Leavitt wants Gators to come to Tampa

TAMPA – In past years, the talk of the Florida Sports Writers Association’s College Football Media Days was Central Florida coach George O’Leary lobbying to USF and coach Jim Leavitt to continue playing their rivalry game every year.

Now, as the Bulls and Knights prepare to meet for the fourth and final time in Orlando on Sept. 6, Leavitt is the one publicly lobbying, asking Florida to come to Tampa and take on USF at Raymond James Stadium.

"Florida won’t come in here to Tampa," said Leavitt, whose team is scheduled to play the Gators in Gainesville in 2010 and 2015. "We haven’t been able to get that done. Before, I could understand why, because we were averaging probably 32 or 34,000. Now we’re selling out Raymond James."

Starting in 2009, USF will play Miami every year for five years, and Leavitt would like to see similar deals with Florida and Florida State, saying that his program shouldn’t be considered part of the state’s "Big Three" until they’ve beaten one of them.

"The Swamp, I’m sure that’s an exciting place to play. I haven’t been there," he said. "I’d love to see that happen in Tampa, too. We’ll see if that happens."

USF isn’t scheduled to play UCF again after this season, and Leavitt said his concern is playing too many state teams each season because of the high emotions those games bring.

-- Bethune-Cookman coach Alvin Wyatt said he expects former USF defensive end Josh Smiley to start for the Wildcats at inside linebacker this fall.

"If he can't go at middle linebacker, he'll start at defensive end," Wyatt said. "He's going to start for us somewhere. We can't afford to have a kid like that just sitting and waiting around. He'll be just like (former USF linebackers) Josh Balloon and Ronnie McCullough."

Wyatt said former USF cornerbacks Antwane and Antonio Cox will start at cornerbacks, giving him three former Bulls starting on defense.

-- Roster note: Linebacker Josh Soto, a linebacker at USF for two seasons, has transferred to Florida International. Soto, who did not play while at USF, will sit out the 2008 season and should have two years of eligibility with the Panthers.

Comments

[Stewfunk]

I've got to say, Ari. Considering all the trouble UF players have gotten into over the years, to come up with three examples that weak is an acheivement. Hornsby - kicked off the team. Nothing you can do beyond that. Tony Joiner - "In an interesting turn of events, Florida Gators safety Tony Joiner was arrested on Tuesday morning and charged with felony burglary despite the apparent victim’s insistence that the whole episode was ridiculous." http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?id=24243&cat=0
So that leaves a guy who threw a sub at a cashier? Call out the swat teams, UF football is out of control!

Steve, Congratulations on reaching old age, but in sports, "not that long ago" doesn't mean 25 years. When the players on the team weren't born the last time the team didn't kick butt, that's a long time.
Despite your completely ignoring my questions to you, I'll address your comments. 1) USF is not a "little" commuter school. On the quantity side, you guys can not be knocked. 2) No one said that USF didn't have talent or, despite your use of quote marks, had "bad" football players. It's just that their not as talented as UF's. Further, I'll give Leavitt credit for being a good coach. No one said he wasn't. 3) "Just imagine how good we'll be" when we start getting talent. I can imagine a team finishing in the top 25 every other year, which would be an improvement. 4) Is BHG "nicer" than Ray Jay. God, no! Is Wrigley "nicer" than Coors Field? Is the new "Boston Garden" nicer than the original? There's a lot more to stadiums than Outback Steakhouse counters, homeboy. Start with intimidation factor, move on to camaraderie with your fellow fans. Even USF's administration admits that they would like to have their own stadium but can't afford it now. This is a topic you might want to drop. 5) Auburn wanted to win the USF game? Is this insight? Questions: did Auburn's coaches spend enough time studying USF's team? Did Auburn's players go into the game with the same leave it on all on the field attitude they would have against Bama of UF? No and no.

[DELdaBULL]

The dead "guy" was a gal and supposedly a friend.

