Can't Believe My Eyes

I went to New College at the University of South Florida in the early 1990's. While I really enjoyed my time there, USF didn't have a football team, so we hit the USF basketball games and a few NHL games as well to get our sports fix. I was happy as a clam when I got to to Florida State as I could watch all the football I wanted (and we were pretty good back then - won the National Championship in 1993 and 1996,a nd again in '99). But I went back to New College and back to a school where I watched FSU play each Fall weekend.

So, you can imagine my surprise when in 1997 USF decided to join the big boys and play Division I football in the NCAA. At first I kinda laughed at the idea, but supported them in their quest. Then, we moved away, found a second football home (University of Texas), had plenty of football to watch on those Fall weekends, and ultimately forgot about the new football team at USF. So imagine my surprise when I saw USF creeping up the rankings, their program still considered to be in it's infancy, towards the top of the Div I football polls this season. They keep winning games, and they aren't playing South Dakota's School for the football impaired (apologies to thse in South Dakota and especially to those who are football impaired - no offense intended), they are playing schools like Auburn and West Virginia, who happened to be ranked in the top 10 when he Bulls beat the snot out of them. Anyway, it was a delightful thing to watch, but I figured it wouldn't last. How wrong could I be...and out came the first BCS rankings of the season and look who is sitting at #2:

Bowl Champ. Series
1. Ohio State
2. South Florida
3. Boston College
4. LSU
5. Oklahoma
6. South Carolina
7. Kentucky
8. Arizona State
9. West Virginia
10. Oregon
11. Virginia Tech
12. California
13. Kansas
14. USC
15. Florida
16. Missouri
17. Auburn
18. Hawaii
19. Virginia
20. Georgia
21. Tennessee
22. Texas
23. Cincinnati
24. Texas Tech
25. Michigan

So the Bulls are at #2, and the Seminoles are not...on...the...poll. Yeah,not so unexpected after the way they are playing. UT is sitting at #22, and that's after two not so fun to watch losses (and hopefully no more). The Bulls are #2 after only 12 short years of having a team in the division at all. Man, now that's impressive. So now I guess I have three teams to watch every weekend. Go Bulls! You are more than just a basketballl team to me now!

* And boo hiss to all those who read this and call me a fair weather fan. I'm still a rabid FSU fan even though they are out of the polls, and will hang my hopes on UT even though they have slid down to the bottom of the top 25. If you need more proof, I was a Dallas Cowboys fan in the 70's, 80's 90's, and even today. So, no. I'm not a fair weather fan - just had my eyes opened to the Bulls for the first time this season!