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The War on I-4
Teams	South Florida Bulls South Florida Bulls football The South Florida Bulls are a Division I FBS college football program that plays its home games in Tampa, Florida. The team began playing in 1997, holding its first team meeting under a shade tree as the school had no proper football facilities on campus... UCF Knights
Originated	2005
Most recent	2008
Trophy Series	South Florida leads, 4–0
Current Holder	South Florida

The War on I-4 is an intercollegiate American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 rivalry game between the University of South Florida Bulls

South Florida Bulls football

The South Florida Bulls are a Division I FBS college football program that plays its home games in Tampa, Florida. The team began playing in 1997, holding its first team meeting under a shade tree as the school had no proper football facilities on campus...

 and the University of Central Florida Knights

UCF Knights

The UCF Knights are the athletics teams of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. All of UCF's varsity sports teams are known as the Knights, with the women's teams sometimes referred to as the "Lady Knights." The Knights, which includes the university's 16 varsity sports teams,...

. It was played from 2005-2008, and the future of the series remains unresolved.

The name of the series is derived from the fact that both universities are located near Interstate 4

Interstate 4

Interstate 4 is a intrastate Highway located entirely within the state of Florida, United States. It goes from Interstate 275 in Tampa, Florida to Interstate 95 at Daytona Beach, Florida . It also has the Florida Department of Transportation designation of State Road 400, but only a small...

 (I-4) in Central Florida

Central Florida

Central Florida is a regional designation for the area surrounding Orlando in east central Florida, United States. The area represents the third largest population concentration in Florida, after the South Florida and Tampa Bay regions, respectively....

 and are separated by less than 80 miles. All four of the series games were won by South Florida. This nickname originally belonged to the Arena Football

Arena football

Arena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....

 rivalry between the Tampa Bay Storm

Tampa Bay Storm

The Tampa Bay Storm are an Arena Football League team based in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. They play their home games in the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa....

 and the Orlando Predators

Orlando Predators

The Orlando Predators are an Arena Football League team based in Orlando, Florida that was founded in 1991. Their playoff streak is currently 19 seasons in a row, as of the season, becoming the ArenaBowl champions in 1998 and 2000...

.

In April 2011, UCF head coach George O'Leary

George O'Leary

George Joseph O'Leary is the head football coach of the UCF Knights football team that represents the University of Central Florida located in Orlando, Florida; he previously coached the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team from 1994 to 2001, and served as an assistant coach for the Minnesota...

 remarked that the series would resume in the future, perhaps as soon as 2014 or 2015, however South Florida officials denied that any form of agreement had been reached.

South Florida is a member of the Big East Conference

Big East Conference

The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...

. In response to member departures, the Big East has invited UCF among other schools. If UCF accepts, the rivalry could resume in 2013.

Game results

South Florida victories shaded in ██ green. UCF victories are shaded ██ gold.

Date Played	South Florida		UCF		Location	Attendance
September 17, 2005	South Florida University of South Florida The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...	31	UCF University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...	14	Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium, also known as the "Ray Jay", is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Tampa, Florida. It is home to the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as the NCAA's South Florida Bulls football team. The stadium seats 65,857 , and it is expandable to 75,000 for special events...	45,139
September 16, 2006	South Florida University of South Florida The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...	24	UCF University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...	17	Citrus Bowl Citrus Bowl The Florida Citrus Bowl is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, USA, built for football, which currently seats around 70,000 people....	46,708
October 13, 2007	South Florida University of South Florida The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...	64	UCF University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...	12	Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium Raymond James Stadium, also known as the "Ray Jay", is a multi-purpose football stadium located in Tampa, Florida. It is home to the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as the NCAA's South Florida Bulls football team. The stadium seats 65,857 , and it is expandable to 75,000 for special events...	65,948
September 6, 2008	South Florida University of South Florida The University of South Florida, also known as USF, is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, one of the state's three flagship universities for public research, and is located in Tampa, Florida, USA...	31	UCF University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida, commonly referred to as UCF, is a metropolitan public research university located in Orlando, Florida, United States...	24	Bright House Networks Stadium Bright House Networks Stadium Bright House Networks Stadium is the football stadium for the University of Central Florida’s football team, nicknamed the Knights. Located in Knights Plaza on the main campus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, the stadium was the first on-campus stadium in NCAA Division I...	46,805

2005

Andre Hall

Andre Hall

Andre Hall is an American football running back for the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. He was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent in 2006...

 ran for 155 yards and scored two touchdowns Saturday night to help South Florida beat Central Florida 31-14.