[steve oneal]

Hornsby probably thought the dead guy wouldn't care!

[Ari Hinkelberger]

Hey Stewfunk,
Lets take a guess at how many UF players got arrested in the last 10 months.

You got Jamar Hornsby racking up a credit card of a dead person.

You got Toni Joiner - your star DB facing burglary charges.

Then you got - BEST OF ALL - Jermanine Cunningham one of your better defensive ends arrested for throwing his Jimmy John's sub at the cashier after he told him he had to pay for his bag of chips.

Only in Gator-land. I bet he was pissed the guy put too many pickels on his Italian.

[steve oneal]

For the record, I'll be 52 in September. Born and raised in the Tampa area. Just imagine how good the "little commuter school" with all the no talent players will be when we start getting good players. I guess that just proves what a good coach Leavitt is that he can be successful with "bad" players. You uf fans crack me up. I've been to the swamp and it's not all that great. Do you really think the swamp is nicer than Ray JAY? I know it's human nature to be so envious of USF's rapid success. I was at the Auburn game and I could be wrong but it sure seemed like they wanted to win. I will say that the Auburn fans were the classiest and best sports fans I have ever met.

[Stewfunk]

Doesn't change the fact that all these postings are in response to an article about both teams. When was the last time this many people posted on a USF-only article? Don't worry. I'm sure some day you'll finish better than 35, assuming you don't go on probation when one of the academic rejects you get from the real programs gets in trouble and Leavitt covers for his @ss.

Now that you guys are "big time", you can ignore your program's massive deficit and mix 10 extra bucks in the budget to get your coach a haircut. Flowbees are very 1996.

[J]

Stewfunk, I take it you are not a graduate of the great academic institution you so love. Doesn't take a college graduate to figure out this is a USF message board:

1. The web page address starts with http://blogs.tampabay.com/usf. Sounds like a USF blog to me.

2. The web page the link was from is http://www.tampabay.com/sports/colleges/bulls. Also sounds like a USF board to me.

3. The heading above the link to this article is "Latest Bulls News."

[Bull Daly]

I just hope that both UF and USF can meet in a BCS game. That would be pretty awesome.

[Stewfunk]

J, Look at the top of the page. This isn't the USF message board. It's an article about both teams.

The other obvious difference from last year is that USF's taste of early season success created an undeserved arrogance. We have to listen to the yapping of people at our work who didn't pay attention as your team plummeted to #35.

[Ken]

There would be a LOT of Gator fans if we played a home game with UF--heck, I don't know how many of our current season ticket holders wouldn't root for UF in that game. Some day we'll play; and some day we'll win.

[Bull Daly]

I think it is hillarious that there are all these UF fans worried about the growth of USF. I personally dont care about the "BIG 3 or 4" because it really does not matter. All that I care about is USF getting better each year while reaching the BCS games. USF really does not have to play UM, FSU, or UF to justify our program. We made it pretty far in such a short time without any help from the so called mighty Gators. Yeah, USF may rent out Ray Jay, but it is a lot better than the Swamp as for as stadiums go. I will take going to Ray Jay over going to Ben Hill Griffin any day because it is more state of the art. So UF fans, shut your yap!!!

[J]

"It's not just that USF isn't on UF's level, you're not in the second tier either. You're third tier now, and I give you credit for that."

Well, if your right that means you have a pretty sad and pathetic life. I know I have much better things to do than post on a third tier team's message board.

While I don't think we are on par with the Gators yet, I must admit that the reactions on this thread make me feel pretty good about our program. For a 12th year team to be good enough to bring numerous strong reactions from Gator fans on our own message board tells you a litte something about how far we've come. A year ago, it was UCF fans that were coming over here and posting, now it's UF fans.

