USF-UM in 2006?

[Cubanbull]

According to Sunday's Miami Herald. UM is looking at FAMU at home as the 12 game for next year.

Also ESPN is looking into adding Oklahoma at UM in 07 and UM in Oklahoma in 09. UM is playing UF in 08 at a site to be determined.

So it looks like USF might never get that return game.

[sdgukhsdgl]

well the way things are going now FAMU will be lucky to exist by 2006

[Cubanbull]

Hopefully the Big East and MT will be able to work out a deal with ESPN so that game in Tampa is televised. Thats basically the deal they achieved with UM at LaTech and UM at Houston. The bad part was that BOTH of those games were not on a saturday.

[bulls96go]

hope it happens soon

[MikeG]

If they do pull out of giving us the return game, does anyone know how much the buyout is? I would imagine it is pretty steep (not so bad they wouldn't do it) but that dropping the game itself would be more embarassing than it is worth.

[BullDoug]

620am mentioned this this morn.  Sileo probably read it out of the MH.  It appears UM has no plans to play in RJS.

[lotsofbull99]

Well, if they don't come to RayJ then this should be the last season we play them.

[Jim Johnson]

Here is the official notice, as posted by Bulliever in December of last year -- emphasis added:

From the USF SID Office

USF and Miami agree to home-and-home football series

(December 23, 2004) Tampa, Fla. - The USF Bulls will play their first-ever road game in the State of Florida when they take on the five-time national champion Miami Hurricanes in the Orange Bowl Saturday, October 1, 2005. The game will be the first of a two-game series between the Bulls and Hurricanes. Miami will visit USF at Raymond James Stadium on a date to be determined after a January 2005 NCAA vote regarding 12-game seasons.

“It’s a testament to our football program that we are able to schedule a five-time national championship team on a home-and-home basis,†said USF Director of Athletics Doug Woolard. “I know our fans will enjoy the in-state rivalry that this series will create.â€Â

University of Miami Director of Athletics Paul Dee said, “We’re pleased to play the University of South Florida. The Bulls have developed into a very good football program in a very short period of time. Next fall, USF will enter the Big East Conference and we think they will provide a great level of competition.â€Â

With the addition of Miami to the 2005 schedule, USF will face three teams (Miami, Penn State and Pittsburgh) that have combined to win eight national championships.

In addition to a first-ever season of Big East football, USF will play three in-state teams in a four-week span, including to Miami, Florida A&M (Sept. 10) and UCF (Sept. 17). The Bulls open the 2005 season September 3 at Penn State.

“I don’t know how anyone could ask for a more exciting challenge then adding Miami, one of the best programs in the country, to a schedule that is already as challenging as our 2005 schedule will be,†said USF head coach Jim Leavitt. “If a young man wants to play against the very best football teams in the nation, he should definitely consider being a Bull. Our recruiting and our spring season will need to be the strongest they have ever been.â€Â

Larry Coker, head coach at Miami, said, “The University of South Florida and head coach Jim Leavitt have put together a fine football program and we’re looking forward to an outstanding football game.â€Â

[Papa_Bull]

I didn't read the Herald article, but less than two months ago this appeared in the Tampa Trib:

NCAA FOOTBALL  

New Rule Changes Dynamics For UF-UM

By ANDY STAPLES astaples@tampatrib.com

Published: Apr 29, 2005

GAINESVILLE - Florida and Miami will meet again in football, the schools' athletic directors said Thursday, but a new NCAA rule could force a change of date, venue or both.

Miami athletic director Paul Dee said the schools ``were prepared to play'' in 2008, probably at Tampa's Raymond James Stadium, Orlando's Citrus Bowl or Miami's Dolphins Stadium. But after the NCAA's board of directors voted Thursday to allow Division I-A schools to schedule a 12th regular-season game beginning in 2006, the possibilities are wide open.

The Gators and Hurricanes could elect to play a home- and-home series as they did in 2002-03, or they could go ahead with plans for a neutral- site game, which would allow the schools to split the gate receipts. Only one thing seems certain: don't expect an annual Florida-Miami meeting.

``We agreed that when it passes, we'll talk,'' said Dee, in Tampa on Thursday for a Hurricane Club meeting. ``We already have a basic understanding that it won't be an annual game. We will play regularly on an intermittent basis. In other words, we might play twice every six years.''

Foley said Thursday that he and Dee haven't discussed the game for ``about six months'' and that the Gators won't start scheduling new opponents until Foley can meet with first- year coach Urban Meyer and hammer out a scheduling philosophy.

``It's too early to tell,'' Foley said. ``Obviously, I want to sit down with Coach Meyer and put the schedules up on the board and do what's best for our football team.''

Area Miami fans shouldn't despair if the rule change eliminates the possibility of Hurricanes-Gators at Raymond James Stadium. The 12th game actually could bring Miami to RJS even sooner. USF is due a return date for its scheduled Oct. 1 appearance at the Orange Bowl, and the new rule could allow the Hurricanes to come to Tampa as early as 2006.

``[uSF coach] Jim [Leavitt] and I will get together and get with Miami and see which year makes the most sense,'' Bulls athletic director Doug Woolard said Thursday.

More than Florida or Miami, USF - which must fill five out- of-conference schedule slots each season beginning in 2006 - also may examine a corollary to the 12th-game rule that will allow schools to count one win a season against a Division I-AA opponent toward bowl eligibility. Previously, schools could count one such win every four years.

The idea of a 12th game rankled the American Football Coaches Association and members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but the measure passed Thursday by a vote of 8-2-1. College presidents comprise the NCAA board.

``I don't really want a 12th game,'' Miami coach Larry Coker said. ``With a conference championship game and a bowl game, we're talking 13, 14 games.''

Though NCAA leaders said the proposal wasn't passed solely to fill athletic departments' coffers, AFCA director Grant Teaff said in an interview earlier this month that the coaches believe ``it's a financial deal.''

NCAA president Myles Brand did not deny that, but he said his staff's research did not indicate a negative effect on players' academics in a 12- game regular season. The NCAA last allowed 12 regular- season games in 2002 and 2003 because 14 Saturdays fell between the first and last permissible playing dates.

However, Brand did warn that a 12th game is not a license for athletic departments to continue runaway spending.

``These institutions need additional revenue for the commitments they've made. ... The presidents in I-A saw this as one way to increase that revenue,'' Brand said in a teleconference. ``I still think we have the problem - and it hasn't gone away - with control in terms of the rate of increase in expenditures.

``This does not solve that problem.''

The NCAA also must decide whether to make six or seven wins the minimum for bowl eligibility. University of Kansas president Robert Hemenway said the board has asked the NCAA management council to study the problem and suggest a number.

Staff writers Joey Johnston and Brett McMurphy contributed to this report.

[Apis Bull]

What disturbs me the most is that ESPN is brokering football series