Bulls go big time

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published September 27, 2007

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Tent cities are not usually symbols of progress. But the one filled with students that stretched around the Sun Dome ticket office Monday was a startling reminder of how far the University of South Florida's football program has come.

South Florida's 37-10 win Saturday against North Carolina moved the Bulls to No. 18 in the Associated Press poll, only one week after an overtime upset against Auburn vaulted the Bulls into the Top 25 for the first time. Of course, the players and pundits said the expected: The polls are meaningless, they fluctuate every week and what matters is going out and winning ball games.

That's true, certainly in the national title picture. But it's also time to give the Bulls their props. This is a program, after all, that started out in a trailer. Jim Leavitt, the only head coach USF has had, brought the Bulls from obscurity in the 1997 inaugural year to unbeaten so far this season in the Big East, the nation's largest Division I-A Conference.

The Bulls may rank outside the psyche of old Florida football, where the Gators, Seminoles and Hurricanes traditionally reign. But Friday's matchup between USF and No. 5 West Virginia has electrified the school and its Tampa Bay home. We see no need yet for irrational exuberance; Leavitt wants to keep his players focused. But the game, which ESPN2 will broadcast, in prime time, from a sold-out Raymond James Stadium, should remind the community of something - the Bulls have gone big time.