[Jim]

BR,
where did you grow up? Somewhere up north I'm sure. If you grew up in Tampa (south Tampa) like me, going to usf wasn't even an option unless you needed to stay home, work and take care of family. I have no problems with some of the academic side, even though it continues to be a fall back option for people who can't leave home. Get real, Tampa is a Gator hotbed with tons of real fans who would support the orange and blue over humpback brahmans. BTW, I do remember going to the sundome and attending usf vs. Gator b-ball games, where the split was about 80-20 Gator.
When leavit starts to get players other top schools covet and can qualify academically, then you may be on your way. Until then, you will stay a little commuter school that plays in a rent a stadium and imports talented players that flunk out, get kicked out of or can't find playing time elsewhere. There you have it. Don't talk to me about not being from Tampa.

[Stewfunk]

Steve, I don't know how old you are, but the Gators have been good to great pretty much every year since 1983. This year's freshmen were born the year that Spurrier came in - 11 consecutive years ranked every week.

More on last year: Nine teams finished higher than USF in "Others Receiving Votes." Your best year ever and you were #35. "Big 4"...yeah, right.

Virginia, Penn State, Kentucky, Wake Forest, Boise State, Arkansas, Utah, Mississippi State, Appalachian State

[Stewfunk]

This article says a lot about where the programs stand. USF is comparing pretty well...to anyone but UF.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orl-colfoot1608jul16,0,625470.story

J, you called me out on the "below average". "Above average" is a stretch, though. This is a pretty simple statistic: you've never finished ranked. There are problem 60+ programs that have finished rank in the last 10 years. It's not just that USF isn't on UF's level, you're not in the second tier either. You're third tier now, and I give you credit for that.

Wild that someone is calling out Hawaii when Hawaii finished top 20 LAST YEAR. Wasn't last year the year that USF supposedly made it to "the next level"?

I'll be honest, though. When we do play, I know that USF is going to be super-pumped. That's why UF loses to SEC West teams every year. They're in town to knock off the Mighty Gators and, to the Gators, it's not an important game. (Same reason you beat Auburn, btw) Urban is very, very smart, though. I'm betting that he'll realize that if we did lose to USF, it would hurt us in recruiting the Bay Area.

Please stop with the Grothe / Tebow comparisons. I'm at work and I can't be laughing out loud!

[steve oneal]

To Jim and all the gator fans, remember it hasn't been that long ago that uf wasn't that good. While we're strolling down memory lane I can recall the headlines on sundays "gators avoid victory again". Only time will tell if we are one of the top teams in the state, but if there success so far is any indication, it won't be long. Go ahead and be jealous of our rapid ascent up the ranks of college football, it's human nature. Oh yeah, mr gator at USF, maybe with the cutbacks needed I can only hope you might be one.

[Sanjay]

CJL has been pretty clear that USF has to beat one of the big 3 for there to even be a conversation about a big 4.

[Elaine]

I agree with Schnellenberger, "[t]his is going to be great state to watch football." But I have to disagree with Leavitt saying his team could be the fourth in a "big four" when it has beaten ONE of the current "big three." Yes, USF had a great year but that is ONE year and you MUST have great multiple YEARS during which you beat one of the "big three" multiple times to even talk about becoming the fourth. USF is on the road to reaching that point and when the time comes I am sure no one will have problems with adding a fourth.

[Mike Lakeland]

Holy Lots of Comments, Batman!

[Brian]

Be happy we are even playing you at the Swamp. Go play UCF/FSU/UM where you might actually win. I get it's natural to want to play the best overall school in the state in just about everything because you probably hate hearing about how good UF is. Fact is we'd rather play UM and FSU because people care about those schools.

[Orlando John]

Just remember: as a head coach Jim Leavitt is undefeated against Urban Myer.

[Dale]

Its decoy Urban Meyer does not want to play a Jim Leavitt Team again in Tampa. Hint Hint: Bowling Green.

[702JV]

Lets see what the great (cough, cough) UF coach can do now that he has to win with his own recruits and not Zook's!!!!

