The USF Bulls secured a home game at Raymond James against in 2023, and will travel to Bryant-Denney Stadium in Tuscaloosa in 2024 and 2026.
USF has been packing on the matchups against Power 5 opponents while the UCF Knights have not. The Bulls also secured a nice series against the University of Florida hosting the Gators in 2021 and playing at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in 2022, and 2025. Sprinkle in a series against the Hurricanes when USF travels to Miami in 2025 and 2028 but will host UM in 2027.
A Chance To Gain Exposure
College football scheduling is the very definition of playing the long game. Contracts are drawn. Handshakes are made. Schools schedule these series years out to accommodate all in conference scheduling while also attempting to satisfy all of the lesser known schools that benefit from the exposure as well as economic impact of playing a game against a more followed, higher ranked, powerhouse school. We here in Florida are very lucky to have the powerhouse programs that we do at the big 5 schools as well as the recent successes of Florida Atlantic University under Lane Kiffin, and Florida International University under Butch Davis.
As far as the Bulls scheduling these big games. Look for USF head coach Charlie Strong to use these upcoming games as recruitment incentives to keep so much of this Florida talent from escaping Tampa Bay to other universities. The very reason why teams like Florida, Miami, and now Alabama schedule these matchups against the Bulls are to keep their recruitment channels in the Bay area open, and fluid.
USF now has 10 games in the next 15 years scheduled against SEC & ACC teams. This goes a long way to expanding their reach into other areas of the country as well as bolster their strength of schedule and legitimize them as football program. In addition it adds much needed revenue to the coffers of the USF athletic program which at some point intends to pursue building it own stadium.
Hats off to HC Charlie Strong and the Bulls for making these moves to solidify their program.
