Stadium and conference realignment posts are mostly entertaining, but fellas, it's football season. I wanna read what bullpride hopes to see tomorrow night from our USF Bulls. What will make you even more excited about this team and coaching staff? What are some key elements that will make us all see some progress? And Dave, what are you looking for in the offense this week? You were a little nervous about special teams after last week. What do you want to see to feel better about those units? And Kelly, it's the home opener. What recruits will we see at the game? Feel free to chime in on visitors, current commits and other salacious recruiting tidbits. C'mon gang, we're in season now. We have to step up our team talk and step away from conference realignment hand wringing.

Normal

And Russ, ATO and I are always open to hearing about any recruiting rumors emanating from the basketball facility and/or when you plan to visit the facility to spy on practice(s) in the coming weeks. Thanks!

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TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 8, 2023) – The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) today voted in favor of the financing plan for the University of South Florida’s new on-campus stadium, signaling state-level support for the transformational facility scheduled to open in fall 2026.



USF Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford and USF President Rhea Law presented the BOG with their vision for a 35,000-seat stadium by detailing how the project will positively impact the university community and broader Tampa Bay region as it hosts USF football and women’s lacrosse, as well as concerts and other events. The stadium will provide an opportunity to enhance campus culture, serve as a powerful recruiting tool and raise USF’s overall profile.



“Bulls Nation deserves to have a stadium on USF’s campus. Our time has come. Our 50,000 students, our alumni, faculty, staff, and our greater community all deserve the benefits that come with a stadium on our campus,” Weatherford said. “The stadium will be a rallying point that brings people together and helps connect and inspire generations of Bulls fans far and wide.”



The proposal approved by the BOG is for a stadium estimated to cost approximately $340 million. The USF Financing Corp. will issue a debt of up to $200 million that the university will repay from several sources, including operating revenues from the stadium and other revenues generated by USF Athletics. USF has also identified the other funding sources on the project, including capital gifts ($50 million, of which nearly $40 million is already raised); the Capital Improvement Trust Fund ($31 million); contingent cash contribution from the sale of educational broadband service licenses ($25 million); administrative overhead from auxiliary expenditures ($15 million); auxiliary funds ($11.5 million); and proceeds from a 2017 Federal Communications Commission auction ($8 million).



“An on-campus stadium will lift the University of South Florida to new heights, creating a brighter future for our university, our students and the entire Tampa Bay region,” Law said. “We are grateful for the support of the Board of Governors as we move forward with our plans for a transformational stadium that will take our university to the next level.”



Approval from the BOG follows yesterday’s announcementthat USF received a $25 million gift from Tampa General Hospital to name the Center for Athletic Excellence, an operations facility that will be included as part of USF’s new on-campus stadium project and will feature dedicated clinical space for TGH. The gift will also name the university’s athletics district.



The stadium will be built on the east side of the Tampa campus on a site known as Sycamore Fields, providing synergy with the ongoing expansion of the athletics district and in close proximity to residence halls and other student facilities.



More information about the on-campus stadium is available here.

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Going to be spending some cash

FSU renovation

Great read and worth a few mins of your time.

Sort of.

South Florida Coordinators Todd Orlando and Joel Gordon talk about WKU and answer one question about FAMU.

VIDEO
I would not be surprised if the coordinators media avails are canceled. Very poor turnout. Just 3 people who don't work for USF: Leo (guy who often has insufferable questions), student from the Oracle (he rarely asks the coaches questions but will ask players questions) and me.

Ranked UF #1 as they have magic textbooks. FIU and Miami in top 100. FSU is 102.

Guess AAU doesn't matter to them

https://www.tampabay.com/sports/bul...ons/?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true



In Thursday’s meticulously orchestrated meeting, he introduced all 10 assistants, each of whom spoke briefly with a screen shot of their families in the background. Scott then noted that collectively, the assistants had coaching opportunities at other schools including Miami, Oregon, Ole Miss and Clemson.

But like Scott (courted seriously by at least one Power Five and one Group of Five school in December), all chose USF.

“Every one of you in this room, you’re my players,” Scott said. “I’m your coach.”



“We’re gonna work harder than you’ve ever worked in your entire life playing football,” Scott said. “But you’re gonna have more fun than you’ve ever had at any level.”

For some, the work comes immediately.

Scott ordered 200 “floors” of StairMaster work for those Bulls who didn’t inform him they’d be absent from Thursday’s meeting. For those not wishing to adhere to his demands and philosophy, Scott said he’d assist them in entering the NCAA transfer portal, but cautioned them it’s a one-way door.

“Those that stay,” Scott said, “will be champions.”

I’ll just leave this here in case you need some good reading

SMU’s Pursuit of P5

Personally, I would have saved the PAC or bought my way into the SEC or Big1G. I’m thinking the ACC showed how desperate they are to keep FSU et al that they took the scraps from the new 3 just to buy a little time.

What could have been if you had guts to get it finalized

That Buffs team would run wild in the AAC

I’ll eventually let it go

Great to see the biggest horses ass in college football have his ass handed to him by the Noles. Brian Kelly is a jerk of the first water. I think this year will show Kelly is not worthy enough to be an SEC coach. You can't treat everyone like dirt and expect to be successful in the long run. Kelly started out humble and coached well. But success went to his head and he lost perspective. I've had my fill of Brian Kelly.

Mike Norvell was a monster hire by FSU. In a very narrow window he has put together a team that could be in the playoffs. I suspected that would be the case based on the Bulls experience of playing against his Memphis teams. Once Norvell gets his system in, he just reloads each year. Norvell knows talent as good as any coach in the game. His first two seasons at Memphis were losers and then he had a run of 1st place finishes in the AAC west with 2 seasons as a top 25 team.. Same Pattern at FSU. Norvell not only knows talent, but he knows how nto game plan and coach. His treatment of his players is exemplerary. It reflects in his players attitude and demeanor. Jordan Travis was a first class gentleman after the LSU win, praising LSU's ability.

The best part for me is seeing Brian Kelly's face looking like he just sucked a lemon late in the 4th quarter. 😂 🤣🤣😂

South Florida fades in the second half at Western Kentucky ruining Alex Golesh's head coaching debut.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

I was reluctant last week to make any prediction, but this week I am going all in…

USF 54
FAMU 13

…and it won’t be that close.

Quick without looking it up: What was the last time USF was 0.500?

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. –– Florida A&M football started the season on the right note with a 28-10 win in the Orange Blossom Classic to start the season 1-0, and Marcus Riley set the tone with his 96-yard opening kick return touchdown.

Riley's performance helped him earn the week one Southwestern Athletic Conference Newcomer and Special Teams Player of the Week awards.

Riley started the game with a bang for the Rattlers, returning the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. Riley finished with 120 return yards off two returns and a touchdown. Riley's return abilities forced Jackson State to avoid kicking it to him later in the game.

The PFF grades illustrates where there was success and what we all saw that South Florida needs to work on.

STORY

It’s only halftime

Timmie McClain in for UCF and leads them to a TD.

FAMU head coach Willie Simmons talked about building off the win over Jackson State and preparing for South Florida.

STORY

Once the USF Athletics department uploads Alex Golesh's weekly press conference video I will post it.

Since FAMU doesn't have a Rivals site, we won't have a Behind Enemy Lines feature on Thursday.

Intern Jack Ward will have a game preview on Friday.