All week, the Bulls have been preparing for a game that has more than just bowl eligibility implications. USF and Miami have a short history together with recruiting battles and an on-field thriller last season, so many fans have come to have the Miami date circled on their calendar. As many of you have probably seen, I spent the week going around to different outlets asking "Do you consider USF-Miami a rivalry?". I went to Facebook, Twitter, USF forums, and even a Miami message board to get what the fans think about the annual (for now) showdown. It's always interesting to hear what people with different perspectives have to say about things like this.
It's known throughout the region that USF is sort of looking for a rival. The Bulls stopped playing UCF, and ever since then they have roamed around looking for someone to fill the void. They played Florida State and Florida, but they already have a major rival to play on Thanksgiving weekend. Miami was left out in the cold, since the other two of the then-"Big Three" had each other. USF came along, and for the first few games of the series it appeared that Thanksgiving weekend would just be a tune-up game for UM, as they won the first three meetings. But then last year's game happened. With Miami's coach already on the hot seat and USF riding a bit of momentum coming into the game with their new coach, the Bulls came out to the field ready to show the state that it's ready for the big time. In a thrilling victory, USF showed Miami that it was worthy of playing them every year. The game probably didn't mean much to Miami fans, but Bulls fans everywhere were bursting with excitement over the thought that this potential rivalry could actually have some merit to it.
So is this actually a rivalry game? I'll share some highlights of what I gathered from all the different outlets after the jump.
First, I went to Facebook for a poll. I didn't get a lot of responses, but here's the results:
After the Facebook poll, I turned to the Bulls247 message board and asked USF fans what they think of the matchup. The results were similar, and here are a few excerpts of what Bulls fans think about it (you might have to click on the picture to clarify it):
After reading the USF fans' reponses, I decided that in order to get a real look at this, I need to tread into enemy territory. So I went to Miami 247 message board see what Miami fans thought about the in-state showdown. While I got a few responses that were less than eloquent, I got a pretty good sample size of how UM fans saw USF:
So it looks like the consensus among Bulls and Hurricanes fans is that USF and Miami aren't quite yet rivals, but the groundwork is there for some serious potential. Ever since leaving Conference USA, USF has been looking for someone on the same level as itself to call a rival. With past years' recruiting battles and recent games, USF and Miami may be on their way to creating something meaningful. Miami opted not to extend the home-and-home series past 2013, but there's still time to try to convince them to reconsider. Miami is very aware that USF is a rising program, but it's clear that with their decades of history and multiple national and conference championships, Miami doesn't view USF as on the same level as them, and rightly so. The reality is that USF hasn't been around long enough yet to have a rivalry with such an established program, but if they continue playing each other every year, there's potential for some meaningful games down the road.
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