* Once again we’re hearing talk of USF needing its own, on-campus football stadium. Even UCF has one.
It would be nice. It would be cool. But it would also be a skewed priority when one of the finest facilities in the country is barely 11 miles away. Unless Frank Morsani and Jeff Vinik want to write checks to cover it all, USF is best served by aggressive, in-state recruiting and a winning program. If the Bulls do that–and build on this year’s nationally-noted turnaround–RayJay can be a rollicking place again. Starting with next year’s September home game with Florida State.
Go, Bulls.
* USF routed UCF, 44-3, on Thanksgiving night. It ended a nightmarish 0-12 season for the Knights. Two UCF fans, alone in an otherwise unoccupied upper deck of Bright House Stadium had homemade banners that said it all: “Beat Somebody” and “I’m Thankful For … The End Of This Season.” Ouch.
* The NCAA football oversight committee has a plan for matching sub-500 teams with bowls if there are not enough bowl-eligible squads to fill all 80 spots. “Bowl-eligible” means at least 6 wins. Perhaps a better perspective would be for the NCAA to look at all those bowl games and start to whittle them down for the sake of credibility. Bowls used to represent a “reward” for a successful season. That’s no longer the case when non-winning, 6-6 records–or worse–will send teams bowling.
* You know what still seems weird? Tony Dungy will deservedly be back on the Pro Football Hall of Fame ballot this year–and he was fired by the Bucs.