Is it OK now? Have we all recovered, at least somewhat, from the complete and utter disappointment that was Friday nights game? I came down from my alcohol-induced hangover sometime Saturday afternoon, but it’s taken until sometime in the middle of my awful work day to finally come to terms with what happened at Raymond James Stadium.

Don’t get me wrong, I‘m still not completely over it. It was a rough night. I arrived at the “House That Dungy Built” geared up in gold and blue with a cooler full of beer and a heart full of USF hate. My buddy Robb, a WVU alum, had flown in from Nashville and we were ready to ride the Mountaineers impending massacre into a weekend of trash talking and pure West Virginia celebration.

Yeah, well we all know how that went. The good news, if there is any, is that there are plenty of moral victories that Mountaineer fans can take away from the game that seemed to be played to Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy”.

TAILGATE:
USF’s football program is nothing more than a blip on the radar. A hemorrhoid on the tail of Florida football, if you will. It’s tough to learn how to properly tailgate when you’re too busy jumping on the bandwagon, and it definitely showed.

The USF tailgates, not sponsored by radio stations or businesses, were few and far between and those tailgating were sampling the fine tastes of Bacardi Limon and other not-appropriate-for-tailgate beverages. The West Virginia tailgates, however, dominated the parking lots and thrived not only on quantity, but also quality. Here are a few of the proud. Click image to view full size.

USF FANS
It’s tough to really describe South Florida fans in a manner that hasn’t already been used to describe a boy band.
Outfits with enough sequins and bright colors to compete on Dancing with the Stars. Lots and lots of hair gel. Cutoff shirts. Gold chains. It was a lot like a Louisville crowd, but less ghetto and more Guido. Click to enlarge.

And c’mon man. This is the best sign you could come up with? Shouldn’t they lose their ranking on that alone?

FEATS OF STRENGTH
A fight broke out in our section. A big fight. And by fight, I mean one West Virgina fan, who was probably in his 40s, beating the absolute crap out of about 5 or 6 USF students. I guess that just shows that all the hair gel will eventually kill your brain cells. I don’t think Chuck Liddell would have gone after that guy after he took down chump #1. But yet, these poor kids still kept coming. They will learn. Click to enlarge fight pic.

THE SILVER LINING
Now I don’t want to sound like a Marshall or Pitt fan by making excuses and trying to find silver linings in what was a tough, disappointing loss. But, hey, we’re still West Virginia and they are still South Florida. They will still lose at Rutgers and I’m not convinced that they have the offensive firepower to hang with Louisville.

So, enjoy your 15 minutes, USF. It’s only a matter of time until the losses pile up and that pseudo-passion turns against you. Your fans will be booing the next home loss and, after a couple of them, they will stop showing up at all. That’s what bandwagon fans do. Just ask Louisville.