First the good news: USF will play Interstate-4 rival UCF two more times after the Sept. 16 game in Orlando. This is good because it’s USF’s only true rivalry game, one that drew a huge crowd to Raymond James Stadium last year. USF sorely needs big home crowds and also benefits by a good pay day on the road not offset by significant travel expenses.
The bad news: USF, now in its second year of Big East affiliation, has made it clear that it is playing these games because it HAS to – not because it wants to. It’s part of USF’s Conference USA exit agreement. Anything after 2008 is problematic.
That’s too bad, but it’s understandable — to a degree. USF wants the national exposure afforded by scheduling BCS (Bowl Championship Series) teams – and not the unglamorous likes of UCF. As a result, USF has recently added home-and-home series with Indiana and Michigan State – to go along with North Carolina State, Kansas and Miami.
Maybe it will all work out, and USF will become a recognized beast in the Big East and have no need to slum with UCF in order to goose up home attendance. And then again maybe Indiana will have its first good team since facemasks became all the rage.