Bulls are Ranked!
(September 17, 2007)

AP Top 25

September 16, 2007

1. Southern California

2. Louisiana State

3. Florida

4. Oklahoma

5. West Virginia

6. California

7. Texas

8. Ohio State

9. Wisconsin

10. Penn State

11. Rutgers

12. South Carolina

13. Oregon

14. Boston College

15. Clemson

16. Alabama

17. Virginia Tech

18. Louisville

19. Hawaii

20. Texas A&M

21. Kentucky

22. Georgia

23. South Florida

24. Nebraska

25. Missouri

When USF won at then seventeenth ranked Auburn, a game that kept Bulls fans glued to their televisions until almost one o'clock in the morning, most felt that another honor was a forgone conclusion. Surely, for the first time in school history, the South Florida Bulls would be ranked. When the polls were released that Sunday afternoon, the team just missed the top 25. USF was 26th in the Associated Press media poll and 27th in the USA Today coaches poll.

It would take another week, a bye week for the Bulls, for USF to set another milestone. Yesterday, the AP poll had USF 23rd and the USA Today poll has them 24th. Another first for the Bulls!

Players comments included Matt Grothe saying, "Its only the beginning. Top 25, top 20, top 10, we have a long year ahead of us." Mike Ford took a different stance, "They ain't nothing but numbers." Jim Leavitt released the statement you would expect, "It is nice and we certainly appreciate the ranking, but we have to put all our focus on North Carolina and that game this weekend."

The Bulls run has been impressive and has almost every college considering adding a football program talking about the South Florida model. From the first game ten years ago, to being a ranked I-AA team in its second season, to finishing 9-2 as an I-A independent, joining a BCS conference, to a bowl game in just nine years and the bowl victory in year ten.

Now, ranked in year eleven. What is next for the Bulls?