[USF95]

How can you possibly think it would be 90% Gator fans in Tampa. USF fans would come out of the wood work for that game. USF fans would buy season tickets like never before. We will have nearly 30,000 this year with no real major draw home games. You add UF to the schedule and we sell 45,000 season tickets. News to Gator fans that's nearly 75% of Ray Jay capacity. You may say some Gator fans will get those tickets. That's true but those numbers will be offset by USF fans buying single game tickets. The bottom line is Ray Jay would be 75% USF fans and 25% Gator fans. I was at the Outback Bowl a few years ago and Iowa had as many UF fans in Ray Jay. Gator fans can't get in if they can't get a ticket.

[B.R..]

Jim...Curtis Hixon is gone, the Brahman is gone, USF has built a great football program in a short time. USF has changed and grown. You haven't changed. You never grew up in Tampa, or anywhere else and are still small.

[DELdaBULL]

2010 mark it down. In Da SWAMP. Gator 18 BULLS 30.

[Barry]

How can any of you clowns "Hate" Florida?!
HOW LONG have you played football??!! Children are posting here.
When you beat the Gators, you will have earned the right to an opinion.

[Brian]

Does Levitt not get why his D Line coach left for UF? Does he not get why he can't get any of the recruits that UF gets? It's really not that hard to figure out.

[Jim]

Come on all of you little brahman fans, I grew up in Tampa and remember the little brahman signs on billboards attempting to get fans to come to basketball games at Curtis Hixon Hall.
usf will never be anything more than a commuter school where the average age of the student is about 27. How much rent do you pay the Bucs owners to use their stadium? If you need the Gators to help you pay for that, you might as well petition the state.
If you follow recruiting, yeah, you guys have some talent, talent that wasn't highly ranked coming out of HS or somehow got in trouble or flunked out of another school, (See Mike Ford, Alabama).
Finally, please don't kid yourself about wanting the Gators in Tampa. That would be in essence a home game for the Gators. Orange and Blue would flood that place and push out the brahman fans.

[Terry Lucas]

Gator... you should be so lucky to teach at USF... What, didn't want to teach in a hick city lacking a night life other than drunk 20-year olds and retread basketball players smoking out on their summer vacation? Last time UF played a meaningful game at USF (2001 in hoops), I'd say the stadium was about 90% USF and 10% loser Gator alum and students. A football game in Tampa would probably be 85% USF, the full allotment of UF tickets, and then the remaining seats would be corporate sponsored.

And your logic for selling out Gainesville is pathetic... That loser hick town has nothing but football going for them. Our proximity to the beach, competition from both professional baseball and hockey during the season, and a pretty decent downtown scene all take from the casual fan from Ray J's confines on a Saturday night. Are you really a professor with such logic?

J - I hate to have to disagree with you... Maybe you didn't follow last season all that well. We return a more prolific offense than what's lining up in Gainesville. They are taking USC bench warmers just to get somebody in the back field. They have a Heisman winner coming back... is there really that much difference though between Tebow and Grothe (beside 20 1-yd TD runs for Tebow that our running backs can handle themselves?) Would UF be any worse off with Grothe than Tebow... the dropoff would be quite minimal IMO. Grothe is a third year starter... his decision making will be the deciding factor on how far we go... Mark it down.

[Don Corleone]

Its all about revenue, dude. UF wants the home games to fill its athletic coffers. As shown below, the Gators have played only 4 non-conference games away from the Swamp (excluding bowls) in the last six years including two years when they played zero NC on the road. Gator football is an established brand, so they have it like that.

