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A Finale (?) To Remember

The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 10, 2008

If last weekend's football game between the universities of South Florida and Central Florida marked the end of the four-year-old series, as USF has said, what a tremendous way to go out.

The Bulls won 31-24 after the Golden Knights had rallied from 14 points behind late in the fourth quarter to force overtime. The game, played before a raucous record crowd of 46,805 at Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, ended with a referee holding his hands inches apart - signaling that UCF had come up short on fourth down.

It's understandable that USF wants to replace UCF on the schedule with a bigger-name opponent. It starts a series with the University of Miami next year. And USF is scheduled to play the University of Florida in Gainesville in 2010.

The bottom line is that USF, though several years younger in football years, has surpassed the Knights on the field. The Bulls won all four games of the series, though two were competitive. Last year USF slaughtered the Knights 64-12. Beating USF would have made the Knights' season. In contrast, the Bulls had little to gain from the nonconference game.
USF is on the rise in major college football. After a surprising season that saw the team ranked as high as No. 2 last year, the Bulls began this season ranked for the first time, and this week the team is in the top 20 of both major polls. And USF is in the Big East, a much better conference than UCF's Conference USA
Still, nobody can dispute the USF-UCF series' success. All four games drew more than 45,000 fans, and the series, indeed, helped build a heated rivalry. And the Knights are improving. Who's to say that USF and UCF won't one day be considered the state's top two college football teams?

So it's unfortunate that two schools in such close proximity aren't scheduled to play football again in a gridiron-crazy state. USF officials are doing what they think is best for their program, but we hope eventually the rivalry is renewed.

At least the series ended with a bang.

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