Rivalries... will there be a trophy for USF-UCF ?

[SkypointBull]

Seriously this series will die after 2 games. We don't need a Cup or a Trophy to play for. Nor do we need one to make the season interesting. We should focus on the Big East and doing what it takes to win it. Every year we will have a game that we get hyped up for and I don't see UCF as that game.

[Guest]

We've NEVER PLAYED. How can there be a trophy?

Come on, Nam!  There's a "first time for everything"...

At some point in the past, someone said .. hey, let's play for an old wooden bucket... and it became a trophy.

Although "Corridor Cup" is about as lame as it could get.

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Personally, I can't believe it took 9 years for USF to play this game.  It should be played every year and I believe UCF has the potential to be USF's biggest rival.

Right now, USF doesn't really have a rival.  To be sure, there are teams that we as individuals don't like (Gaytors, So Piss, Loserville, Criminatti)... but to them we are nothing more than a nuisance.

A rivalry has to go both ways.  Florida-Florida State. Texas-Oklahoma. Michigan-Ohio State. Pittsburgh-West Virginia. Louisville-Cincinnati.

USF will never have an annual series with Florida, Florida State, or Miami -- so we can cross them off the list.  In-conference rivals are all too far away to build any meaningful rivalry (how many USF fans will go to Rutgers every year? or Syracuse?)

An ANNUAL game is what can make losing seasons bearable... "Well, we didn't make a bowl game, but at least we beat..."  I don't know of any other school that would be willing to play USF on an annual basis.

And if you don't think that the annual part is important... consider this: Florida-Miami... not something I would rank with the strongest rivalries.  It's kinda like USF-Southern Miss: both schools hate each other, but they almost never play so what's the point.

[Greg Auman]

hey guys. we had some fun with this discussion in our season preview section last week. it's tough to find online, but here it is ...

GREG AUMAN, St. Petersburg Times

Copyright Times Publishing Co. Sep 1, 2005

It takes time to build traditions.

USF is proud of its relative youth, enough to boast it doesn't follow tradition, it creates it.

But now that the Bulls have moved into the Big East, a conference whose football roots date to the early 1990s, it's time to find the quirky, nuanced stuff that make college football fun. The Gators have had Mr. Two-Bits in his yellow shirt, the Seminoles - barring another NCAA reversal - have Chief Osceola riding out on Renegade and throwing his spear.

The Bulls? The "Traditions" link on USF's Web site simply has the words to the alma mater and fight song. True to form, they include words that only exist in college alma maters, with mystical rhymes such as, "We hold our standard upright and free/Our beacon lighted and noble to see."

For the Big East's overall newness, many of USF's new rivals are historic universities that played football during the 19th century, programs whose media guides are peppered with grainy black-and- white photos of leather-helmeted heroes. The Bulls have to cheat a little to make up for missing out on that, and we're here to help.

Find a rivalry trophy and give it a cool name

The long-awaited rivalry with Central Florida - just by its sheer geography - looks to be the Bulls' best. This year marks the first meeting, but nothing projects the illusion of history like some rusty pail or seemingly ancient chalice to trade back and forth.

You could open a flea market booth with all the traditional trophies in, say, the Big Ten, which has the Little Brown Jug (Michigan-Minnesota), Old Brass Spitoon (Indiana-Michigan State), Old Oaken Bucket (Purdue-Indiana) and more.

What typifies the rivalry between the Bulls and Knights? Perhaps the ever-widening interstate that joins Tampa and Orlando. Like I-4 traffic, it has taken a long time to get UCF-USF on the schedule.

Maybe the I-4 Construction Helmet? The orange-and-white beacon of glory that is Old Bob's Barricade? Who wouldn't leave everything on the field to take home the Fines Double When Workers Present Tureen?

Generations from now, as caravans of fans grind to a halt somewhere around Kissimmee, going east or west, they can tell their kids about the time UCF first won the Congestion Ahead Kettle.

Honor a fallen teammate

Many Big East schools are old enough to have lost players in World Wars, with older fields named not for financial companies, but memorable players whose grandchildren step onto the field and proudly wave at halftime.

At its final home game last season, USF honored Patrick Payton, who died after a motorcycle accident in 2001. Payton never played a game for the Bulls, but to remember him with the classmates he came to USF with was a proud and proper tribute.

His story could be passed on to each player assigned No. 29, the uniform Payton never got to wear.

Give fans a chance to welcome the team to the stadium

Lots of Big East schools have a historic campus walk, with a cheering throng of fans lined on both sides as players march to the field. Granted, Raymond James Stadium isn't ripe with leaf-covered, oak-canopied walks, but maybe USF can spray paint a swath of green pavement, say at venerable Entry Ramp D.