2008 1 away non-conference game at FSU
2007 0 away non-conference games
2006 1 away non-conference game at FSU
2005 0 away non-conference games
2004 1 away non-conference game at FSU
2003 1 away non-conference game at Miami
2002 1 away non-conference game at FSU

[keith]

Gator,

what the hell else are you going to do in a college-only town like gainesville?

oh yeah, go to college sporting events.

as for the guy who suggests USF is a below avg program...where? this is a program at worst is a top 25% team, and with a couple of balls bouncing their way last year they're a top 15 program.

meh. whatever. we're not in UF's class. fine - fact is, that school fought against the existence of a USF program for years...not necessarily the school itself, but the regents FROM that school sure did.

cat's out of the bag.

til the big boys open it up and get on the field with the bulls....y'all gotta wonder....

'are we going to get auburn'd'???

[Tony Grier]

I would love nothing more than to smack the Gators in the face at home.

Until that happens we will always have the that lingering thought we are second tier to them...

Jim, keep working that one and Stan, same drill, get them in the Sun Dome again. A good hoop spanking will do wonders for the program too...

[Ari Hinkelberger]

I use to think that USF would struggle against the Gators. But I just don't see it now. The foundation of South Florida's success has been built on the defensive side of the ball. We aren't Hawaii. Every draft pick out of USF has been a defensive player.

And after watching Florida struggle with Auburn, I haven't been impressed.

That wasn't a really good Auburn team last year and USF managed to still beat them after missing SIX field goals.

I think Florida is good, but I believe it would be a very close game. Especially if Matt Grothe was the QB.

Florida's defense is awful. Anybody who has a CB was the last name of Pierre-Louie is in dire need of some depth.

[J]

Stewfunk,you are correct that there are many people on here that are kidding themselves. USF is no where near UF right now and anyone w/o glasses that are tinted green and gold can see that (even those of us with lightly tinted glasses see it).

However, gotta disagree with you on a couple of points:

"WV is almost 1,000 miles away and their team has maybe 25% as many passionate fans as the Gators." - While I believe the ultimate point you were trying to make is valid and true (that UF would have a lot more fans in the seats at RayJay than WVU), gotta disagree with the 25% as many passionate fans part. The whole state of West Virginia bleeds gold and blue. WVU football is everything there. They would bring less to the stands here, but it's mostly because of distance, not the number of passionate fans. If UF went to Morgantown, the crowd would be 90% WVU fans.

"USF, on the other hand, is a slightly below average program on the way up." - There are 120 Div. 1-A teams, so the average team would be about the 60th best team. So to say we are below average, you are saying there are more than 60 other teams that are better. I agree that we aren't in Florida's class yet, but we're not below average either.

[G.A.]

Wow. Lots of comments here. My understanding is that the USF-UF games have been pushed back by mutual interest -- just made it easier to work other games into the schedule each time. No one side is ducking the other, just moves of convenience.

And 50M is 50-million just about anywhere. 50k is the shorthand you want.

[Gator]

If USF wants to play the Gators somewhere besides, their best shot is the Sugar Bowl.

The stands would be laughably in the Gators favor. There is FAR more money in Gator alumni hands, plus at least quadruple the fan base.

USF hasn't managed to sell out an entire season in a city with 2 million people. Try 32 years for UF in a town of 250k.

[Gator]

Since 1990, UF has played two non-conference games away games besides FSU. One was Miami in 2002, the other was Syracuse in 1991, when it was a preeminent program.

I agree that the stadium would be 75-80% Gators. I am a USF professor and would be wearing my alma mater's colors of orange and blue.

[Alex]

As soon as USF pays the Gators the entire gate, then they will come.

This is the only circumstance where the Gators should stoop to the level of playing a newcomer to the Big East.

[Stewfunk]

"If you were at the West Virginia game"??? Are you being serious? WV is almost 1,000 miles away and their team has maybe 25% as many passionate fans as the Gators. Maybe. Some of you guys are surprisingly clear-headed. The rest of you are kidding yourselves. You finished unranked. Your accomplishments are impressive, but really not that impressive. You've beaten a couple of solid teams and you've blown plenty of games to teams you should beat. UF is the preeminent program in the South and one of the top five in the nation (USC, UT, Ohio State being comparable, Oklahoma I guess is next). USF, on the other hand, is a slightly below average program on the way up.

