By JIM LOUK

GoUSFBulls.com

TAMPA - Planes will be flying all over the country Saturday and the USF Bulls will be on none of them.

It's great to be home, not only for this Saturday's game, but for the following two games as well.

A lot of people work very hard to make travel as easy as possible for the Bulls. Assistant Athletic Director Larry Antonucci expertly picks the hotels, arranges the flights, coordinates schedules with airport security, and much more.  More often than not, the trips come off like clockwork, thanks greatly to Larry's efforts.

But that doesn't mean the trips are easy. 

On almost every trip, a group of sponsors and/or boosters are invited, and it's always nice to have them along.  But it is entertaining at times to watch them when they get their first look at the travel schedule.

The Bulls are fortunate to charter on all trips, so they can go home after the game regardless of time.  No matter how grueling the flight schedule is, it's still a lot better than spending a second night on the road. 

But, that schedule can be pretty grueling.

The last two trips are a case in point.  The game at Rutgers started at 7 p.m. and went to overtime.  As a result it was midnight before the Bulls got out of the stadium.  It's a long ride from the stadium to the Newark airport, so it was around 2 a.m. when the plane took off for Tampa.  We landed about 3:30 a.m., but that was including a one hour "jump backward" for the time change, which occurred in flight.  

A bit of advice: a sarcastically enthusiastic "Hey, we get to fly the 2 a.m. hour all over again" comment probably isn't wise at a time like that.

Syracuse was even later; an 8 p.m. start had the Bulls landing well after 5 a.m. in Tampa.

There's plenty to like about road trips (especially when you can bring home a win) but you can see why a lot of us value home games, or at least early road kickoffs.

So we enter Saturday feeling pretty good.  A nice win at Syracuse, a home game, a big crowd anticipated, and some very cool, special uniforms designed to support a great cause. The USF Hall of Fame 2011 class will be honored at halftime. 

The Bulls against Miami is more fun than ever because there is now some context to the series. They won here. We won there. There's some history now.

A win puts the Bulls bowl eligible for the seventh straight year.  Make sure you get to the stadium to see the Bulls' Under Armour Wounded Warrior uniforms and to see the Bulls go for two in a row over the Hurricanes.

TV coverage is at 3:30 p.m. on ESPNU.  Our radio crew, minus Jim Lighthall who will be with Bulls basketball up north, will sign on at 1:30 p.m. on the USF-IMG network.

Three in a row at home!  It's a chance for a big finish for the Bulls. 

See you Saturday.

GO BULLS!