SWC75
Bored Historian
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It's funny watching them on TV and remembering when USF fans didn't want that to be a rivalry: they didn't want to share the Big East brand with a potential rival. Now they are in the same conference together.
It was an obvious natural rivalry. Both schools were football "small" colleges that were actually large universities: UCF, per Wikipedia, has 59,770 undergraduates while USF has 46,646. (Syracuse has 21,267 students, Miami 15,657, Florida 49,042, Florida State 41,710,)
Both decided to move to the big time in college football. Both are located in glamorous places people like going to for their vacations: UCF is in Orlando, USF in Tampa. Both are thus in prime recruiting areas. Having them both in the same conference means you play one game in Florida each year, (assuming that you play everyone, as Big East football did).
Florida has been considered a major college fore a century and Miami since the mid-30's. (They sort of grew up with the Orange Bowl. Florida State had been a women's college until after World War Ii when a tremendous influx of veterans into Florida's college system caused the legislature to make it co-ed. Football soon followed in 1947. they became major college in 1954. They had success in the 1960's under Bill Peterson and became a national power under Bobby Bowden, who took advantage of the tremendous recruiting in the area, starting with the late 70's. They are the template for UCF and USF.
UCF began playing football in 1979, moved form Division 3 to Division 2 in 1982 and to Division 1AA, (FCS) in 1990 and 1A, (FBS) in 1996. They built a 45,323 seat stadium to play in. (The Carrier Dome seats 49,262, Miami's Sun Life Field seats 75,504.)
USF began play at the 1AA (FCS) level in 1997 and moved to 1A (FBS) in 2001. They play in the same stadium as the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which seats 65,857. (Florida's seats 88,548, Florida State's 82,300.)
So the Knights and the Bulls are both potential powerhouses and if the "New" Big East had held together and had both of them, they might have eventually rivaled the "Big Three" in Florida and carried the flag for the conference, elevating everyone else in it. This game might have been one of the big "rivalry week" perennials.
Instead the Bulls didn't want the Knights in and didn't see them as potentially great rivals. The ACC siphoned off much of the Big east and UCR and USF did wind up in the same conference but it's a conference that is basically "Conference USA II".
It was an obvious natural rivalry. Both schools were football "small" colleges that were actually large universities: UCF, per Wikipedia, has 59,770 undergraduates while USF has 46,646. (Syracuse has 21,267 students, Miami 15,657, Florida 49,042, Florida State 41,710,)
Both decided to move to the big time in college football. Both are located in glamorous places people like going to for their vacations: UCF is in Orlando, USF in Tampa. Both are thus in prime recruiting areas. Having them both in the same conference means you play one game in Florida each year, (assuming that you play everyone, as Big East football did).
Florida has been considered a major college fore a century and Miami since the mid-30's. (They sort of grew up with the Orange Bowl. Florida State had been a women's college until after World War Ii when a tremendous influx of veterans into Florida's college system caused the legislature to make it co-ed. Football soon followed in 1947. they became major college in 1954. They had success in the 1960's under Bill Peterson and became a national power under Bobby Bowden, who took advantage of the tremendous recruiting in the area, starting with the late 70's. They are the template for UCF and USF.
UCF began playing football in 1979, moved form Division 3 to Division 2 in 1982 and to Division 1AA, (FCS) in 1990 and 1A, (FBS) in 1996. They built a 45,323 seat stadium to play in. (The Carrier Dome seats 49,262, Miami's Sun Life Field seats 75,504.)
USF began play at the 1AA (FCS) level in 1997 and moved to 1A (FBS) in 2001. They play in the same stadium as the NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which seats 65,857. (Florida's seats 88,548, Florida State's 82,300.)
So the Knights and the Bulls are both potential powerhouses and if the "New" Big East had held together and had both of them, they might have eventually rivaled the "Big Three" in Florida and carried the flag for the conference, elevating everyone else in it. This game might have been one of the big "rivalry week" perennials.
Instead the Bulls didn't want the Knights in and didn't see them as potentially great rivals. The ACC siphoned off much of the Big east and UCR and USF did wind up in the same conference but it's a conference that is basically "Conference USA II".
