Thursday night’s game at Raymond James Stadium marked the return of the rivalry between the
Big East’s USF Bulls and Rutgers Scarlet Knights. It is a rivalry that, as was proven yet again
during the game, has been dominated by Rutgers over the years.
Think back to the year 2007. When most of today’s undergraduates were still in high school, a
young, vibrant football team out of Tampa took the college football world by storm, beating a
No. 17 Auburn squad and a No. 5 West Virginia squad within three weeks of each other. Three
wins later, that same up-and-coming USF team emerged as No. 2 in the nation.
And then there was Rutgers.
Still rolling from a huge 64-12 win over in-state rival UCF, the Bulls viewed the Scarlet Knights
as simply another surmountable obstacle in their quest for nationwide glory. But true to USF’s
lifetime record of 2-6 against Rutgers, the Bulls suffered a heartbreaking 3-point loss to the team
that knocked them out of the national ranking altogether.
From that moment on, an “unofficial” rivalry was born.
Rutgers has never been considered a “real” rival to USF. Depending on who you ask, either
the University of Central Florida or Florida State University holds that role. However, it is the
Scarlet Knights who truly seem to have the Bulls’ number, beating them when it matters most or
kicking the team when it is already down.
Ask the fans and they’ll probably tell you that there is something to the idea of a team “curse”
when playing Rutgers or Thursday night games on ESPN—a task the Bulls are 0-8 in since that
fateful 2007 loss to the Scarlet Knights. But ask the man in charge and he’ll tell you a different
story.
“I don’t believe there is a curse…I don’t believe in that,” said head coach Skip Holtz. “I believe
our curse was that we turned the ball over five times. That’s where they had our number. We
control that. No, there is no ‘black cloud’, there is no ‘Thursday night curse’, no ‘Rutgers has our
number.’ It’s about us going out and doing a better job.”
Curse or not, there is one thing everyone can agree on: Rutgers has now given the Bulls even
more motivation to prove themselves this season and to continue toward the still reachable goal
of a Big East title. As for avenging this loss to the Scarlet Knights, the Bulls will have to wait.
However, the team can take solace in knowing this:
There is always next year to turn this rivalry around.
Samantha Ouimette is the sports editor of The Crow’s Nest. She can be reached at ouimette@mail.usf.edu.
Featured image courtesy of J. Meric and USF Athletics.
