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No decision has been made yet on Friday’s scheduled USF football game against Illinois. If it gets played, great! If it doesn’t, that means the Bulls are down to 10 games on the 2017 schedule.
You can live without one game if it can’t be made up. When it gets to two missing games though, it might be time to start improvising. At that point, Mark Harlan and his people may look to arrange an extra game during one of USF’s two scheduled bye weeks. Fortunately there are a few teams in the same boat, and there may be some mutually beneficial options.
Indiana
The Hoosiers bought their way out of a game with USF a couple years ago, but now they’ve seen a game with FIU canceled this weekend. The Bulls and Hoosiers share a bye week on October 7. Would former USF defensive coordinator and current Indiana head coach Tom Allen be willing to play ball? It’s worth noting, however, that Indiana is said to be looking for a home game. USF might have to travel to Bloomington if they want to play.
Georgia Tech
Their away game at C. this Saturday has been called off. They have a common bye with USF, on October 7. Plus, the Bulls and Yellow Jackets are already scheduled to start a home-and-home series next year, with Georgia Tech playing the first game in Tampa. Maybe they could accelerate the series to fill a common gap in their schedules. (This has the added benefit of SERIOUSLY PISSING OFF C. FANS.)
Tennessee (hahaha nope)
Florida’s game with Tennessee this Saturday is still on. Even though the Bulls and Vols also have October 7 as a common bye, I don’t think that game would ever happen if their game with the Gators gets wiped out. Tennessee would surely just take the 11-game schedule like Florida did last year, when they had their season-opening game terminated by a massive rainstorm.
There are a couple options for USF’s other open date, on November 11. They’re pretty sketchy, though. We can all but guarantee one of them (just play Memphis in a non-conference conference game) is not happening.
Louisiana-Monroe
The other possibility is Louisiana-Monroe, whose game with FSU was canceled last weekend. That might be a desperation move, since it would do nothing for USF’s already sketchy strength of schedule.