For the second year in a row, USF coach Jim Leavitt will finish the Big East season on the road in sub-40-degree temperatures, knowing that Raymond James Stadium is unavailable because the ACC Championship Game is being played there.

"That has really been a blessing to me," Leavitt said with a healthy dose of sarcasm Tuesday night. "There's no way we would have gone to West Virginia and UConn the last game, probably. We probably would have it here, but (for) the ACC Championship Game. I was disappointed by that whole thing."

Syracuse is the only other Big East team to play its conference finale on the road in each of the past two seasons. And even though his team lost by 21 points at home to an ACC team not good enough to make the conference title game, Leavitt didn't mind taking a shot at the game's presence in Tampa.

"Listen. How many were here last year?" he said. "Was there a reason it left the Gator Bowl? They lost millions of dollars. How many millions have we lost on it here? Probably, if anybody really did the investigation on it."

Told that Clemson has, in fact, bought a strong number of tickets for Saturday's game, Leavitt responded.

"Clemson probably will. Georgia Tech might," Leavitt said. "They both lost games to SEC teams going into the championship. That looks kind of bad for the ACC. How are we against ACC teams? What's our record? Last five games, what, 4-1?"

USF had won four straight against North Carolina (twice), N.C. State and Florida State before losing Saturday to Miami. The Bulls lost to Miami and N.C. State in 2005, making them 4-3 all-time vs. the ACC.