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A date with the Syracuse Orange awaits the Bulls on Friday night in upstate New York.

Syracuse provides the most unique playing environment in the Big East.  The on-campus Carrier Dome opened in the fall of 1980 (roughly the same time as the Sun Dome) and seats a little less than 50,000 fans.

It has a field turf surface and an inflatable roof, creating the rush of air entering the building that longtime Bulls fans remember from the early days of the Sun Dome.

My favorite piece of trivia?  The Carrier Dome, named after an air conditioning company, has no air conditioning.

Presumably it won't be needed Friday.  And remember you promised last week not to ask me if the weather will affect USF.

Playing indoors will be a new experience for a lot of the Bulls. The team hasn't played inside since the International Bowl in January 2010, and a lot of the personnel has turned over since then.  As a result, the team did a Thursday night walkthrough to get a little more comfortable in the building.

It's been a short week, and the Rutgers game still stings a bit.  I guess we've been pretty fortunate to go through nearly 15 years of football without a four-game losing streak, but unfortunately we've got one now.

The Bulls have been so very close in the last three games, losing by a combined 12 points.  Syracuse has some frustration to work out, too. After beating West Virginia in their last home game, the Orange have lost two straight close ones on the road.

For Bulls fans, here's a stat that may make you feel good.  This will be the sixth time the Bulls have played in a dome.  They are 3-0 at Syracuse, 1-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto (International Bowl vs. Northern Illinois) and 1-0 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg (Beef O'Brady's Bowl vs. Memphis).

The combined score of those five previous dome games is 170-47 USF.  Take it for what it's worth.

There is a lot to play for Friday.  The Bulls need two more wins to become bowl eligible for the seventh straight year.  A win will get the team back on track as we look forward to three straight home games to finish the season.

TV coverage for this one is on ESPN2 at 8 p.m.  We radio guys get started at 6 p.m. on 970 WFLA and USF-IMG network stations across the state.

Things haven't gone the way we had hoped the last few games, but this one will be fun.  We only get 12 or 13 of these things a year, so don't miss it.

Look forward to seeing everyone at Raymond James Stadium for Miami on Nov. 19.

GO BULLS!