USF Athletics

Louk's Closer Look: Game 11

November 21, 2017

GAME NOTES at UCF

By JIM LOUK
Voice of the Bulls

TAMPA, NOV. 21, 2017 - We're playing a football game in Orlando on Friday.
 
You might have heard.
 
It's taken a while for this game to get to where people thought it might.  It's been a few years now since television and conference folks moved it to an annual Thanksgiving time event in the hopes that the final game of the regular season would be meaningful to both parties.  More often than not, that hasn't been the case.
 
Until now.
 
It's 10-0 vs 9-1.  Darn that fourth-and-24.
 
That really didn't change much for this game, though.  The trophy, and all associated back injuries from trying to move it, awaits the winner.  So does Memphis, and a chance at a conference championship and further glory.
 
It's also a matter of pride.  A full year of chatter is in front of us until these two teams meet in Tampa in 2018. 
 
Is it the most important game in USF Football history?  I have no idea.  There's no context to it yet, and there won't be for a while.
 
But it is a potential gateway to some things this program has always strived for and has yet unaccomplished.  So, yes, this 250^th game in program history is a pretty big deal.  Time will tell how big.
 
When we started a college football program at USF, this is the type of thing we signed up for.  It's no fun without rivalries.  It's no fun without games that matter, especially at season's end.
 
Around 7 o'clock Friday it will be a glorious moment for one team.  The other will start to think about the 2018 game.   Because win or lose, the rivalry will continue for both programs.
 
Now, just a few War on I-4 notes as we prepare for Friday:
 

• The first USF-UCF game was on Sept. 17, 2005 in Tampa.  The Bulls won, 31-14, and went on to win four straight matchups through 2008.  When the series resumed on Nov. 29, 2013, UCF won two straight. The Bulls have wins in 2015 and 2016, making the all-time series 6-2 in favor of USF.
• Bulls fans will fondly remember Oct. 13, 2007, when USF beat the Knights, 64-12, in Tampa in the most one-sided game in the series.  The closest game was the very next year, when the Bulls edged UCF in overtime in Orlando.  The Knights dealt the Bulls a home shutout loss in 2014.
• This will mark the fifth consecutive year the game has been played around the Thanksgiving holiday.
• Nov. 24 has been a good day for the Bulls. They concluded their 2001 season on that day with a 34-13 home win over Utah State.  Six years later, the 2007 regular season concluded in Pittsburgh with a 48-37 win over the Panthers at Heinz Field.
• The countdown is on for Quinton Flowers, who needs 96 yards of total offense to become USF's all-time leader. He enters this game with 10,780 total yards.
• The Bulls enter this game best in the nation in tackles for loss, averaging 9.1 per game.
• As mentioned, this is USF Football's 250^th game. The all-time record is 145 wins and 104 losses.

 
Television coverage will be on ABC beginning at 3:30 p.m.  On the radio, we'll begin at 1:30 p.m. Eastern time with the pre-game on AM-820 in Tampa, with affiliates FM-99.9 in Brooksville, AM-1070 in Port Charlotte/Ft. Myers, and 106.9-FM in Sarasota.  Don't forget you can also listen on USF Bulls Unlimited through the iHeart app.  Follow @BullsUnlimited for the full program schedule, including live games.  Men's and women's basketball, who both play Friday, will be featured on AM-1040 and GoUSFBulls.com.
 
Have a wonderful holiday.
 
GO BULLS!
 
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. 

Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.