The South Florida Bulls, fresh off their 34-7 upset win over No. 25 Boise State, will make the 130-mile drive north this Saturday to face their in-state rivals, the Florida Gators.
The Gators showed some promise for the first time in the Billy Napier era, handling the Long Island Sharks 56-0 in their first game of the season.
This will be the fourth matchup between USF and Florida, with the Gators holding a 3-0 advantage. These two teams last played in September 2022; the Gators won 31-28.
Florida coach Billy Napier had high praise for Alex Golesh and the USF Bulls: “South Florida has got a really good football team. Coach Golesh has done a nice job evaluating high school players and then doing a good job in the portal. You know, this is a veteran team. There are a lot of upperclassmen that can contribute. I do think the defensive group is stingy. I think they play with effort and toughness.” I think they’ve got a really good sticky group in the back end from the coverage standpoint. I do think the backers are explosive, and then there are quite a few front players that play, so there’s some depth there.”
The Bulls held the Broncos’ rushing attack to 122 yards and 3.2 yards per carry last week. One key for the Bulls to win this game is to slow down Florida quarterback DJ Lagway.
Alex Golesh talked about Lagway and what he brings to the Gators:“A generational talent, the most impressive thing about him is his composure.”
The Bulls will have to pressure Lagway, and win the battle of the trenches. Florida, which has a veteran offensive line, allowed 11 tackles for a loss against Long Island.
USF had five tackles for a loss against Boise State, and the Bulls could exploit this area with nine starters who are seniors or graduate students. The USF defense forced three turnovers and stopped Boise State four times on fourth-down plays.
The Bulls are 17.5 underdogs to the Gators and will need to deal with the overall atmosphere and the crowd noise to be competitive and steal a win. Alex Golesh, who was an assistant at Tennessee before coming to South Florida, knows all about the crowd noise in The Swamp.
“The environment is a huge part of the preparation. You can’t make it solely about that, but the crowd noise is real.”
“It certainly affects how you operate, specifically on offense. Our job as coaches is to prepare our guys to not allow that to be a factor. That’s part of the home-field advantage, and we’ve got to make sure it isn’t a factor in how we play.”
The Bulls must also keep their emotions in check against their in-state rivals.
This game is an excellent measuring stick for the Bulls to measure their progress and see how the gap is closing between them and a blue-blood program like Florida. Look for a tough physical and emotional contest, which will be decided by three points or less.
Other Notes
—Linebacker Jhalyn Shuler was named the AAC defensive player of the week for his career-best 14 tackles against the Broncos.
—Linebacker Mac Harris was named to the Pro Football Focus National Team of the week after collecting eight tackles and forcing a fumble that ended a Boise State drive.
—Quarterback Byrum Brown returned to the field for the first time in eleven months, and earned the Davey O’Brien Award Great 8 national recognition for his performance. All Brown did was accumulate 253 yards of total offense (210 passing and 43 rushing). He added two rushing touchdowns, completed 67 percent of his passes, and had a career-best passing grade of 92.2 by Pro Football Focus. Brown was awarded the Honorable Mention AAC Offensive Player of the Week.
—USF is 2-9 all-time against the SEC. Their two wins came at Auburn in 2007 and the Birmingham Bowl against South Carolina in 2016.
—The Bulls are 12-40 all-time against ranked opponents.