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For Now, It's The Bulls Vs. The Bugs

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 13, 2007

Updated: 10/13/2007 12:22 am

Here at the world center of college football, police barricades and yellow tape keep fair-weather students orderly as they gather to devour tickets and quote the King James version of the Top 25 polls.

Jim Leavitt's Bulls have trampled all expectations save for their own. Everyone is talking USF. Even the bad stuff is good. That pillar of integrity, Nick Saban, took a swipe, as did Jimmy Johnson on that Fox NFL clown show.

Three USF fans reportedly protested at the local Fox affiliate, calling for Jimmy J.'s head.

Kids, it's time to take your pills.

'I guess we're on the radar,' USF center Nick Capogna said. President Bush is next. 'He'll work us into the State of the Union somewhere ...'

It's a house of cards. All it would take is one kick in the head.

Remember, Bulls fans, you're not that far removed from the Papajohns.com Bowl.

'No. 5 is just a number,' Capogna said. 'Lose once and the number is gone.'

Lose today, for instance.

Which brings us to the opponent:

The University of Central Bug on the Windshield.

Rivalry On The Way Out

It's South Florida-Central Florida.

The battle for the Old Oaken Parking Space.

USF is ending the series after next season's visit to UCF's on-campus (jealous yet?) football stadium. USF will bring its own water fountains.

You see, UCF built an entire new stadium for Coach George O'Leary and his lads, only to forget to include water fountains. They should have known something was up when the architect's resume said he'd coached at Notre Dame.

Where were we?

Remember when the worst thing we could imagine was USF ending this series? Remember when the world was the I-4 corridor?

USF thirsts for bigger prizes.

What a difference a No. 5 makes.

At USF, a loss today would ruin the season.

At UCF, a win today would make the season.

They're in two different worlds right now.

That's the state of this union.

The worlds are so different that all those snotty reasons USF had for giving up the series don't seem snotty anymore.

I still say this game needs to be played each season.

But USF's case has never seemed this solid.

I used to say the Bulls couldn't turn down 40,000 at Raymond James.

There will be 65,000 there today. And it didn't have to be UCF. At this point in this season, USF could run Elon back into the house and pull in 60 grand.

(I'd still like to see the crowd for the opener next season against Tennessee-Martin, know what I mean?)

USF always tried to distance itself from UCF.

That looks about right.

USF said it had more to lose than UCF in this game.

That looks about right.

USF plays Miami beginning in 2009 instead of UCF.

That looks about right.

The Knights played the Bulls mostly even in Orlando last season, but UCF is 0-2 against USF and looks as if it has been left behind.

They're the water boys.

Imagine if UCF did win today.

They'll be called a 'giant killer.'

Oh, would that sting in Orlando.

The Bull's Eye

The fact is that USF has surged ahead to the point where perception is reality enough, and the perception is that USF is the hunted.

'The game went right down to the wire with them last season,' Capogna said. 'Look at that running back Kevin Smith, averaging 172 yards per game. It's not like they're some bottom-feeder program.'

In fact, UCF opened its stadium last month by nearly beating Texas.

Texas forgot to bring water.

Face it.

USF is the hunted. UCF is the hunter.

One's a beast. One's a bug.

Granted, one UCF win and ...

Yes, they should always play this game.

Only right now it's the PapaBulls.com Bowl.

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