[sailingbull]

UF needs to man up and come to Tampa! At least Miami has shown the guts to do so! Tampadan, what are you smoking? THERE IS NO WAY UF WOULD OUTNUMBER USF FANS IN OUR OWN STADIUM!!!

As for a 2 for 1 with the Clown College of Tallahassee? Are you freaking kidding me?!?!? They can hit the bricks! They wouldn't even talk to us until UM won the 05 game. FSU will finish sub .500 this year and it won't matter anyway. They'll never smell the top 20 while they have a head coach in adult diapers.

[USF95]

Tampa Dan:

If you were at the WVU game last year then you would realize it would be 75% or greater Bulls fans. USF fans wouldn't allow UF fans the chance to buy tickets. If USF ever received a home game against UF then we would sell 40,000 plus season tickets provided we hold off single game ticket sales to the UF game (similar strategy UCF is imposing this year with the USF game)

[USF95]

I meant $50,000 and certainly not $50,000,000. If they gave us $50,000,000 I would play them in the North Pole if needed. I guess you didn't understand my acronym. It's a roman numeral for a $1,000.

[TampaDan]

Do all you Bulls fans really relish going to a "home" game where the crowd will consist of 75% Gator fans? Like it or not, no other program in this state even comes remotely close to approaching the level of support that is found at UF. Florida fans will buy every single ticket that USF fans fail to buy on a regular basis. Be careful what you wish for, indeed.

[KC]

File this unde WILL NEVER HAPPEN

UF NEVER plays anyone of any substance on the road outside the conference with the exception of Miami and FSU. FSU is state mandated and UM is like the eclipse it only happens every so often. When you think of it UF never plays anyone of substance at home outside the SEC ans UM/FSU.

I agree with Bull Alumni it helps divert the conversation. I would love to see it but don't hold your breath.

[Taurean]

DELdaBULL

1) I didn't intend to double post. It was an error

2) As long as we can consistently win games within our conference and against Miami, what more would we need to prove?

As a USF fan, I can say I don't care to see an FSU series. A Florida series would be nice, but it's not necessary. Miami is as good as any series for right now and as long as we keep winning, opportunities will come to play other teams-- maybe even other SEC or ACC teams.

[SteveJ]

Florida really has no big incentive in scheduling a game in Tampa (or any other Florida school) other than possibly giving south Florida fans an easier trip to a game. Looking at Florida's recent and future schedules they are making an effort to play each D1 school in the state. UCF in 2006, FAU in 2007, UM in 2008, FIU in 2009, USF in 2010, FAU 2011, then @ Miami in 2013 - and of course FSU every year.

[Ken]

We're getting closer, Terry, but I'd have to agree with those who say we aren't there yet. Even CJL says it: We need to beat them to be considered in their league.

If the buyout, USF95, is close to $50M, rather than $50K, we should be very, very happy to have the buyout.

[DELdaBULL]

Taurean,

1. Double posting is a no no.
2. To be da MAN you gotta BEAT da MAN. Meaning we want to beat UF (who will only play us in the SWAMP), UM (we have 5 cracks at them now), and FSU (who is on record saying they will NEVER play us). FAU and UCF were never in the conversation of man, but looks like FAU is trying to pass UCF. They should play and settle it on the field.
3. We are not asking to play UM, UF, and FSU all in one year, just get on the field with them.

Ari we should play USC, just because of their anytime anywhere attitude.

[Gary]

UF doesn't play away out of conference games just for the heck of it. I can't even think of anyone other than FSU and UM in the last twenty years. Even then UM cannot get a permanent series. We will need to do something big to make a home game w/ UF happen.

Also is someone really suggesting we pay a buyout, like less than $50 million means cheap, of what will be one of our biggest OOC games ever?

We are better off trying to get a matchup w/ an out of state power looking to make a little recruiting splash in Florida.