The emergence of USF as a potential participant in the College Football Playoff has sent opinions flying from every direction. The reactions range from absurd to supportive, or in the case of Mike Bianchi, the veteran columnist from The Orlando Sentinel, to astonishment.
His column on Friday ran under this headline: "College football in Florida is so bad, freaking USF is carrying the torch!"
"There’s something especially depressing about looking at the college football landscape in the Sunshine State this season and realizing that USF — yes, that USF — is carrying the torch for our once-proud pigskin peninsula," he wrote.
"Those words don’t even look right on the page. Yet here we are, staring at a world where the Bulls have the state’s strongest College Football Playoff hopes while the three traditional giants of Florida football stumble around like they’ve misplaced the map to relevance. It’s the kind of revelation that hits you hard — like stepping outside earlier this week on one of those surprising early-winter Florida mornings when a biting breeze catches you off guard."
Well, Mikey, as they like to say around the USF campus, this ain't the same ol' South Florida, my brother. And, to be fair, he did conclude his piece with these words from the heart of UCF country: Let's Go Bulls!
ESPN's Paul Finebaum made his feelings clear about USF's possible presence in the playoffs -- as insipid as those feelings were.
“It’s already a convoluted system because we let the group of whatever in, the Group of Five with South Florida,” Finebaum said, “That conference, that division really has no business playing. That’s like letting the Triple-A best team into the Major League playoffs. It doesn’t happen in any other sport, but for you to say, ‘Oh, the SEC has too many teams’ and this and that is just patently ridiculous.”
By the way, here's a nugget Finebaum overlooked. Since the start of the 2024 season, USF has 10 wins by 25 points or more. Only Indiana and Ohio State have more.
Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing had the perfect comeback.
"What’s patently ridiculous is taking a collective dump on the Group of Five, especially considering Finebaum’s history of threatening the playoff committee when they don’t bend to SEC demands," Neumann wrote.
He added, "That South Florida team he was scoffing about is currently ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll and No. 24 in the College Football Playoff rankings with a 7-2 record. The Bulls beat No. 13 Florida at Florida in September, when the Gators were ranked in the top 25. It was an 18-16 upset in The Swamp that ended on a walk-off field goal and sent Billy Napier’s seat temperature to nuclear levels.
"South Florida’s offense is averaging 42.0 points per game (5th in the FBS) and 485 yards per game (7th), led by quarterback Byrum Brown, who’s thrown for 2,023 yards with 19 touchdowns while rushing for over 700 yards. The Bulls have already knocked off two ranked opponents this season — Boise State and Florida — and, according to ESPN, are just the fourth team since 1936 to win its first two games against ranked opponents while unranked."
Danny Kanell, the former FSU quarterback-turned-curmudgeon and CBS Sports analyst, is drinking from the same bottle as Finebaum.
“I was happy when they got the 12-team playoff, but guaranteeing a Group of 5 team in the 12-team playoff makes zero sense,” Kanell said. “USF, if they win the American, will be in as a 2-loss team. One of those losses was 49-12 to the Miami Hurricanes, who are probably going to be on the outside looking in. There has to be some sort of minimum requirement that the Group of 5 has to meet in order for them to gain access to the playoff.”
There already is a minimum requirement, Danny. The selection committee's five highest ranked conference champions receive automatic bids. As things stand now, champs from the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, and (wait for it) the American Conference meet that criteria. The standings in all those conferences are too close to call -- including the American.
USF still has to win four games -- three in the regular-season, followed by the American championship game -- to secure a playoff spot. That quest starts Saturday at Navy. But all the haters should know this: If the Bulls get in, they will have earned their way.
Deal with it.