Bulls Break Top 5 In Polls; Grothe Noncommittal About Possible Championship Game

Apparently the voters in The Associated Press poll agreed that the Bulls didn't look like the nation's No. 6 team in Saturday's 35-23 victory at Florida Atlantic. They looked like number 5.
USF got atta boys from the voters in The Associated Press and USA Today coaches' polls Sunday. The AP poll has USF fifth, while the coaches' poll has USF and Oklahoma tied for fifth.

Since entering the AP rankings last month, the undefeated Bulls (5-0) have climbed each week, from No. 23 to No. 18 to No. 6 to now No. 5. A big reason for the Bulls' rise to number 5 is that five of the nation's top nine teams lost during the weekend, a week after six of the nation's top 13 teams were upset.

Grothe put off questions about a national championship: "I don't want to say it [national championship game] yet," Grothe said. "There's 12 games before you get to the bowl game. If we keep winning, with as hard a schedule as we've got, who knows?"

USF Bulls Top The Ranks In Defense

So far, the Bulls' opponents have not been able to handle our speed. Consider this, of the ten major defensive categories in the Big East, the Bulls top the ranks (number one) in four categories (tackles for loss, third down efficiency, sacks, and turnover margin) and rank very high (top 5) in in 7 out of the remaining categories (rushing yards, passing yards, total yards, interceptions, fumbles recovered and turnover margin).

Coach Jim Leavitt Is The Backbone Of USF Bulls Success

No doubt the Big East is the promised-land of college football, an oasis where previously unknown football teams can climb to ranks to find a home in the Top 25 - like the University Of South Florida’s Bulls, a football program that did not even exist a decade ago. USF’s Cinderella-story rise to college football contenders has been helped along by many factors, but few can argue much of the credit goes to the drive, talent and unwavering faith of Bull’s head coach Jim Leavitt.

To fully appreciate the Bulls/Jim Leavitt success story, you have to understand their humble beginnings. USF’s ascension from 1-A startup to the Top 25 (and subsequently top 5) is the fastest in NCAA history, surpassing Boise State's by 7 weeks. Since the inaugural season in 1997, Bull’s head coach Jim Leavitt has guided the team through the I-AA ranks into Division I-A, into Conference USA and finally into the Big East Conference. Only 8 years after the program’s inception, the team played its 100th game and first bowl game in North Carolina at the Meineke Car Care Bowl. One year later, Leavitt led the team to its first ever bowl win in the Papa Johns Bowl against East Carolina University on December 23, 2006.

Coaching for South Florida is literally coming home for Leavitt, a St. Petersburg native. Leavitt was a star quarterback for Dixie Hollins High School and later graduated from the University Of Missouri in 1978. His first coaching job was at the Univeristy of Dubuque, where he spent two years serving as defensive coordinator. Following Dubuque, Leavitt spent one year as special teams coordinator at Morningside College, where he was eventually promoted to defensive coordinator. After a brief stint at the University Of Iowa (where he pursued a doctorate in psychology), Leavitt landed at Kansas State in 1990 where he spent two years as linebackers coach, followed by four more as defensive coordinator, leading Kansas State from relative obscurity to having a highly respected defense. In 1996, Leavitt became the first and to date the only head coach for the University of South Florida’s Bull football team.

Leavitt’s intense demeanor, which contrasts with his youthful looks and spiky hair, is legendary. Leavitt is so fiery that USF linebacker Ben Moffitt recalled Leavitt once busting open his nose and bleeding profusely after head-butting a player’s helmet in attempt to fire up the team during practice. Asked at his first press conference where he would live, the Type A Leavitt calmly replied, "In my office." Leavitt is also known to run each set of wind sprints with the players during practice and to work in his office well past midnight nightly, slugging Pepsi by the 2 liter and sometimes sleeping on an old vinyl couch.

Leavitt's insuperable work ethic and keen football knowledge has undoubtedly fast-tracked USF‘s success. His on-field success, drive and dedication to the university have produced significant improvements in athletic facilities, such as a new athletic training center that includes an Academic Enrichment Center for student athletes, new administration facilities, and new practice fields for the football team.

Despite being courted by many teams looking for a dynamic head coach, Leavitt has never wavered in his commitment to USF and it‘s football success.

Will USF’s Recent Football Success Translate Into Increased Academic Benefits, AKA “The Flutie-Effect”?

