ESPN College Football

Saturday's inaugural magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl might not seem like the most desirable postseason landing spot. But to hear Tyrone McKenzie tell it, there's hardly anywhere that South Florida would rather be.

"I always thought that if we couldn't play in a BCS game, the next best thing was the St. Petersburg Bowl," said McKenzie, a senior linebacker. "It's right down the street from us so our fans can go. Everybody's pumped for it."

This bowl season feels a little different for the Bulls, who spent the last three postseasons in El Paso, Birmingham and Charlotte. Now they're 30 miles away from campus and are practicing on their home field even though they've moved into a St. Petersburg hotel this week.

"We're still going to all the events and have the hotel and stuff," quarterback Matt Grothe said. "The only difference is that when we go out, we know where to go and what to do. We're not lost in a different city."

South Florida (7-5) didn't get much time off between the end of the regular season on Dec. 6 and the start of bowl practice five days later. That may or may not be a good thing. The players won't have the rust from the usual layoff, but they weren't exactly on fire heading into bowl season either, losing four of their last five games.

Perhaps stepping out of the Big East, where they went just 2-5 this season, can help. The Bulls were 5-0 in the nonconference slate, including wins over bowl teams Kansas and N.C. State. St. Pete opponent Memphis (6-6) isn't entirely unfamiliar to the coaching staff since the two schools played each other in Conference USA until 2004. But the Tigers have never faced Grothe and this particular Bulls' offense before.

"Memphis likes to play a lot of man coverage and try to get after the quarterback," Grothe said. "They blitz a good amount, and their defense likes try to make you force stuff. But we could have some good opportunities against some of their coverages."

It will be up to Grothe and his teammates to take advantage of those opportunities, something the offense struggled to do late in the year. South Florida failed to score more than 20 points in any of its final five games and averaged 12.5 points in its last four contests. Turnovers have been a huge problem, especially in the season-ending 13-7 loss at West Virginia when the Bulls outgained the Mountaineers but gave the ball away three times. Two of those turnovers came at the goal line, and the Bulls turned it over on downs in the red zone on their final drive.

"A lot of things have happened to us," said Grothe, who had 11 interceptions in the last five games. "We've had some young guys in there, and at the same time we've tried to force some stuff because of the situation we put ourselves in during the middle of the season. And it just hasn't worked out for us."

The defense, on the other hand, played well to end the regular season. After a 49-16 blowout loss at home to Rutgers, South Florida tightened up over its last two games, allowing just 13 points in each. Connecticut had only 258 total yards and star back Donald Brown was held under 100. West Virginia produced 280 total yards, with Pat White limited to 40 yards rushing.

"Rutgers was the worst game of the season for us by far," McKenzie said. "Going back into practice the next week, we changed it up a little bit. The coaches got after us, and guys were ready get on out there and play another game."

The Bulls' D has been strong against fairly one-dimensional teams like Kansas, N.C. State (when Russell Wilson was hurt), UConn and West Virginia. Memphis is a very balanced team, averaging almost the same amount of yards rushing as it does through the air. The Tigers change formations a lot and have a 1,100-yard back in Curtis Steele, plus a quarterback who can make plays on the move in Arkelon Hall.

"They like the spread the ball and do a whole bunch different things," McKenzie said. "It's time for us to go out there and show what we've got."

The game will be the first-ever Division I college football game played at Tropicana Field, home of baseball's Tampa Bay Rays. The Bulls are expecting a friendly crowd; they've distributed almost all of their original 10,000-seat allotment, and with Memphis returning a large chunk of its tickets, fans who purchased upstairs seats are being allowed to move downstairs. Bulls players expect large groups of friends and family to attend the game.

"It's just right over the bridge, so it's not far at all," Grothe said.

St. Petersburg may be a long way from the BCS or a New Year's Day game, but at least it's almost home for South Florida.