USF Football First Look: Bulls vs. Miami Hurricanes

We have to talk about football some more? It's not over yet? OK, FINE, WE WILL. GOD. The Bulls, needing to win out to gain bowl eligibility, head down to Miami this weekend to take on the Miami Hurricanes, as the teams meet for the fourth consecutive year. Let's get to know this year's edition of the Hurricanes.

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GAME: South Florida Bulls (3-6, 1-4 Big East) vs. Miami Hurricanes (5-5, 4-2 ACC)
WHERE: Sun Life Stadium, Miami
DATE/TIME: Saturday, November 17, 3:00pm Eastern
TV/RADIO: Sun Sports, 98.7 FM The Fan
TICKETS: It's a Miami game, so there may be juuuuust a few seats available.

The Bulls are 1-3 all-time against the Canes. They lost in the old Orange Bowl in 2005, lost again in Tampa in 2009, ended Randy Shannon's tenure with an upset win in overtime in 2010, and lost what was probably the worst football game in USF history last year.

CONFERENCE: ACC (9th year). Miami was a charter Big East football member, but was picked off in the first Swofford Crusades in 2003.
WEB SITE: HurricaneSports.com. Also, everyone wave hello to Miami's associate AD for communications and marketing Chris Freet, and assistant communications director Amy Woodruff, both of whom escaped Bill McGillis's clutches.
2012 SEASON: Al Golden is performing the long-needed teardown and rebuild job that the Miami program has needed ever since Larry Coker let things go to crap. As a result, the Canes are playing tons of underclassmen and suffering through the expected growing pains to sit at 5-5 on the season. They've been very up and down -- blown out by Kansas State and Notre Dame by a combined 93-16, winning shootouts over Boston College and NC State, and mowing down Virginia Tech in a nationally televised Thursday night game. Last week Miami lost a 41-40 heartbreaker to Virginia, giving up the winning touchdown with just 11 seconds left.
SB NATION BLOG: While we continue to mourn the loss of The 7th Floor, the new Miami blog The State of The U is probably more appropriate for the new culture Golden is building in Miami.
OTHER NEWS OUTLETS: Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

KEY OFFENSIVE PLAYERS: Stephen Morris went for an ACC-record 566 yards passing against NC State, and while he hasn't come close to that mark since then, he's still having his best season throwing the ball. Explosive freshman Duke Johnson and Mike James sharing the running duties, and six players have at least 20 receptions, led by Phillip Dorsett's 42.

KEY DEFENSIVE PLAYERS: Miami's defense has been as sketchy as USF's, and that might be putting it mildly. Shayon Green leads the Canes with 60 tackles, while Eddie Johnson is the top linebacker and Anthony Chickillo (a name that might be familiar to USF recruitniks) is another standout on the defensive line.