Will USF’s recent rise into the top of college football rankings equal academic benefits? There’s little debate that interest generated from USF’s recent football success will expose USF to a national audience. But several studies which have examined if football success influences academics have been contradictory.

A 2004 study by Cornell economist Robert Frank indicates academic success doesn’t automatically follow a nationally ranked football team. In his report, Frank noted that any spike in applications for admission is somewhat small and usually fleeting.

Boston college noted a rise in admission applications first hand when in 1984 quarterback Doug Flutie completed an against all odds Hail Mary that led to an upset over the University Miami. Following the underdog win, Boston college enjoyed a reported small 12 percent rise in applications - which the media later termed the “Flutie effect.” In the following years however, the Flutie effect fizzled as the increase in applications leveled off. The long-term impact on university admissions from the Flutie effect is uncertain and has been long debated.

Dr. Irvin B. Tucker, Associate Professor of Economics at University of North Carolina has claimed that good things follow for universities that obtain successful football teams, namely more alumni donations, higher graduation rates and a higher quality of incoming freshmen.

Most experts feel that maintaining the popularity that comes with a successful sports team involves a tremendous amount of research, resources, integrity and luck. Sports can attract an applicant's attention, they say, but then the institution has to stand up to the scrutiny that applicants and their parents are going to apply, based on factors not at all related to football, like campus culture, percent of classes taught by full-time faculty, and how many graduates are employed at graduation or go on to graduate school. Although some universities have invested in football in the hope of replicating the Flutie effect, economists are divided on the degree and long term impact of the same.

It's already harder than ever to get into USF. The average high school GPA of freshmen who entered USF this fall is 3.71. As budget cuts force universities to limit freshman enrollments in the coming years, an increased number of applicants will undoubtedly require a greater number of rejections. USF's Tampa campus currently enrolls about 38,000 students. For years, USF has been known as a commuter school, but time will take if the USF experiences and enjoys the Flutie effect.

Underdog USF Bulls Defeat West Virginia Mountaineers

The 65,000 screaming fans present at Raymond James Stadium enjoyed quite a show as then 18th-ranked underdog USF bulls secured a 21-13 upset over fifth-ranked West Virginia on Friday night.

It was undoubtedly the hugest victory in USF football history and it propelled the Bulls to number 6 in the national polls. The move finally proved that the Bulls belong among the top football teams in the country and the team's consecutive victories against West Virginia and the recent defeat of Auburn were not lucky flukes.

For the weeks and days preceding the game, USF students, alumni and current players continuously heard how the mountaineers intended revenge for the Bulls’ win over West Virginia last year. But it was the Bulls instead of the Mountaineers that put on a show of punishing the Mountaineers and rendering one of the supposed best colleges mostly ineffective. An offense who previously had averaged more than 350 yards per game rushing was help to a mere 188 yards over 48 carries. The Mountaineers showed up with the second ranked rushing game in college football, including two Heisman Trophy candidates. These facts, however, did not seem to intimidate the Bulls, who played with aggressive confidence from the first snap of the ball, and effectively shut the supposed awesome Mountaineer offense down. For three consecutive years, the Bulls have limited top-ranking running back Steve Slaton and pretty early in the game they injured quarterback Pat White and knocked him out of the game.

The Bulls have been confident that it’s defense could hold any team on any night. The Bulls proved it Friday night. Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt has expressed pride in his team’s performance, but stressed that the Bull’s goal is to win the Big East title, beating the Mountaineers on the way to get there. He says he is already analyzing tape of the game, identifying reoccurring mistakes, with an eye on correcting them for upcoming games.

If the defeat of the Mountaineers and subsequent leap to number 6 in the polls isn’t enough, one poll even ranks USF the best team in the state.

After entering the poll for the first time two weeks ago following a win over Auburn, the Bulls have risen to number 6 in the AP poll and number 9 in the coaches' poll.

USF’s descent into the top 10 is the fastest rise ever for a college football team. Even better, USF is sitting pretty. USF is undefeated (4-0) with many of the top 10 teams recently struggling while USF’s star rises. Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Rutgers were all upset this weekend.

USF is in its 11th season of college football. In the early days, Coach Jim Leavitt and his staff practiced on a shoestring at Chamberlain high school and had to pull their cars up to the practice field so that the team could see during night practices.

USF has been in the Football Bowl Subdivision (I-A) since 2001. USF will play Florida Atlantic on Saturday.