Two suggestions to the University of South Florida regarding its football program and fans:
1) Re-think the reality implicit in the discontinuation of the USF-UCF series. With last Saturday’s game in Orlando, the four-game series came to an end. UCF wants to continue; USF doesn’t.
For USF, it’s understandable that the Bulls, the more successful program, have more to lose than gain by playing a lesser, non-BCS conference opponent. But that overlooks key points.
UCF is the rivalry game that USF, hardly steeped in gridiron tradition, needs. The sort of event that annually energizes a student body and players, many of whom played with and against each other in high school. It also guarantees a sizable profit with big crowds and low overhead – a bus ride across Interstate 4.
And if USF would win most of the time? Well, call it a bonus.
2) Memo to USF students: Should USF knock off nationally-ranked Kansas on Friday night, don’t chant “Over-rated” AFTER the game. Learn from last year’s upset of West Virginia and confine the standard taunt to pre-game hijinks.