Bulls Gearing Up for War on I-4 Battle With UCF
GAME 9 MATCHUP: UCF (5-3, 4-3 in AAC) at USF (1-7, 0-6 in AAC)
DAY & TIME: Friday, Nov. 27, 3:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa
TV: ESPN
RADIO: Over the Air: 95.3/620
WDAE &
Digital: Bulls Unlimited
SERIES: USF leads, 6-5
PURCHASE TICKETS: USFBullsTix.com, 1-800-Go-Bulls
By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, NOV. 24, 2020 – Playing its most complete game of 2020 and making Bulls Nation proud are top priorities for motivated USF as it continues to gear up for Friday's War on I-4 matchup with UCF.
"You gotta love rivalry week," head coach
Jeff Scott said Tuesday. "Rivalries are what make college football so special."
Raymond James Stadium will serve as a special setting for the 12
th edition of the War on I-4 series filled with plenty of drama, winning streaks for both teams and thrilling finishes in past installments.
"This game is a big game for us. It's the War on I-4 and we would be happy to bring home that trophy," said senior cornerback
Mike Hampton (Tampa). "They beat us three years in a row and it's time to get our trophy back."
Ray Jay was the place where USF last hoisted the 4-feet-3, 160-pound grand prize that includes a detachable, pewter replica of the iconic I-4 road sign back in 2016. On a sunny Saturday in the Bay that November, the Bulls rushed for 351 yards and five touchdowns on the way to reaching 10 wins for the first time in school history with a
48-31 victory over the Knights.
From 2005-08, USF won the first four games of the series and the 2016 triumph in Tampa improved the Bulls' record to 6-2 against their rivals. From there, UCF's current string of three straight victories over USF started with an epic back-and-forth battle in Orlando which went all the way down to the wire.
The 2017 epic –
a 49-42 UCF victory featuring 605 yards of total offense by
Quinton Flowers – is still looked at as one of the top college football games nationally that season. It also was one of four War on I-4 meetings to be decided by a touchdown or less.
Any margin of victory over the Knights would certainly be sweet for the current batch of Bulls trying to pull off an upset to remember.
"A win would be a great birthday present," said junior left tackle and Tampa native
Donovan Jennings, who turned 21 Tuesday.
Just a few days from now, Scott will get his first chance to help USF make that happen against UCF. This rivalry might be new to USF's new head coach, but the mission of trying to change a program's fortunes against a notable nemesis reminds him of what Clemson worked to accomplish during his long tenure with the Tigers program.
From 2009-13, Clemson saw South Carolina rack up five straight victories in the storied rivalry series that dates all the way back to 1896. Since 2014, the Tigers have flipped the script on the Gamecocks with six consecutive wins.
Heading into this week's UCF matchup, Scott's wise words for the Bulls are similar to what Clemson probably took to heart years ago.
"Obviously, we understand the rivalry and are excited about that, but our focus really has to be on ourselves," he told reporters Tuesday. "… There's been moments in the season where we've played well at times on defense, we've played well at times on offense moving the ball and we've done some good things on special teams, but we've yet to do that all in one game."
Scott's advice seems to be resonating with players getting ready to suit up Friday, especially key leaders.
"Just try to not look at a team's jersey, look at our jersey," Jennings said. "We're wearing that Bull logo, so we always want to represent that well and just put on for the USF Bulls."
10 Bulls to Be Honored on Senior Day
Prior to Friday's War on I-4 kickoff, USF will proudly recognize 10 senior Bulls at Raymond James Stadium.
This year's group of Senior Day honorees includes Tampa natives
Mike Hampton (CB), DeVontres Odoms-Dukes (WR),
Jacob Mathis (TE),
Jean Marcellus (OL) and
KJ Sails (CB) along with
Troy Fields (OL),
AJ Franco (LB),
Odunayo Seriki (RB),
Antonio Spanolios (OL) and former kicker
Coby Weiss.
"It's been a great four years," said Hampton, a 31-game starter since 2017. "The fans have been great; the community has been great. Everyone in the football organization has been great. I just want to go out with a bang and win this game."
Winning certainly hasn't been easy in 2020 for the rebuilding USF program dealing with a plethora of adversity during the pandemic.
"What I appreciate about those (seniors) is that they showed up every day and continued to lead during some difficult times," Coach Scott said. "I'm very confident about what our next couple years are gonna look like here in our program. I hate it for those guys that they're not gonna be able to be here and be able to see that come to fruition."
Hopeful of many victories ahead, Scott will always remember this year's Senior Day honorees for their efforts that very well could help lead to a much different position in the standings down the road. Much of this season has been about laying the foundation for what's ahead and helping to create what USF's first-year head coach calls a "championship" culture.
"Those seniors were a big part of doing that for us," Scott said. "I definitely have a lot of gratitude for them and I want them to go out and play their best game here in their last one."
Scott Once Scored Against the Knights
Long before he was a highly successful coach,
Jeff Scott was a former walk-on receiver at Clemson who scored his first collegiate touchdown on special teams against none other than UCF in 2001.
"I think some of our players were not born whenever that happened," Scott joked.
While his primary position was on offense, Scott also served as a holder who had a knack for executing well on trick plays.
"We faked six field goals in the three years that I held. Four were successful," he explained Tuesday. "Of the four successful ones, I had three first downs and one touchdown."
That touchdown came in the Tigers' 21-13 win over the Knights to open the 2001 season and Scott still remembers the surprise option play like it was yesterday.
"We really thought it was gonna be drawn up where the corner was gonna take me and I was gonna pitch it to the kicker, but he ended up taking the kicker," Scott said. "I ran and my other recollection of that is if the ball would been on the 23-yard line or any further back, then I would not have scored. The fact that it was on the 22, I literally got the nose over the pylon."
Nineteen years later, Scott has a photo of the play in his home office. Before Scott was hired as the Bulls' fifth head coach, he showed it to Vice President of Athletics
Michael Kelly during the interview process.
"As I was running, I knew that may be my best shot in my career to score a touchdown," said Scott about his lone NCAA score.
About USF Football
The USF football program first took the field in 1997 and completed its 23rd season (20th at the FBS level) in 2019. The Bulls have posted 15 winning seasons, earned 14 All-America selections and 29 first-team all-conference selections and has seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft. USF has made 10 bowl games appearances (going 6-4 in those games) and posted a program record six straight appearances from 2005-2010. The Bulls most recently made four straight bowl appearances from 2015-18 and posted back-to-back 10-win seasons in 2016 and 2017, logging a program-record 11-2 mark in 2016 while finishing both seasons ranked in the Top 25. USF spent a program record 20 straight weeks ranked in the Top 25 during the 2016 and 2017 seasons and reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings during the 2007 season.
Follow @USFFootball on Twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.
- #GoBulls –
