Marist, moving them to 2-0 on the season (#Bullsnation needs to be trending already people).

USF Extends Prado

(Picture: www.gousfbulls.com)

From Greg Auman - With football and basketball in the air, why not a little baseball news. Auman reported tonight that AD Doug Woolard has extended USF baseball coach Lelo Prado for three more years, till 2014.

Sun Dome Rendering?

From Greg Auman and Voodoo 5 - The fans have been asking, where are the Sun Dome renderings? After several months of construction, USF has not released anything, until now. On the USF website, under current construction projects, a new image of the Sun Dome has emerged.

Now there are several things to note about the image and where it is coming from. This is nothing official from USF athletics, it could simply be an image they have put together specifically for the site. The site also states the project will be completed in 2011, while the Sun Dome won't be completed until mid-2012.

Aside from origins of where the image came from and how official it really is, it is something new we have never seen before. First thing that can be noticed is the center scoreboard, which was stated by athletics it would be added, so that is correct, along with the 4 video boards over the entrances. The lower bowl section is completely enclosed and there are now suites between the first and second section of seating.

The image, if true, is incredible. Athletics stated the Sun Dome would be completely different than before, even changing the entrances of the stadium, so something like this could happen and probably will happen. If so, along with the Muma Center, basketball facilities will be among the best not only in the Big East, but across the nation with. What does everyone think about it? Like it? Love it? Just want to see the Dome completed already?

Rush Through the Roster: Andrea Smith

(Picture: www.gousfbulls.com)

We continue to look at the 2011-2012 women's team as we look at the arguably the best player on the roster, Andrea Smith. The senior guard was nearly unstoppable last season, but went down in the Big East tournament with a torn ACL. She will probably miss time to start the season, but when she returns, she will own the Big East once more.