USF football's history on the big stage: a mix of real good, not so good, and u-g-l-y

The USF football team plays its second Top 10 team in four weeks when 8th-ranked Miami visits Raymond James Stadium at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The Bulls had to increase available seating at Ray-Jay by opening the upper deck to accommodate ticket demand. A crowd of about 55,000 is expected, and ESPN will carry the game during prime time (and no, we don’t mean Deion Sanders, who almost took the USF job before choosing Colorado; thanks from a grateful Bulls Nation for that).

Obviously, this game is a huge opportunity for the Bulls, but it’s not like it will be the first time USF has been on a big stage. The results have been mixed: some big wins, some flops. I went back over the program’s history to choose what I consider the top 10 marquee home games in chronological order to see how the Bulls fared.

1. 2005: USF 45, Louisville 14. A crowd of 33,586 turned out to watch the Bulls destroy 9th-ranked Louisville in USF’s Big East debut. The Bulls roared in front 24-7 by halftime, then opened the second half with a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Chad Simpson.

2. 2007: USF 21, West Virginia 13. West Virginia rolled into Ray-Jay undefeated and ranked 5th in the country. A crowd of 67,012 watched the Bulls take a 21-6 into the fourth quarter, which was enough of a cushion to sustain a fourth-quarter rally by the Mountaineers.

3. 2008: USF 37, Kansas 34. A turnout of 58,755 saw the Bulls take out 13th-ranked Kansas. Maikon Bonani kicked a 43-yard field  goal at the gun to provide the winning points for the Bulls, who led 34-20 with 13:59 to play.

4. 2016: FSU 55, USF 35. Legendary FSU coach Bobby Bowden brought his 13th-ranked Seminoles to Tampa for the first time and won a wild shootout. The crowd of 61,665 saw FSU jump in front 48-21 before a couple of late USF touchdowns narrowed the score slightly.

5. 2016: USF 52, Navy 45. The 22nd-ranked Midshipmen came to Tampa for the first time five weeks after FSU’s visit and fell behind 28-0 after quarter. A touchdown as time expired made the final score look closer, but the Bulls were never really threatened as 31,824 fans watched.

6. 2017: Houston 28, USF 24. The Bulls were 7-0 and ranked 17th in the country when the Houston Cougars pulled off the upset. A crowd of 32,316 watched as Houston rallied from down three points in the final 1:46 to stun the Bulls. First, quarterback D`Eriq King completed a 30-yard pass on fourth-and-26 to keep the final drive alive. King then ran for a 20-yard score with 11 seconds left to end USF’s 12-game winning streak, the longest in the nation.

7. 2019: Wisconsin 49, USF 0. The season opened with a total splat against the 19th-ranked Badgers in front of 46,704 people. It was 28-0 by halftime and never got any better. It was the beginning of the end for head coach Charlie Strong, who was fired after USF finished the season 4-8.

8. 2021: Florida 42, USF 20. Jeff Scott, in his second year as USF’s head coach, was still struggling under the weight of what the Covid pandemic did to his team the year before. The Bulls lost 45-0 to open the season at N.C. State before coming home before 66,646 fans for the 13th-ranked Gators’ first visit to Tampa. Alas, the Bulls trailed 35-3 at halftime, and the rest of the game was academic.

9. 2022: BYU 50, USF 21. USF fans were cautiously optimistic as the Bulls opened the season at home against the 25th-ranked Cougars. That optimism lasted all of 11 seconds as BYU’s Puka Nacua ran 75 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first play from scrimmage. The 31,521 fans at Ray-Jay realized they had been Charlie-Browned again. Jeff Scott was relieved of his duties with three games left in the season, much to the relief of Bulls fans.

10. 2023: Alabama 17, USF 3. Under new coach Alex Golesh, the Bulls opened some eyes by playing 10th-ranked Alabama to the wire in front of 65,138 fans in less-than-ideal conditions at Ray-Jay.  ‘Bama didn’t put the Bulls away until just 33 seconds were left in the game. USF fans were buoyed and liked it even better when Golesh announced afterward the days of playing for moral victories were over. Hey, maybe this guy knows what he’s doing! The Bulls finished 7-6 with a 45-0 win over Syracuse in the Boca Raton Bowl.