Tonight the USF Bulls welcome into Ray-Jay an FCS team from the MEAC conference, the Howard Bison, as both teams come into the contest looking for their first victory of the year.
This is the first meeting between these two football programs, however, this is not the first introduction for Howard Head Coach Larry Scott with the Bulls.
This game for Coach Larry Scott is a homecoming, as Coach Scott played for the South Florida program in the infant years and also was on the coaching staff from 2005-2012.
The Bulls will also be breaking out the SoFlo Black uniforms for the game, as they hope that maybe the SoFlo uniforms will spark something as the team won in them last season against FAMU.
Simply put, the Bulls and Jeff Scott come into this game with a lot to improve on after last week’s lackluster performance in a 50-21 loss to BYU at home.
Offense
Looking at the offensive side of the ball, Gerry Bohanon and the offense will be looking to build off their sluggish start from last week. While the offense saw some bright moments such as the Xavier Weaver and Bohanon connection, the offense didn’t click, showing flashbacks from last season.
A player to watch out will be Brian Battie. Battie returned many of the kicks from last week’s BYU game and was a heavy part of the special teams. Hopefully Battie can get some reps tonight against one of the team’s more winnable games on the schedule.
The offense, though, needs to get rolling tonight, no ifs, ands or buts. If Bohanon can throw for 3 TDs and 250 yds or more tonight and get the offense clicking like we saw for brief moments last week, USF should be able to win in style.
Defense
Shifting over to the defensive side of the ball, the Bulls were quiet for a majority of last week’s game, with only one interception on the stat sheet. The team allowed a concerning amount of yards last week under first year DC Bob Shoop, with the team allowing almost 600 total yards of offensive with 279 of those yards on the ground.
One thing that concerned me last week was the team’s positioning. With the no huddle offense that BYU ran last week, USF was not prepared for a lot of those plays and were behind schedule because of the way BYU’s play style is.
USF needs to tighten up on defense, especially on the pass rush and come out with some turnovers. The team almost had a big fumble recovery touchdown, however, it was overturned. If USF can attack the pass and tighten up, they should look much improved for tonight.
Final Thoughts
Tonight’s game is not a test game like last week; this is a “work” game, meaning that USF will be needing to improve on a lot of things before heading back into their toughest stretch of the season.
USF should still have a tough game against FCS-level Howard, who brings in QB Quinton Williams who has a respectable 480 yards passing; 339 of those were thrown last week in there 31-28 loss against Hampton. However, in terms of non-conference play, this game is South Florida’s best chance to win.
USF needs to win by 14+. If USF does just that, then I think the team and fans may be able to be comfortable going into the remainder of the year, but if Howard wins or comes close to winning, then concern has to set and the question of Jeff Scott’s future has to be put into play.
While we focus on tonight’s game, the Bulls do have to get ready for their short trip up to Gainesville to take on the #12-ranked Florida Gators in the Swamp, who are coming off a major victory last week versus Utah.
Anyway, tonight’s game will kick off at 7:30pm EST with the game being aired on ESPN+. There is some chance for rain, but the weather should be cleared by kickoff, hoping for a non-delayed game this week.