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USF Bulls, Willie Taggart seek statement in opener

 
Coach Willie Taggart during the start of the Spring game at Raymond James Stadium in 2013. The white team defeated the green team 14 to 11 at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday. USF Spring football game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, April 13, 2013. OCTAVIO JONES   |   Times 

Coach Willie Taggart during the start of the Spring game at Raymond James Stadium in 2013. The white team defeated the green team 14 to 11 at Raymond James Stadium on Saturday. USF Spring football game was held at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, April 13, 2013. OCTAVIO JONES | Times
Published Sept. 5, 2015

TAMPA

Hang around Willie Taggart long enough and you discover USF's third-year football coach possesses a veritable cache of catchphrases. For every circumstance, Taggart seemingly has a slogan.

Have a great day … if you want to.

The spotlight does strange things to people.

We heal differently around here.

Show up and show out.

For the sake of tonight's season opener against Florida A&M, let's focus on that last phrase. Considering USF's previous two seasons (featuring six total wins), and the career crossroads at which Taggart stands, those five words might contain far more pertinence than triteness.

Perhaps more than ever, the Bulls must not only show up at Raymond James Stadium this evening, they must show out.

Which is to say, win and look impressive doing it.

"It's really important to us," junior receiver (and Lakewood High alumnus) Rodney Adams said. "Everybody's doubting us, and we just have a lot to prove. We just want to show everybody that we're a different team, we're nothing to be messed with this year and that we come to play."

Scour any college football website, fringe or mainstream, and it's clear the Bulls are getting less love than Vin Diesel on Oscar night. CBS Sports ranks the Bulls 99th in its preseason ranking of all 128 Division I-A teams. Bill Connelly of sbnation.com ranks them 115th. The Orlando Sentinel has them No. 103.

Even the American Athletic Conference media, which presumably follows USF more closely than most national online "analysts," picked the Bulls to finish fifth of six teams in the Eastern Division.

"I mean, fifth in the conference, and just with six teams, that's embarrassing," sophomore middle linebacker Auggie Sanchez said at the start of preseason camp. "That fires me up."

Hence the reason the first impression of 2015 is so critical.

Two years after the Taggart era began with the most embarrassing defeat in program history (53-21 vs. I-AA McNeese State), and a year after having to rally for a 36-31 season-opening victory against I-AA Western Carolina (see Mack, Marlon), the Bulls need more than a mere victory.

Against Florida A&M, a I-AA team coming off a 3-9 season (and on its fourth coach since the start of 2012), the Bulls need a romp, a rout, perhaps even a laugher. They need something to instill hope in a mostly disillusioned fan base that never has seen a Taggart-coached Bulls team defeat a foe by more than eight points.

"We practice well all week and we want to go out and put on a good show," Taggart said.

"And that's something we've been stressing this whole offseason: go play ball every week. It doesn't matter who we're playing, we've got to go out and compete against ourselves, and go out and see how good we can be."

Ideally, Taggart's newfangled high-tempo, zone-read offense — led by sophomore quarterback Quinton Flowers — will spread the field horizontally and occasionally stretch it vertically.

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In the optimal scenario, the Bulls will control the ball and pop a few big ones in play-action. Defensively, new coordinator Tom Allen's 4-2-5 scheme will create takeaways against a similarly fast-paced Rattlers scheme. New kicker Emilio Nadelman will summon his inner Marvin Kloss.

And the Bulls will do something they haven't accomplished since Sept. 1, 2012: win at home by a double-digit margin.

"We've put in all that work to (make) progress, so we have to go out there and do the best we can to … not only beat 'em but defeat 'em," senior husky (nickel back) Jamie Byrd said. "It's very important."

Contact Joey Knight at jknight@tampabay.com. Follow @TBTimes_Bulls.