Bulls face Illini after hurricane
TAMPA — No. 22 South Florida feels blessed to be playing again, facing Illinois a week after Hurricane Irma interrupted the Bulls' season.
The families of first responders are among the people coach Charlie Strong has invited to join the teams for the nationally televised game that's also a homecoming of sorts for Illini's Lovie Smith, the former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
USF (2-0) returns to action after last week's American Athletic Conference opener at Connecticut was postponed due to Irma, the massive storm that affected communities throughout the Sunshine State.
“First and foremost, just so blessed that we are safe,” said Strong, who's also opening the gates to Raymond James Stadium to all high school teams in Florida.
“I wake up every day in my world, and it's just centered around football. What we went through the past few days puts everything in perspective. It's more than just football. It's about us coming together as a community.”
The Bulls hope to fill more seats than usual at Raymond James Stadium while also showing their appreciation for the contributions of first responders, who are being offered up to four tickets apiece.
The Tampa Bay area was not hit as hard as some areas of the state, however Strong said it's important to remember how others were impacted.
“It's all about us giving back,” the coach said. “It's going to take a while (for storm victims to recover), we know that.
“We just want to make sure people understand that we're not going through what they're going through, but we can help them get through what they're going through.”
Illinois (2-0) can match it victory total for all of last year, Smith's first at the Big Ten school, who hired the former NFL coach after the Bucs fired him following the 2015 season.
The one-time Chicago Bears coach went 8-24 in two seasons with the Bucs, who like USF, play their home games at Raymond James Stadium.
Illini defensive coordinator Hardy Nickerson played most of his NFL career with Tampa Bay, and safeties coach Donnie Abraham is an ex-Buc whose son, Devin, is USF's co-leader in interceptions with two.
“Playing a ranked opponent we know a lot about them,” Smith said.
“One of our goals for our season was to start off 3-0, and now we're in position to do that.”
Strong and Smith are friends who have followed one another careers from afar, with each becoming head coaches after serving as defensive coordinators.
The USF coach, who took over the Bulls this year after being fired at Texas last season, said one of the proudest moments in the business was sitting in the rain at the Super Bowl in February 2007 and watching Smith's Bears lose to Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts.
“It was very significant because it was two AfricanAmerican coaches, and as you're growing up, you never felt like that moment would ever come,” said Strong, then Florida's defensive coordinator.