Despite a less than stellar second-half performance, Saturday’s football game against Alabama proved that t USF students and faculty truly do have “Bull Pride”.

Many factors could have contributed to this weekend’s rise in school devotion. Namely, it was the first game of the season, which happened to fall on the weekend after the start of classes, so it was simply a party waiting to happen. Not to mention that there were numerous freshmen and transfer students who were eager to participate in their first official USF sporting event. It may have also helped that the game was nationally televised and versus one of the nation’s most storied teams.

Being the first game of the season, the broadcast naturally attracted a high number of viewers. Nationally, armchair pundits may have had more interest in the start of the Mike Shula era, but for USF students and faculty who couldn’t make the trip it, was a chance to see how the Bulls fared in their most important non-conference match up.

The television appearance also served to unveil the new athletics logo to the rest of the country, a further cause for increased morale, as is evidenced by the seemingly positive reception the new logo has received on campus.

Though the football season itself may be off to a rocky start, it is apparent that there is support for the team regardless. It will be interesting to see whether school spirit will continue to climb as the Bulls begin Conference USA.

The cause of high sales volume for the new merchandise has yet to be determined. Many factors including the new semester, as well as the desire for new merchandise itself, potentially play a role in this increase. These reasons could also carry over to the rise in school spirit.

Of course, school spirit is about more than success on the football field, and cannot be measured by sales of the new merchandise. Nevertheless, as the leading sport on campus, the football team provides a unifying focus for the USF community.

Whatever the reason for the increase in school spirit, it is apparent that at this time it is definitely strong. It seems unlikely that defeat will have dampened the desire to support the Bulls. And it certainly did not hurt the performances of the players to know that more than 1,000 USF fans were standing behind them in the south end zone of Legion Field proudly wearing green and gold.