South Florida Bulls football The South Florida Bulls football team represents the University of South Florida in the sport of American football . The Bulls compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) and the Big East Conference . The team plays its home games in Tampa , Florida . The Bulls began playing in 1997 , holding their first team meeting under a shade tree as the school had no proper football facilities on campus . Jim Leavitt , previously the defensive coordinator at Kansas State , was hired as the team ' s first head coach . After competing their first four years as a Division I - AA ( now Division I FCS ) independent , the Bulls moved to Division I - A , now Division I FBS , in 2001 but remained independent . They joined Conference USA in 2003 until becoming a member of the Big East in 2005 . The Bulls ' starting quarterback for the 2007 South Florida Bulls football team was sophomore Matt Grothe , who was awarded the Big East Rookie of the Year award in 2006 after being the most productive freshman in total offense with 258 . 5 yards per game . South Florida is also home to senior defensive end George Selvie , who was named the school ' s first Consensus All - American in 2007 . South Florida received increased press coverage for their upsets of Top 25 ranked teams such as West Virginia ( in 2006 and 2007 ) , Louisville ( in 2005 ) and Auburn ( in 2007 ) and the Florida State Seminoles ( 2009 ) . The 2007 football season marked their first ascent into the AP Poll , first placing at # 23 , rising to # 18 in Week 4 , jumping to # 6 after the win against West Virginia , rising one more spot to # 5 in week 6 after a victory over Florida Atlantic University , and jumping 3 more spots to # 2 with 11 first place votes after beating the University of Central Florida . The Bulls ' high ranking was short lived , as South Florida lost its next 3 games and tumbled out of the rankings . However , the Bulls rebounded towards the end of the season , finishing the regular season ranked # 21 in the BCS standings and # 23 in the AP poll . Following their final regular season game , they faced the unranked Oregon Ducks in the Brut Sun Bowl . Oregon defeated the Bulls by the score of 56 - 21 , in which USF set a Sun Bowl record for most points allowed to an opponent . USF was dropped from the national rankings in both the AP Top 25 and USA Today polls following the loss in this bowl game . USF won its first bowl game in its second bowl appearance with a victory over former Conference USA rivals , the East Carolina Pirates on December 23 , 2006 in the Papajohns . com Bowl . The previous year , USF lost to the NC State Wolfpack in the Bulls ' first - ever bowl appearance , the 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl . Leavitt remained as the team ' s head coach throughout this period . He was fired on January 8 , 2010 after an investigation revealed that during halftime of a game against Louisville , he grabbed a player by the shoulder pads and struck him across the face two times . The investigation also claimed that Leavitt interfered with the investigation by telling several coaches and players to change their stories . Leavitt maintains he never struck the player , but was merely trying to console him , and is currently suing USF . On January 14 , 2010 , Skip Holtz was named head coach . Stadium . Raymond James Stadium is a $ 168 . 5 million facility which opened September 20 , 1998 with a Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the Chicago Bears . Two weeks later , the Bulls debuted in their new home with a 45 - 6 win over Citadel in front of 32 , 598 fans . From 1998 to 2007 , only the lower half of the stadium has been typically opened for USF games , allowing for a capacity of 41 , 441 , ( although the upper deck has been opened numerous times to accommodate crowds in excess of what the lower bowl can handle ) . However , as of 2008 , USF has opened the upper deck for every home game and is selling season tickets in the upper deck as well . The largest crowd to see the Bulls play a home game came on September 28 , 2007 against then # 5 ranked West Virginia , when 67 , 012 saw the # 18 Bulls win . The Bulls played at Houlihan ' s Stadium in 1997 . The Bulls have continued to enjoy a winning edge in Raymond James , building a 43 - 11 record since 1998 . , including one streak of 21 straight victories at home . Current Pro Players . National Football League ( 10 ) Arena Football League ( 7 ) Canadian Football League ( 1 ) United Football League ( 4 ) Free Agents ( 11 ) Media . Bulls football games currently air on the radio in Tampa on 970 WFLA - AM . Play - by - play man Jim Louk is teamed with color analyst and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer Mark Robinson in the booth for the broadcasts . Many of the televised games air locally on ESPN Plus outlet WFTS - TV . Some replays of the games can be seen on Bright House Sports Network . Due to USF ' s affiliation in the Big East Conference , most games can be seen on one of the many channels ESPN owns . Rivals . Due to the youth of the program and the aggressive growth that it has experienced , establishing a permanent rival has posed somewhat of a challenge . Rapidly changing conference affiliations and a quick ascension through the NCAA football ranks have made an annual rivalry difficult . On the heels of upsets that have garnered national attention , the seeds of rivalry have been planted with powers such as Louisville and West Virginia . Additionally , due to the close geographic proximity of the two schools , the University of Central Florida has expressed interest in extending their four game series with the Bulls ' by establishing an annual home - and - home series . However , according to the Tampa Tribune report released on 7 July 2007 , USF does not plan on renewing the game with UCF after 2008 . Likely candidates for a future rivalry game include Louisville , another former member of Conference USA before its move to the Big East ; West Virginia ; Rutgers ; and Miami , with whom USF has announced a 6 - year series to be played on Thanksgiving weekend . The last 4 games of the USF / UM series ( 2010 – 2013 ) will be televised by one of the ESPN networks on Thanksgiving weekend . With UM locked up for 6 years , USF appears very unlikely to continue the series with UCF , but instead seems focused on potentially establishing a rivalry with Miami . After the 2009 win against # 18 Florida State University ( USF - 17 FSU - 7 ) , FSU is another potential candidate for a huge in - state rival . Recently the Big East Conference plans to create a 12 team model that includes the UCF Knights . While the conference expansion landscape of college football is fluid , the addition of UCF to the Big East would indeed jump start the " The War on I - 4 " again . A rivalry between South Florida and UCF will easily reform , especially if UCF is able to knock off the Bulls in their first few seasons in the league . To date the most likely rivalries grow in the future for South Florida include West Virginia , Rutgers , Miami , and UCF . For more on the USF - UCF games , see The War on I - 4 . School Songs . Golden Brahman March ( Fight Song ) Alma Mater