The USF football team has come a long way in the last two years. Now, the Bulls learned they have an even longer way to go to play their bowl game.
They will travel 4,698 miles from Tampa to Honolulu to play San Jose State in the Hawai`i Bowl at 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve. ESPN will televise the game.
It will be the longest road trip in program history.
USF was 6-6 in the regular season, winning four of its last six games after a tough 2-4 start. The Bulls are coming off a disappointing 35-28 loss to Rice last Saturday.
It’s the second straight bowl appearance for USF since Alex Golesh took over last season. The Bulls had won only eight games combined in the previous four seasons before Golesh arrived.
San Jose State is 7-5 overall and 3-4 in the Mountain West Conference.
The game is another opportunity for USF to post the first victory over a team with a winning record during the Golesh era.\\
“We are excited for the opportunity to compete in the Hawai‘i Bowl against a very good San Jose State team,” Golesh said in a news releaseU. “Hawai‘i is a unique and beautiful destination that our players are excited to experience, and we look forward to productive bowl practices and a great game as we continue to build our program.”
The Bulls blew out Syracuse 45-0 last year in the Boca Raton Bowl.
This is USF’s 12th bowl appearance and the 10th different bowl destination and sixth different state or province. The Bulls played one game in Canada.
In the only previous meeting between these programs, USF won at San Jose State 42-22 in the first game of the 2017 season.
San Jose State beat Stanford 34-31 victory at home over Stanford to close the regular season. The Spartans are led by former Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo in his first season.