This.
I think the media plays a huge role in getting fans excited about going to games. Locally, we have beat writers that focus more on the negative than the positive. Nationally, it seemed like the ESPN announcers were putting USF down the entire game (with some exceptions). I think there is extreme bias against USF.
I don't think the opponent is the problem. Penn State drew over 100k fans to watch them play Akron. Miami drew over 50k to watch a game against Bethune-Cookman, etc, etc... Obviously, we'd all rather see better opponents.