A crowd of 45,139, second-largest (until that time) in South Florida's relatively brief football history, watched the Bulls build a 21-0 halftime lead on the strength of a relentless running attack that finished with 326 yards.

UCF was held to 45 yards rushing and was shut out until Joe Burnett returned a third-quarter punt 60 yards to the South Florida 4, setting up Steven Moffett's touchdown run on the next play.

Moffett also threw a 9-yard TD pass to Brandon Marshall late in the fourth quarter.

One play after Hall nearly scored on a 17-yard run, Pat Julmiste added South Florida's last TD on 1-yard quarterback sneak late in the third quarter. Kyle Bronson added a fourth-quarter field goal to make it 31-7.

2006

USF freshman quarterback Matt Grothe

Matt Grothe

Matt Grothe is a professional quarterback who is currently a member of the Tampa Bay Storm. He has been with the Florida Tuskers of the United Football League. He played college football at South Florida....

 threw for 302 yards and ran for another 73, eclipsing Marquel Blackwell

Marquel Blackwell

Marquel Blackwell is a former American football quarterback. After playing for Lakewood and Dixie Hollins High Schools in Pinellas County Florida, Blackwell was the quarterback at the University of South Florida for four seasons. From 1999 to 2002, he threw for 9,108 yards and 57 touchdowns, and...

's 239-yard game against New Haven in 1999. Blackwell also had a 238-yard game that same year against Liberty. Meanwhile, Grothe now has the top three rushing games by a freshman quarterback in USF history, including his 73 yards today. He had 82 rushing yards against Florida International and 58 in the season opener against McNeese State. Blackwell had held the record with 57 yards against Southwest Texas State in 1999.

Scoring Summary:

1st Quarter

06:52 USF - Marcus Edwards 7 yd pass from Matt Grothe (Mike Benzer kick), 7 plays-79 yards 3:33, USF 7 - UCF 0

2nd Quarter

06:07 UCF - Michael Torres 22 yd field goal, 16 plays-79 yards 6:29, USF 7 - UCF 3

02:15 UCF - W. Thornton 37 yd pass from Steven Moffett (Michael Torres kick), 5 plays-85 yards 2:06, USF 7 - UCF 10

3rd Quarter

00:00 USF - Mike Benzer 30 yd field goal, 7 plays-37 yards 3:27, USF 10 - UCF 10

4th Quarter

11:05 USF - Benjamin Williams 2 yd pass from Matt Grothe (Mike Benzer kick), 5 plays-48 yards 2:08, USF 17 - UCF 10

07:14 UCF - Blake Carter 31 yd blocked punt return (Michael Torres kick), , USF 17 - UCF 17

03:20 USF - Ean Randolph

Ean Randolph

Ean Randolph is an American and Canadian football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League as an undrafted free agent in 2007...

 27 yd pass from Matt Grothe (Mike Benzer kick), 9 plays-90 yards 3:38, USF 24 - UCF 17

2007

The Bulls defeated the cross-state Knights 64-12 in front of a home crowd announced at 65,948. The Bulls held the Knights to just 145 total yards and Kevin Smith, who came in as the nation's leading rusher at 172 yards per game, to just 55 yards in one half of play, the only time during the season that a defense held Smith to under 100 yards. South Florida gained 543 total yards—over three times as much as UCF—while holding the ball three fewer minutes than the Knights. UCF scored their only offensive points—a Kyle Israel rush for a touchdown, and a field goal—in the first half. UCF and USF would also exchange safeties.

2008

In what may be the final meeting of the War on I-4, the visiting Bulls downed the Knights 31-24 in a closely contested battle that went to overtime before South Florida stopped UCF on a 4th and short in overtime.