South Florida Bulls football

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2006 South Florida Bulls football

Conference

Big East

Ranking

Coaches

#Unranked

#29 (17 points)

2006 Record

9-4 (4-3 Big East)

Head Coach

Jim Leavitt

Offensive Coordinator

Rod Smith

Defensive Coordinator

Wally Burnham

Home Stadium

Raymond James Stadium

Previous Season	Next Season
2005	2007

The South Florida Bulls are a Division I-A college football program that plays its home games in Tampa, Florida. The team began playing in 1997 and has had only one head coach, Jim Leavitt. After competing their first four years as a Division I-AA independent, the Bulls moved to Division I-A in 2001 but remained independent. They joined Conference USA in 2003 until becoming a member of the Big East in 2005.

The 2007 quarterback for the Bulls is sophomore Matt Grothe.

The Bulls earned what was arguably their biggest victory since the football program's inception with a 24-19 win over then-No. 7 ranked West Virginia in front of a national television audience in their 2006 regular season finale, ending the Mountaineers' chances of winning the Big East title and representing the league in a BCS Bowl Game. South Florida won its first major divisional game in 2005 against Louisville, a shocking 45-14 blowout, over the then-9th ranked Cardinals.

USF won its second ever bowl game with a victory over the ECU 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 game, the 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl.

USF's nine wins in 2006 matched a program record and has helped increase the media profile of the team. As a result, USF finished the 2006 season ranked #29 in the final AP Poll with 17 points, landing them just outside the coveted Top 25. A Nationalchamps.net poll has the Bulls ranked No. 25 for the 2007 college football season.

1 Stadium
2 Bowl Games
3 Current NFL Players
4 Media
5 Trivia
6 External links
7 References

[edit] 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 The Citadel, in front of 32,598 fans.^[1] For USF games, the lower half of the stadium is opened, allowing for a capacity of 41,441^[2], although the upper deck has been opened numerous times to accommodate crowds in excess of what the lower bowl can handle.

The Bulls have continued to enjoy a winning edge in Raymond James, building a 43-10 record since 1998.^[3] , including one streak of 21 straight victories at home.^[4]

[edit] Bowl Games

Meineke Car Care Bowl-2005^[5] (NC State Wolfpack 14, USF Bulls 0)
Papajohns.com Bowl - 2006^[6] (USF Bulls 24, ECU Pirates 7)

[edit] Current NFL Players

DeJuan Green - Running Back, Oakland Raiders
Anthony Henry - Cornerback, Dallas Cowboys
Kawika Mitchell - Linebacker, Kansas City Chiefs
Frank Davis - Offensive Guard, Detroit Lions
J.R. Reed - Safety, St. Louis Rams^[7]
Andre Hall - Running Back, Denver Broncos

[edit] 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, as does Coach Leavitt's weekly show. Some replays of the games can be seen on Catch 47. Due to USF's affiliation in the Big East athletics conference, most games can be seen on one of the many channels ESPN owns, usually ESPNU or ESPN2.

[edit] Trivia

The Bulls have never been shut out in a regular season football game. The only shutout they suffered was a 14-0 loss to North Carolina State in the 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl.