USF Bowl Hopes on the Line
(October 20, 2003)

For the University of South Florida football team, the next two weeks are crucial to the Bulls hopes of going to a bowl game. USF is currently 4-2, 2-1 in Conference USA play, and is not entirely of the running for the conference championship. Games at Southern Miss and home against Cincinnati on Halloween will go a long way to determining the team's fate.

USF is 2-1 in conference play and needs to go 6-2 to go to a bowl game. The scheduling problems that resulted in two games against Division I-AA teams, and the fact the Bulls only played eleven games in a year were twelve games could have been scheduled, has put USF in a tight spot.

The season has pretty much played to form. The Bulls were heavy underdogs in the season opener at Alabama. USF lead the game 17-7 late in the second quarter, before the Crimson Tide rolled 40-17. The Bulls actually trailed Division I-AA Nicholls State at halftime of the home opener, before posting a 27-27 victory. The team did not play well in the program's first official Conference USA game at Army, but still won easily 28-0. The first conference home game, against undefeated Louisville, was one to remember. The Bulls scored with ten seconds left to send the game into overtime. In the second OT, it was a Santiago Gramatica field goal that send fans steaming onto the field to celebrate a 31-28 victory. South Florida's twenty-one game home winning streak came to an end the next week against eighteen ranked TCU. The Horn Frogs defense dominated and TCU won 13-10. A 55-7 victory over Charleston Southern was little more than a scrimmage.

Again, the game this Saturday against Southern Miss in Hattiesburg and Cincinnati the following Friday night in Tampa are key to the Bulls postseason aspirations. Southern Miss and TCU are the lone undefeated teams in conference play, and the Golden Eagles will seeking revenge for the Bulls victory at RJS last year, so this will be a tough test. South Florida should also be underdogs in a nationally televised Halloween home game against the Bearcats. If the Bulls lose both these games, the bowl game dream goes out the window. Win one of two and they will have to run the table to go to the postseason. Two victories and they will be in the hunt for the conference crown.

The Bulls would probably be favored in the final three games. They play at struggling East Carolina and have an extra week to prepare for UAB. If the postseason stills hangs in the balance, the Bulls close the regular season at Memphis.

While the main concern now is the meat of the conference schedule, there are rumors the Bulls may be joining another conference. Another period of conference realignment is underway. When Boston College joined Miami and Virginia Tech in defecting from the Big East to the Atlantic Coast Conference, USF became the front runner to join Cincinnati and Louisville in the Big East for the 2005 season. The announcement could come early next month that the three Conference USA teams will be joining the Big East. C-USA is making plans to invite other schools to fill the void. What there has not been a void of rumors.

What we do know for fact is that three schools have left the Big East and joined the ACC. It is also known this will not be the last of the current changes in conference affiliations. We also know it would be a major step for a young USF program to join a conference associated with the Bowl Championship Series. It is also safe to say that the rumors will continue for some time.

Right now, the Bulls need victories.