USF Athletics

Bulls Move Up to No. 19

November 19, 2017

TAMPA, NOV. 19, 2017 – The USF football team (9-1; 6-1 American) will carry a top 20 ranking and a school-record 17 straights weeks in the Top 25 into Friday's War On I-4 clash with No. 13/12-ranked UCF (10-0; 7-0 American). The game, set for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff in Orlando before a national television audience on ABC, will feature two ranked teams for the first time in the ninth meeting between the schools.
 
USF checked in at No. 19 in the Amway Coaches Poll and at No. 22 in the AP Top 25 Poll, moving up a spot in both. USF and UCF are joined by No. 17/16-ranked Memphis (9-1) as American Athletic Conference teams in the Top 25. The entire AP and Coaches polls can be seen here: http://www.espn.com/college-football/rankings.
 
Memphis has clinched The American's West Division and will face the winner of the War on I-4 in the American Conference Championship game on Sat., Dec. 2. The site of that game is dependent on the outcomes of this week's games.
 
USF and UCF will play for the War On I-4 Trophy, which was unveiled in 2016. Claimed first by USF, the traveling trophy measures 4-foot-3-inches in height and weighs 160 pounds with a detachable, pewter replica of the iconic I-4 road sign. The two different sides of the road sign are emblazoned with "Tampa" and "Orlando," representing the metropolitan areas that together form the fourth largest media market in the nation and are connected by 100 short miles of Florida Interstate I-4.
 
USF leads the series with UCF, 6-2, and has won the last two meetings. This marks the first time two ranked teams will meet in the game and the third time USF has entered the game ranked. It is the second straight season two already bowl eligible teams will meet. The two teams are among just nine nationally with one loss or less on the year. 

About USF Football
USF finished the 2016 season ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll with a school-record 11 wins following the program's fifth-ever bowl victory in the Birmingham Bowl. The Bulls' 11-2 record marked the fifth-best winning percentage in FBS football in 2016 and one of just 11 teams to reach 11 wins. USF set nearly 40 team and individual records in 2016, including team records for total yards (6,650), rushing yards (3,714), touchdowns (77) and scoring (569). Quarterback Quinton Flowers was named the American Conference Offensive Player of the Year and led a school-record 10 players named to the all-conference team, six of which, including Flowers, returned in 2017. 

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