Much like everything else during the pandemic, college football has not been spared.
The South Florida Bulls were scheduled to kick off the season this Saturday at Texas. The trip to the Lone Star State was to be followed by visits to Raymond James Stadium from Bethune-Cookman next Saturday and Nevada on September 19.
However, cancellations resulting from many conferences doing away with fall sports and other conferences limiting or eliminating non-conference play left teams like USF scrambling to fill vacancies in their schedules.
Instead of traveling to Austin this weekend, the Bulls open Jeff Scott’s first season as coach at home next Saturday against The Citadel. That will be followed by a trip to Notre Dame, which was announced last Thursday after USF agreed to a three-game series with the Fighting Irish. The dates of the other two games have yet to be determined.
“It is going to be a great opportunity for our university, for our program and for our student-athletes to get great exposure and play on one of the biggest stages in college football,” says Scott, referencing the Notre Dame schedule agreement.
If it were up to Scott, playing non-conference games against the Fighting Irish will be the norm. As it is, the Bulls are scheduled to host Florida next year and play at Alabama in 2023.
“I am a big believer in playing some big-time games,” he says. “Our players work extremely hard and I really think they deserve an opportunity to be able to play on some really big, and unique, stages against some of the best teams in the country. It’s an opportunity for our players to show their skill set and see where we are as a team.”
As far as this season is concerned, the Bulls will see where they are as a team starting next Saturday at Raymond James.
Here is a look at their schedule:
