Mike Bianchi, the talented sports columnist and provocateur at the Orlando Sentinel, penned a piece over the weekend that caused me to do a double-take.
Mikey, as he is occasionally called, started his column with these words:
“I’m just going to come right out and say it, even if many UCF fans will wag their finger and accuse me of sleeping with the enemy.
“I feel sorry for the USF Bulls.
“And I miss them.
“I miss them desperately.”
The Sentinel is behind a paywall, so I can’t post a link to the column. I will say this, however.
Mikey is absolutely right. The War on I-4 was the best thing both UCF and USF had going, and if Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark is smart – which he is – he would invite the Bulls to join the conference.
Rivalries bring out the passion in college sports, and The War on I-4 checks all the boxes. There is genuine loathing between the two programs, starting with how USF successfully fought to keep the Knights out of the Big East.
UCF smartly built an on-campus stadium, and that changed everything. While USF leadership at the time was dismissive because the Bulls played in an NFL stadium, the Knights began to fill the Bounce House and turned it into a genuine home-field advantage.
USF leaders were slow to realize what was happening in Orlando, at least until the Big East imploded and both schools became members of the American Athletic Conference.
That was the ah-ha moment about what this rivalry could be. Alas, when USF’s football program fell apart while the Knights were ascending, realignment fever hit college athletics.
UCF was received into the Big 12, and USF has been playing catch-up ever since.
However, the rebuild of the USF athletic program is well underway, and the Bulls should be at or near the top of the list when the next round of realignment occurs.
These two programs need each other.
UCF is at the far eastern boundary of the Big 12. Adding USF would make travel easier for all sports besides football. Big 12 basketball, baseball, and softball teams could double up on trips to Florida by stopping in Tampa and Orlando for conference games.
“All the Big 12 teams are a thousand miles away. The shared history is thin. The hate, frankly, has to be manufactured,” Bianchi wrote.
“USF was the game where everything mattered except the records. USF was the game where fans could talk trash all year long, and nobody had to Google where the other school was located.”
Mikey is correct.
Remember how both schools circled the last football game of the regular season?
This year, the Knights will travel to Provo, Utah, to play BYU. Provo is lovely, but are you telling me they wouldn’t prefer to be in Tampa?
Alas, the Bulls are at home that day against Rice.
Gets your blood pumping, doesn’t it?
Bianchi concluded with these words: "It’s in UCF’s long-term interest for USF to get back up, dust itself off and rejoin the big stage. For all the bitterness that once defined this rivalry, here’s the truth that no Knights fan wants to say out loud: UCF football was more fun when USF mattered enough to hate."
The same holds true for USF.
C'mon, Big 12. Bring back the war.