Even as college football attendance suffers a general decline, USF's turnout appears to be on the uptick.Average actual attendance for the Bulls' first three home games is 24,815, an increase of more than 18 percent from the first three home contests of 2017 (20,906).The actual attendance figures (the number of people who actually cross a stadium's turnstiles/scanners) are provided by the Tampa Sports Authority, which manages Raymond James Stadium. Related: USF's surge on season-ticket sales continues The possible reasons for the increase are plenteous. USF is coming off consecutive seasons of double-digit victories, and remains undefeated through four games. The school also has introduced free-parking incentives for students.Additionally, this season's first three home games all have been played on a Saturday. By contrast, USF's second home contest of 2017 (vs. Illinois) was played on a Friday night shortly after Hurricane Irma, and its third game (vs. Temple) was played on a Friday.But even based on more equitable comparisons, attendance is up.Last year's season opener, against Division I-AA Stony Brook, drew an announced crowd of only 18,302. This season's opener, also against a I-AA foe (Elon), drew 21,698.But perhaps the most telling sign of an upward trend for the Bulls was the actual attendance (25,801) for the Sept. 8 game against Georgia Tech. Though the game started at noon (generally a turnoff for students) with an announced kickoff temperature of 87 degrees, the student section appeared standing-room-only.USF, idle this weekend, has consecutive upcoming road games against Massachusetts and Tulsa before returning home Oct. 20 against Connecticut.
![Joey Knight - Colleges and Recruiting Reporter](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 50 50"/%3E "Joey Knight - Colleges and Recruiting Reporter")