USF's Trip To Notre Dame 'A Unique Opportunity'

TAMPA - When University of South Florida secondary coach Troy Douglas walked off the Notre Dame Stadium turf as a Michigan State assistant Sept. 22, 2001, he bent over and grabbed a little memento.

Douglas pulled up some of the turf and stored it in a sandwich baggie until getting rid of it a couple years ago.

On Nov. 19, 2011, Douglas will get another chance to grab some Notre Dame Stadium sod when the Bulls visit the Fighting Irish.

USF will play a one-game series with the Irish, receiving $975,000 - $825,000 from Notre Dame and $125,000 from the Big East for television. USF will receive 5,000 tickets for the game, Notre Dame senior associate AD John Heisler said. The distribution of USF's tickets will be determined by a donor and/or points system, USF sports information director Chris Freet said.

USF also announced Wednesday the addition of a home-and-home series with Ball State, of the Mid-American Conference, in 2011 and 2012, but the big news was getting Notre Dame on the schedule.

USF athletic director Doug Woolard had said previously he preferred only home-and-home series and would avoid one-game "paydays." However, he said playing at Notre Dame was an exception.

"On all different platforms we did it for the exposure for the university and football program," Woolard said. "Notre Dame is such a storied program. This was a unique opportunity."

Notre Dame AD Kevin White had previously announced the Irish would plan to play three Big East teams each season beginning in 2011. However, this is not part of that deal.

The three games Notre Dame agreed to play against Big East opponents will be home-and-home series, Heisler said.

Woolard said that adding Notre Dame will help USF's recruiting efforts.

"I'm humbled and excited about adding Notre Dame to our schedule," USF coach Jim Leavitt. "Games like this are what you work so hard for, they help further the image of this program and they present a great opportunity for our fans and players."

Seven years later, Douglas still cherishes his memory of playing - and winning - at Notre Dame Stadium.

"At the pregame walk-through we walked through the tunnel and their band was in the tunnel," Douglas said. "They started playing the Notre Dame fight song and holy smokes, I had goose bumps on the back of my neck."

Douglas' MSU team defeated Notre Dame and he remembers as the Spartans piled on the team bus for the two-hour ride back to East Lansing, Mich.

"Everyone got on and we asked the players what movie do you want to watch?" Douglas said. "They all started chanting 'Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.' So that's what watched."

In other USF news: the Bulls cleared $269,300 from their Sun Bowl trip after expenses. The Bulls received $1,948,400 - $1,845,600 from the Big East and another $102,800 in ticket revenue - and had $1,679,100 in expenses.