(01-01-2010 10:58 PM)Coopdaddy67 Wrote:  

(01-01-2010 10:56 PM)CatsClaw Wrote:  I completely disagree with that. UC football hasn't taken a step back at all. The problem is, it has been frozen in its tracks, a step below the elite. We're very good, but not elite.

Exactly. UC has made some great steps in the right direction, but they aren't close to elite level yet. That takes time, especially when you aren't accustomed to being a big-time football program.

No question. This is about learning to be big time. I picked UC to win this game, but I should have taken a step back listening to the players leading up to this game. Talk of being more ready for this game, and being star-struck last year. It just sounds like a program that is probably 2 or 3 years ahead of schedule. No one, including Brian Kelly, could have ever dreamt that we would be 23-4 (because we're losing tonight) with two Big East titles, and appearances in the Orange and Sugar Bowl. If I had told anyone that we would have that, even with the losses in the BCS bowls, we would have taken it. We're building something, tradition, championships, and fans. People at the Sugar Bowl said that the UC fans flooding into the hotels and such was so overwhelming that the only school that could match it was LSU, the local school. The fans are traveling. Birmingham, we send over 10,000. About 17,000 for the Orange Bowl, we lose our coach and STILL send over 20,000 to the Sugar Bowl and impress the hell out of the Sugar Bowl people. We're getting there.