It can sell bricks to donors. Let them put their name on a piece of history and give the Glazers a little extra Man-U money. Instead of driving the team bus into the stadium, let the players walk the last 50 feet flanked by their fans.

Plant a permanent Bull at Ray-Jay

It really would be okay to rip off the minor-league Durham Bulls, whose "Hit Bull Win Steak" wooden billboard over the rightfield wall was a genius gimmick long before Bull Durham made it famous.

Sure, it's the Bucs' stadium, but Jon Gruden isn't going to be threatened by a modest, little, snorting mechanical bovine atop the end zone. With all those 7 p.m. starts, it would be impressive to see his eyes light up all red, smoke pluming out of his nose.

The bull, not Gruden.

[Omniscientbull]

Jim - all of those great rivalry games you mentioned are within the respective shools' conference.  Very few really good OCC rivals.  ND-USC, ND-Michigan, Army-Navy, FSU-Miami (prior to ACC days) and FSU-UF.

[TripleB]

Seriously this series will die after 2 games. We don't need a Cup or a Trophy to play for. Nor do we need one to make the season interesting. We should focus on the Big East and doing what it takes to win it. Every year we will have a game that we get hyped up for and I don't see UCF as that game.

Are you kidding?? Every single USF fan (outside of a few wet blankets on this board) plus a multitude of Gator and Nole fans have been clamoring for this game for 15 years ...    8)

[Omniscientbull]

TripleB  - I'm assuming the smiley face means you were joking.

Of the few hundred USF fans I see regulary maybe 5 or 10 of them have any thoughts about this game.

[Guest]

Jim - all of those great rivalry games you mentioned are within the respective shools' conference.  Very few really good OCC rivals.  ND-USC, ND-Michigan, Army-Navy, FSU-Miami (prior to ACC days) and FSU-UF.

Yup -- but they are also geographic-based.

We just aren't going to be on the short list for any of our opponents when they list their biggest rivals... at least not the ones on some people's short list

Lousiville? They have two trophy games - Cincinnati and Kentucky...

Cincinnati? They also have two trophy games - Louisville and Miami (OH)...

Pitt? Try West Virginia... Penn State (even though they don't play every year)

West Virginia? Pitt... Syracuse... Virginia Tech....

Syracuse? Try Penn State... Pitt... West Virginia...

So what do we have left? Rutgers? Connecticut?  Oooh. Those are potential rivals.

With the exception of Army, Navy, and Notre Dame -- all three of which really don't have a true geograhpic base...

I dare anyone to name more than three rivalries that are not in the same state or neighboring states... in or out of conference.  Can't do it, can you?

Geography is the most important part of a rivalry... next comes the frequency that the schools meet...

[TripleB]

TripleB  - I'm assuming the smiley face means you were joking.

Of the few hundred USF fans I see regulary maybe 5 or 10 of them have any thoughts about this game.

"Joking" is an understatement .....  

It MAY turn into a rivalry but I think the Kanigits are ten times more jacked up for this game than most of us ... I like it because it's a 1-A ooc game and they seem to be hard to come by.

[BULLheaded]

Personally, I can't believe it took 9 years for USF to play this game.  It should be played every year and I believe UCF has the potential to be USF's biggest rival.

yep, right up there with other great rivalry games like ohio state/ohio university, michigan/eastern michigan, miami/fau, fsu/famu and oh so many other rivalries based on geography.

Geography helps but is certainly NOT the most important aspect. Rivalries are created when something is on the line game after game and intensified when over time both teams end up on the losing side and must get revenge. Historically this just so happen to coincide with geography so it isn't surprising that the long run rivalries are also with teams close in proximity. Now a days I just don't think that is as important and it a rivalry certainly shouldn't be fabricated for this reason alone.

Just curious, what exactly would be on the line with this game? Bragging rights of best team in Florida? Conference title on the line? National Championship on the line? I suppose that we have on the line which team will be the 4th potential powerhouse in the state but unfortunately the only way that can play out would be for us to actually be on par (or worse) with UCF and that is certainly not something that I hope for. No, hopefully we'll win these games and put them behind us and as others stated, concentrate on building rivalries with teams that have the same things on the line as we WANT to have on the line like championships.

[TripleB]

Geography helps but is certainly NOT the most important aspect. Rivalries are created when something is on the line game after game and intensified when over time both teams end up on the losing side and must get revenge.

Hit the nail on the proverbial head. When/if UCF joins the Big East, that will guarantee a rivalry. May or may not happen otherwise ...