Sports Shorts

* It never fails to amaze: There are point spreads for NFL pre-season games. Games that obviously don’t count in the standings. Games that will largely be decided by players who won’t even make the team. Who the hell bets on these games?

* Nine years ago I was among the late September Ray Jay crowd of 67,000 who witnessed USF’s 21-13 win over West Virginia that helped propel the Bulls of Jim Leavitt to a national ranking of No. 2 a few weeks later. That, and a 23-20 road win at Notre Dame under Skip Holtz in 2011 are arguably the biggest wins in USF history.

This year the Bulls have an opportunity for another signature win–this time one that could also impress Big 12 officials scrutinizing expansion candidates. The date is Sept. 24; the opponent, Florida State, is a top-5 pre-season pick in the AP and the Coaches Polls.

BTW, USF is the pre-season pick to win the Eastern Division of the American Athletic Conference and is coming off of Willie Taggert’s first winning season (8-5) as head coach. If it doesn’t happen Sept. 24–in front of a packed, rocking Ray Jay–a program-defining, big-time win will likely not be part of Taggert’s legacy.

In short, USF, a team with a reputation for unfulfilled potential, really needs a statement win to separate itself from other non-marquee AAC members. But it can’t afford to overlook Syracuse–in the Carrier Dome–the week before.

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