Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte sure has been busy on the scheduling front heading into the weekend.
Earlier on Friday the Longhorns announced that they had scheduled two big time home-and-home series with Florida and Arizona State plus a host of other scheduling related matters. One of those items tucked into the bottom of the release was a note about changing their previous 2-for-1 series with South Florida to a one-off game with the Bulls for next season on Sept. 5, 2020.
So while the ‘Charlie Strong Bowl’ -- for the former UT/current USF head coach -- is still on, it’s a modified version. And an expensive one at that for Texas.
Per the Tampa Bay Times, the Longhorns backing out of the original deal will result in a one-time guaranteed payment to USF for some $1.9 million for their visit to Austin. That may not be quite as fun for some fans of the Bulls but it does help the athletic department coffers by a significant sum.
“We’re disappointed to not have the game here,” USF athletic director Michael Kelly told the paper, “but feel that we’ve negotiated a good compromise.”
The news leaves South Florida with a single non-conference opening in 2020, 2022 and 2024. That might not be the end of the world considering the program is already set to have road trips to both Florida and Louisville in 2022 while hosting two ACC foes in the Cardinals and N.C. State in 2024. Still, missing out on a marquee blueblood coming to town is bound to sting a little even if the schedule is allowed to be a little lighter down the road.