USF-FSU crowd: 50-50?

Posted Sep 27, 2012 by Joey Johnston

Updated Sep 27, 2012 at 04:05 PM

You won’t see Renegade riding out from a tunnel Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.

You won’t see Chief Osceola planting a flaming spear at midfield, whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

But by all acccounts, you WILL see thousands upon thousands of Florida State fans when the No. 4-ranked Seminoles (4-0) challenge the home-standing University of South Florida Bulls (2-2).

USF assures the game will be a sellout, but has not released any single-game tickets as of Thursday. Other than the usual allotment to students, season-ticket holders and the official FSU block, the only way to get a seat has been to purchase USF season tickets. The tickets also are fetching a good price on the secondary market.

The Bulls do not want the Seminoles to take over their home stadium, so that game-within-a-game will be something to watch.

Bulls SS JaQuez Jenkins said he “never liked’’ the possibility of a hefty FSU presence at Ray-Jay.

“It’s our house,’’ Jenkins said. “This is our stadium. Anything that has anything to do with garnet and gold, we really don’t want to pay any attention to that. It’s all about green and gold.’‘

USF senior RB Demetris Murray said he’s “pretty sure’’ the fan split will be 50-50. Bulls senior LB Sam Barrington simply expects the environment to be “electric.’‘

“In the student section, I don’t think they’ll be able to hear a thing,’’ Barrington said. “I know it’s going to be a packed stadium. I’m just excited for it. I think I’m speaking for every guy on this team when I say that.’‘

USF coach Skip Holtz, who got his start as a graduate assistant at FSU in 1987-88, said he expects a noticeable Seminole presence.

“With their success and the length of time their program has been around, you’d expect them to have a bigger fan base,’’ Holtz said. “It was built over time. It wasn’t built overnight. That’s part of the challenge we have this week. I don’t get mad because we’re going to walk in there and there’s going to be Florida State fans in our stadium. I would expect there to be.

“But there will be a lot of USF fans there. I’m excited about our team being able to play a game of this magnitude at home.’‘