USF Football Announces Two-Game Series With N.C. State

USF athletic director Mark Harlan announced on Monday afternoon the scheduling of a home-and-home football series with North Carolina State set to begin in 2021.

The two-gamer is scheduled to first be played on a Thursday night, September 2, 2021 at Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC as the Bulls season opener. The Wolfpack will make a return trip to Tampa on September 14, 2024.

Here is Mark Harlan’s statement, per a school release:

“We are excited to add N.C. State, a high-quality program that has played in four straight bowl games, to our football schedule,” Harlan said. “Bulls football is sustaining a run of tremendous success and we will continue to seek exciting, top-level opponents to challenge during the non-conference season and bring to Raymond James Stadium.”

The announcement comes just four days after USF released information about the scheduling of another ACC opponent for a three-game series beginning in 2022, Louisville.

Through an open records request, The Daily Stampede has the contract details for the two games:

• 2021 in Raleigh- USF will receive $300,000
• 2024 in Tampa- N.C. State will receive $300,000

The visiting teams’ conference will supply the referee’s for each game.

Buyouts:

• The breaching party will owe the non-breaching party $500,000 if the game is cancelled more than 36 months in advance of the scheduled date.
• The breaching party will owe the non-breaching party $1 million if the game is cancelled between 18-36 months in advance of the the scheduled date.
• The breaching party will owe the non-breaching party $1.995 million if the game is cancelled less than 18 months in advance of the scheduled date.

There’s a twelve day window after the first game. which N.C. State could theoretically get out of the game in Tampa for $500,000, plus the $300,000 game fee.

With the additions of N.C. State and Louisville the in the past week, USF will play 11 scheduled non-conference games against Power-five opponents over the next seven seasons. Six of those contests will be against ACC teams, with a pair of games against BYU (2019, 2021) scheduled as well. Illinois (2018), Texas (2020, 2022, 2024), and Wisconsin (2019) round out the future schedules.

With the announcement on Monday, the Bulls will have zero FCS schools on their schedule in:

• 2019 (Wisconsin, @ GT,@ CMU, BYU)
• 2022 (Texas, FAU, @ Louisville, UMass)
• 2024 (WKU, @ Texas, NCST, Louisville)

Keep in mind, all games are subject to being bought out.

It’s to be noted that both Louisville and N.C. State are Adidas schools, much like USF will be beginning July 1.

The Bulls and Wolfpack have met three previous times, with N.C. State holding a 2-1 series edge. USF’s first-ever postseason appearance was a match-up against N.C State in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in 2005, a 14-0 shutout loss.

The Bulls lone win in the series came in 2008, a 41-10 blowout victory in their only trip to Raleigh. The Wolfpack returned the favor in 2014 at Raymond James Stadium with a 49-17 beatdown.

Both USF and N.C. State finished the 2017 season ranked in the Top 25 of the AP Poll, and both programs have played in three-straight bowl games.