At a media luncheon two weeks ago, coach David Elson said the team was “ready to go out and earn the respect” of the other 119 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

But if South Florida coach Jim Leavitt is any indication, the Toppers have a long way to go.

“Playing them isn’t anywhere in the world like playing in the Big East, not even in the hemisphere,” Leavitt said after the Bulls defeated Western 35-13 on Saturday. “We’re a much better team than Western — I never worried about winning or losing.”

Interesting stuff from a coach whose program has a promotion titled “Be Respect-A-Bull” to encourage good fan behavior.

Of course, there’s no question South Florida is the better football team. The Bulls compiled 177 more yards of total offense, completed eight of 13 third-down conversions compared to Western’s two of 12, and forced the Toppers to punt four times.

And there probably aren’t many coaches who would readily admit to being concerned with whether their program might lose to a team ranked, by some, as No. 120 out of 120 teams in the FBS.

But Western definitely made strides on Saturday. The Toppers scored the game’s first points and only trailed by eight points going into the fourth quarter.

No, the Big East isn’t the best Bowl Championship Series conference. In fact, the league didn’t have any teams ranked in the preseason USA Today coaches’ poll.

And USF isn’t exactly the class of the conference either — media members picked the Bulls to finish fourth in the league this season.

But no matter which way you look at it, Western hosted its first-ever BCS-conference opponent on Saturday, and for at least three quarters, the Toppers looked like they belonged.

Senior quarterback Brandon Smith said that after facing the Bulls, he was more confident that the Toppers’ abilities are close to where they need to be to compete at this level.

“I believe that with all my heart, that we’re right there,” he said. “I think we’ve got all the keys and pieces to the puzzle to make a serious run this year.”

But Leavitt’s comments show that no matter how far Western may have come during its two-year transition period, it’s still nowhere near FBS respectability.

There’s not much the Toppers can do about that in the immediate future. Western plays a Football Championship Series opponent in Central Arkansas on Saturday, so while a loss might damage Western’s reputation, a win probably wouldn’t do much to improve it.

And after playing Navy on Sept. 26, Western begins its first full season of competition in the Sun Belt and is expected to finish at the bottom of the league.

But Elson said the Toppers are “hungry” for their first win in 10 games.

“We’re capable of beating everybody on our schedule, and everybody on our schedule is capable of beating us,” he said. “We’re not in a position to take anybody lightly.”