MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Seventh place out of 11 schools. Zero players selected to the 28-man preseason All-Conference USA team. The only reason the C-USA coaches' preseason snub wasn't immediate bulletin-board material for USF players last week was - that there wasn't a bulletin board.
"We just got a new facility, so we just put the bulletin boards up three days ago," coach Jim Leavitt said. "Maybe we can start putting articles up now."
Every C-USA school except USF and Army had at least two players on the team, but the Bulls and Black Knights (0-13 last year) had none. Leavitt, who votes in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, said he doesn't put stock in preseason speculation but understands, given significant losses to graduation, why people view his team skeptically.
"Everybody kind of has a question mark on South Florida this year," Leavitt said. "Three years of winning football, 8-3, 9-2 ... 7-4. But nobody knows. We're not expected to do much. I'm not saying that as a lead-in. It's the truth. I don't know. We could be darned good, or not."
It's not quite an annual slight - the Bulls were tabbed third by conference coaches last year, and finished in a three-way tie for third. But for players thumbing through magazines, being underestimated is a rite of football season, just as anticipated as two-a-days.
"We're used to it," senior center Alex Herron said. "It hasn't been anything new. You look at any preseason magazine, it's all the same. They have us predicted 4-7 every year, but we've yet to go 4-7 in the eight years this school's been in existence. ... It used to motivate me, but it's just become so redundant that it's a laughing matter."
If anything, perusing the picks shows how wide-open C-USA could be. Check out this range of projected finishes for the Bulls: the Sporting News (fourth), Street & Smith's (fifth), Athlon Sports (sixth), Collegefootballnews.com (seventh) and Phil Steele's (ninth). A half-dozen magazines collectively recognize only one USF player among the elite at his position nationally, and - here's a jab - it's a typo. Lindy's ranks " "Atari Bigby, South Florida" among the nation's top safeties, but Bigby plays for Central Florida.
Leavitt said the preseason nonsense will be forgotten by the first snap in September.
"On a third-and-3 in the third quarter," he said, "do you think any players are thinking, "Dang, we were picked to finish seventh last fall.' "
TOO FAR AHEAD: Leavitt downplayed the notion that C-USA's family is divided into factions because of five schools leaving the conference after this season. He said coaches, as a species, don't make a habit of looking too far down the road, even with changes as major as joining the Big East.
"Next year, the boat may go off the end of the world. I'm more concerned about my flight going back at 5 today and wanting to get back," Leavitt said. "I'm not a person that thinks that far ahead, and I think most head coaches would say the same thing. You can't put all your marbles down the road. In this profession, you don't know. You work hard for the moment."
Memphis coach Tommy West, whose team might be the best one left in 2005, said he has found that everything in college football is replaceable.
"It's like I tell our kids: Nobody is bigger than the University of Memphis," he said. "If I'm gone tomorrow, somebody will be coaching this football team. If (C-USA offensive player of the year) DeAngelo (Williams) is gone tomorrow, we'll have a running back and he'll run for yards. People leave this league, somebody will replace them. It's the way of the world. Life moves on. I don't get real sentimental about it."
THIS AND THAT: Kevin Verpaele, a starting strong safety for the past two seasons, has joined the USF coaching staff as a graduate assistant working with the defense. ... Tim Jones, a starter at defensive end in all 11 games last year may redshirt this season and play his final year in 2005. ... The Nov. 27 game at Memphis is not listed on ESPN's schedule of televised games, but USF has been assured the game will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.
