Bulls And N.C. State To Play Two-Game Series

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– USF Director of Athleticstoday announced the scheduling of a home-and-home football series vs. North Carolina State that will begin in 2021.The two-game series with the Wolfpack features a pair of teams that both finished in the final AP Top 25 Poll of 2017 and have played in three straight bowl games. The series will begin with the Bulls visiting 57,583-seat Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, N.C., to open the 2021 season on Sept. 2. The Wolfpack will come to Raymond James Stadium on Sept. 14, 2024."We are excited to add N.C. State, a high-quality program that has played in four straight bowl games, to our football schedule," Harlan said. "Bulls football is sustaining a run of tremendous success and we will continue to seek exciting, top-level opponents to challenge during the non-conference season and bring to Raymond James Stadium."The addition of two games vs. ACC opponent N.C. State gives the Bulls 11 scheduled non-conference games vs. Power 6 opponents over the next seven seasons (through 2024) in addition to a pair of games vs. BYU (2019 & 2021). The Bulls will play six of those games vs. ACC opponents, with two games each scheduled vs. Georgia Tech (2018 & 2019), Louisville (2022 & 2024) and N.C. State through the 2024 season. In 2018, USF will begin a two-game series with Georgia Tech on Sept. 8 in Raymond James Stadium and complete a two-game series vs. Illinois with a Sept. 15 game at Soldier Field in Chicago. Future schedules also include Texas (2020, 2022 & 2024) and Wisconsin (2019).USF has played 11 non-conference games vs. Power 6 opponents in five seasons since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2013. Among the non-conference Power 6 opponents previously faced over that span were Florida State (2015, 2016), Illinois (2017), Maryland (2014, 2015), Miami (2013), Michigan State (2013), N.C. State (2014), Syracuse (2015, 2016) and Wisconsin (2014).N.C. State finished No. 23 in the final AP and Coaches polls of 2017 after posting a 9-4 record and defeating Arizona State, 52-31, in the Sun Bowl under fifth-year head coach Dave Doeren. The Wolfpack have appeared in four straight bowl games, winning three of those, and has seven bowl appearances since 2010. N.C. State has appeared in 31 bowl games and won nearly 600 games overall.USF and N.C. State have met three times on the football field with the Wolfpack holding a 2-1 series lead. The two teams met in the 2005 Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, USF's first-ever bowl game appearance, with N.C. State taking a 14-0 victory. The Wolfpack also won the last meeting, 49-17, in Raymond James Stadium in 2014. USF's victory came in its one previous trip to Raleigh, a 41-10 victory in 2008.USF posted its second straight 10-win season in 2017 (10-2) by winning its second straight Birmingham Bowl with a 38-34 victory over Texas Tech. USF is one of just 13 teams nationally to win 20-plus games in the last two seasons (21-4) and has spent a program-record 19 straight weeks ranked in the top 25, reaching as high as No. 13 in Week 8 of the 2017 season. The Bulls have won five of their last six bowl appearances and made nine (6-3) total bowl appearances in 21 seasons, including a current run of three straight bowls. The Bulls won a program-record 11 games in 2016 (11-2) and have posted 14 winning seasons. The USF program, which first took the field in 1997, reached No. 2 in the rankings in 2007 and has seen 28 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and had 32 first-team all-conference selections.Follow @USFFootball on twitter for all the latest information concerning the USF Football program.