USF football's season ticket sales are holding up relatively well in a difficult economy, with the current total for season tickets at 92 percent of where the Bulls were one year ago, USF executive associate athletic directo Bill McGillis said Thursday night.

USF has sold 19,483 season tickets, with another 3,214 reserved for miscellaneous things like trade, staff, operations and spirit squads for a total of 22,697 tickets, according to McGillis. The Bulls have what should still be the Big East's largest student section at 12,501 reserved seats as well.

USF set a record last season with more than 27,000 season tickets, so the Bulls will need a busy next two months to come close to that total -- season tickets will be sold until USF's second home game, on Sept. 19 against Charleston Southern. The Bulls have two I-AA opponents as their opening home games, but also have a much anticipated game with Miami in November and West Virginia also coming to Tampa.

On July 15 last summer, we wrote that USF was at nearly 24,000, and the current number of 22,697 would put them within 1,300 or so of that pace. And it's ahead of what we wrote in July 2007 -- before the first run to No. 2 in the national rankings, etc. -- when USF said it had sold 17,800 in late July.

USF will roll out its mainstream advertising campaign over the next few weeks, capitalizing on the "fan experience" at Raymond James Stadium and a price plan that was found to be the least expensive in BCS football in a survey by the Oregonian newspaper.