A statement game against Miami could help South Florida join state's elite teams

[USFishin]

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A statement game against Miami could help South Florida join state's elite teams

By Jorge Milian

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Posted: 2:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 27, 2009

There is no more exclusive club than the Big 3.

Miami, Florida and Florida State – winners of a combined 10 national championships – have dominated college football in the state since the days of the leather helmet.

Now, the University of South Florida is looking to make it the Big 4. The Bulls' rapidly-ascending program took a step in that direction by upsetting FSU 17-7 on Sept. 26 in Tallahassee and will get another chance to show they can play with the state's big boys in today's showdown against No. 19 Miami (8-3, 5-3 ACC) at sold-out Raymond James Stadium.

After the FSU win, the school took out a billboard congratulating the football team for becoming part of the "Big 4." USF coach Jim Leavitt distanced himself from the gesture, saying the Bulls (7-3, 3-3 Big East) have not yet arrived. A victory today against the Hurricanes and Leavitt may find it more difficult to remain humble.

"There's going to be some fire, there's going to be some excitement in the air," UM coach Randy Shannon said. "It's probably going to be a sold-out stadium, one of those deals. It's South Florida having an opportunity to get on the map, beat the University of Miami. Our players have to understand, it's a rivalry game."

In terms of accomplishments, there's no comparing the two programs. UM won its fifth national championship in 2001, the same year USF played its first season in Division I-AA.

That past success allows UM to retain a major recruiting advantage over USF, according to Leavitt, who adds that the Bulls had never beaten Miami for a recruit until doing so twice last year.

But since joining the Big East Conference in 2005, the Bulls have piled up a 39-22 record while the Hurricanes are 36-25. In 2007, USF was ranked as high as No. 2 in the BCS rankings while Miami was suffering through its first losing season in a decade.

UM receiver Leonard Hankerson said he's been hearing people say that the Bulls have passed up Miami's program for the last couple of years.

"It's going to be like a Super Bowl up there," Hankerson said of today's game.

All 65,857 seats are gone for today's 3:30 p.m. kickoff, marking only the third sellout in USF history.

"There's a lot of buzz in Tampa," said USF receiver Jessie Hester, the former Glades Central standout. "It's an epic battle. Our fans are going to be ready to go."

But while USF has much to prove, the game is also important to the Hurricanes, who are looking to finish with 10 wins for the first time since 2003. To do so, UM will have to beat the Bulls and win a bowl game.

"You look at 10 wins, that's where we want to be," said center A.J. Trump, a native of Clearwater who will have about 30 friends and family members at today's game. "We started with a goal of the national title, then an ACC title and then the BCS (at-large berth). I can't afford to lose any more goals. I want to be part of that team that started the turnaround here."

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[2000bull]

was this suppose to be published in tomorrows newspaper? They do know the game's tomorrow, don't they?

[USFishin]

Yes, articles come out on the internet before they're printed in the newspapers.

[SRQ]

nice piece for a non-Tampa Bay area paper.  gotta be a young writer though with the reference to 'dominated college football in the state since the days of the leather helmets".  Heck, Stetson was beating these schools 60-70 years ago and U Tampa owned Miami in the early 70's.  Big 3 is an 80's and later phenomena.

[bulls96go]

just win jim!