ucfknightmb

SPIN IT You will have to cut that into thirds That's one third more conference championships than USF has.

Bull Daly.... The Alabama Board of Trustees, based in Tuscaloosa, also manages UAB and UA-Huntsville. They don't want even the most minute of competition for Alabama when it comes to anything involving football. That's why UAB is forever in the rut it's in. Thankfully South Florida and UCF are not extensions of the University of Florida, otherwise we'd be in the same situation.

If we stayed at the Citrus Bowl a half-hour away and never built an on-campus stadium, I have a hard time believing we would've ever made the amount of progress we did. While our recruiting is never stellar, it probably would be worse than what it is now, even with a renovated Citrus Bowl. USF needs a building with its own identity and something that can bring everyone back to campus, rather than to a Glazer property. That revenue increase - recruiting budget much?

Ha!!! It always has been. Deny it all you want. Now I get it...UCF was midmajor and USF was fortunate enough to leapfrog UCF into the Big East. Of course USF did everything it could to distance itself and timing was everything. I get it and it made perfect sense , but under it all UCF was always of similiar size, 90 miles away and was the only other mid tier FL program. You really hit the equivalent of conference lottery to get into a BCS conference the way you did. For some I am sure there is this reality where USF is in the B12 and UCF is in CUSA. That was never realistic. This is a natural rivalry. UCF has nothing to gain from beating USF..it is now a lose lose for UCF. The only win is winning the conference. Our fanbase and program have nothing to gain from pushing this rivalry other than maybe package deal to big12. Regardless, it is a rivalry whether you want to admit it or not. And despite a lopsided win/loss history it always was. This logic sounds as ridiculous as when the Bulls were good and were saying the same thing. This game helps build a natural rivalry both schools desperately need right now. They don't have an annual OOC game like Florida-Florida State, and there are no rivals in the American, as much as some UCF fans want ECU or Houston to be that school. They aren't.

Someone's still stuck in 2008...

Congrats on finding a trophy to put in that USF Football trophy case.

USF was fortunate, perhaps lucky to be in the position they were in in the first place with being such a young football program. A lot of things had to come together for it to happen so fast. Maybe it's part of the reason that the bottom fell out and the Bulls have had trouble recovering since. USF was never above playing UCF, just like the reverse is true now. Everyone has bigger goals in mind but start by winning the American, or finishing above .500 in the Big East/American (hasn't been done since 2007)

Who is "they"? I don't know a single UCF fan that is beating their chest and saying "nah, we'd rather have a rivalry with Miami/Florida/FSU" like USF did several years back. Everyone I know wants this rivalry. I can't stand USF but part of me is irritated that the Bulls have been so bad recently that it affects a packaged deal for us to go to the Big 12 if they come calling.

I've been to all five games, and have driven up from south Florida for 4 of them (first meeting I was a student and drove from Orlando), whether it was to Tampa or Orlando. I have thanksgiving obligations Thursday and have to work on Saturday. Doing a day trip and driving 9 hours with a football game sandwiched in-between is something that takes the joy out of it. I will be missing this game for the first time in series history. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I don't expect our fanbase to show up in droves. Looks like red seats will outnumber black, gold or green shirts.

Also, TCF Bank Stadium cost over $300 million for Minnesota. Houston's stadium cost $128 million. As for UCF's cheap stadium? The Citrus Bowl folks wanted the school to sign a terrible deal and they had to make a decision. It's all worked out for the better and if the school can make some money down the line, it's compatible for upgrades.

Ask Miami Hurricanes fans what it's like going to Sun Life Stadium these days. No atmosphere there unless Florida State is visiting. And they are a nationally-known entity! The Orange Bowl may not have been "on-campus" but it was so close to Coral Gables it might as well have been. It may have been a dump, but at that point it was their own. UCF's on-campus stadium may look cheap, but you feel close to the action and can build some sort of tradition. UCF fans also faced a similar drive that Hurricanes fans and Bulls fans face if they lived near campus and wanted to see their teams play. The distance to the Citrus Bowl, like it or not, was a casual fan killer. Anyone who thinks staying at the Ray Jay over getting an on-campus stadium is just insane for the reasons above and more, even if it's built similar to UCF's.

Awesome pictures you guys... ...I'm trying to find a photo I remember seeing several years back. It's of a USF fan holding up a sign that says "GOT BCS?" Thanks! ------------------------ But seriously, USF will be back and competitive in what's left of the AAC. Those arguments saying "but if we were in C-USA we would've won the conference"....the Big East wasn't all that great even with such powerhouses as Pitt and Syracuse. And USF finished last in that conference a few years in a row. I don't think there's a dead-last conference team in any of the major BCS conferences that could've won a Sun Belt/MAC/Conference USA/Mountain/WAC at any point. Bad is bad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ZHj9MD5no You know, previously I would've REALLY enjoyed this. But I feel like in order for us to get into a P5 conference (Big 12 in particular), both USF and UCF need to be at a sustained high level. The timing for you to catch a bad break was the worst.

Thank you for recognizing that we do bring a lot more to the table than your fellow fans think. That said, I prefer our OCS over your current situation. I've been to both Miami and USF games, where they are played in pro stadiums and the atmosphere is nothing short of terrible by comparison. Also, how many of those wins among your "tradition" came while you were in a BCS conference? How many of your wins against UCF came while you were in a BCS conference? With the news of your move from C-USA to the Big East, you were still able to recruit BCS talent early enough in time for most of our 4-game series. It will be nice to have a level playing field and see which place the recruits will prefer now. Hopefully see you on the field in 2012. Go Knights!

Congrats on the win... Grothe is going to be a great QB for you guys. He has the accuracy and the quickness. I still think that on paper, this was the year that UCF had the best shot at taking you guys out. Our quarterback didn't show up to play, and our defense...while they looked better than in previous weeks, were still befuddled. USF wasn't doing anything that was rocket science. It was either a screen pass, a short pass over the middle, or a QB draw. The worst is knowing what's coming and you can't stop it. Not sure if that's a personnel issue or coaching issue. I hope for our team's sake...they figure it out. I didn't notice it last year, but I did notice it this year...your band was awesome. It kicked the crap out of ours. Sorry to all the current and former Marching Knights I know, but it was the truth. The enthusiasm was there, while the Marching Knights were in a coma. We need to get out act together on-and-off the field. I saw that USF returned 2k tickets back to UCF, and I thought that was too good to be true. Turns out that it was...because you guys had just as many Bulls fans here than we had Knights fans at the Ray-Jay last year. Sure, I didn't like the outcome of this game, but after witnessing two of these games with the atmosphere and the hype surrounding it....there needs to be a permanent rivalry. Let's face it...for both of our programs right now, games that feel like traditional college football games are few and far between. When USF plays some of the bigger name opponents you get that...as it is with us. Today is about as close as you can get...and it felt like a true rivalry game. We've been through the pros and cons of this in other threads before tonight, but I just wanted to echo that it was a great atmosphere out there. I know people (sadly) that threw eggs at USF fans today. While there are idiots that are fans of every program, I apologize for the BS. See you next year. Matt