USF win at Louisville should end bubble talk and put Bulls in the dance

Can we now stop this bubble talk!

The University of South Florida’s 58-51 victory over Louisville at the Cardinals home floor on senior night Wednesday night should be enough to get the Bulls their first invitation to the NCAA Tournament since 1992.

The Cardinals (22-8, 10-7 Big East) were ranked 18^th and are number 20 in the all important RPI rankings that the selection committee often uses to round out the last couple of teams for the tournament.

USF (19-11, 12-5) was 1-7 vs RPI top 50 teams coming into the game and the biggest criticism was the Bulls didn’t really have a solid “high” quality win.

“We won on the road. I don’t know (if we got in) we just got to keep winning. This is unbelievable I am so proud there are so many heroes in the locker-room,” USF head coach Stan Heath said after the game.

Jawanza Poland led the Bulls with 16 points and hit a big trey down the stretch that helped secure the win. Toarlyn Fitzpatrick was the only other USF player in double figures with 11 points.

Again the Bulls defense was spectacularly down and dirty especially beyond the arc holding Louisville’s long range bombers to 23.8 percent (5-21).

Boise State and Big East is a marriage made in heaven

Boise State and the Big East Conference!

It's a match made in heaven. What are you waiting for. This is the perfect marriage!

Boise State's record over recent years and BCS ranking will save the Big East and allow it to hold onto its Automatic Qualifying status.

In return Boise State won't have to beat teams by 50 points and go undefeated to get into a BCS bowl and have virtually no chance for the BCS title game.

Why would either side turn this down. The Big East only needs Boise State as a football school. This is perfect unless there is something we don't know.

Are the Broncos afraid of playing West Virginia, Cincinnati, South Florida, Rutgers, Louisville and Connecticut every year. No offense to the Mountain West, but overall these are better teams than what the league has now.

Get this done. It's a no brainer. The only thing that would ruin this deal is if the BCS changed its qualification rules to be an AQ and that is unlikely. Lawsuits would be flying all over the country and those guys don't want that. They make too much money.

Even if Louisville bolts for another conference as reported there are enough BCS points among Boise State, West Virginia and Cincinnati for the Big East to remain ahead of the current non AQ conferences.

So get it done. Boise State-Big East. It's the perfect marriage!

Offers start piling up for DaQual Randall

They say football scholarship offers are often like snowballs. You get one and others start to come pretty quickly.

That could be the case for Palmetto High linebacker DaQual Randall.

Randall received his first offer last month when Louisville head coach Charlie Strong told Randall he wanted him the play for the Cardinals.

Since then Randall as received offers from six others, including BCS schools Rutgers and Iowa State. The others extending an offer were Western Kentucky, UCF, UAB, Ball State and Chattanooga.

Randall has also been getting a lot of interest from USF, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson. He went to a spring practice at USF and talked with Bulls defensive coordinator Mark Snyder, who said the senior could possibly fit in after he graduates in 2012.

The six-foot, 225 pound Randall had 86 unassisted tackles, four sacks and an interception last season. As a sophomore he had 122 tackles (83 unassisted) with nine tackles for losses and two sacks.

Former Southeast star Giovani Francois will visit Temple after trips to FIU and Cincinnati

Former Southeast High standout Giovani Francois is headed to Temple this weekend on an official visit.

It will be the third official visit for the defensive lineman, who moved to Maryland to finish out the high school football season and won multiple honors for his play.

The 6-3, 230 pound Francois has visited FIU and most recently Cincinnati. He has said FIU is at the top of his list, but has not committed and is leaving himself open to other schools.

Temple’s new coach Steve Addazio knows about Francois from his years as an assistant at Florida where he was the Gators offensive coordinator last season.

Francois has offers from FIU, Louisville, Temple and Western Kentucky. Florida, USF, Maryland, Michigan State, Mississippi State and Northwestern have also shown interest in Francois, who is projected to play defensive end or linebacker in college.

"Coach Addazio, the old offensive coordinator at Florida offered me,” Francois told Rivals.com. “He told me he believes Florida should have offered me and he gladly wants me to play for him at Temple. He had seen me at camps over the summer and sees that I can rush the passer and stop the run. He thinks I can be an impact player at Temple and play on Sundays.”

Francois played five games for Wise High in Maryland. He finished with 32 tackles seven sacks and three forced fumbles, which got him selected to two post season All-Star games; the Crab Bowl and the inaugural Chesapeake Bowl where he was dubbed a “sack artist.”