By JIM LOUK
Voice of the Bulls

TAMPA, AUG. 21, 2017 - It's been nearly eight months since the Bulls won the Birmingham Bowl, assuring the 2016 team a USF record 11^th victory.  It was a great achievement, especially considering that the team was in such a transition by the time the bowl game arrived.
 
Since then, the Bulls have had a spring and summer filled with stability and rising expectations. The days of unenthusiastic media projections about the upcoming season are well behind us. 
 
It's a much different situation for the veteran players to be in, and an exciting one for the younger players to experience.  But all players understand the team record is 0-0, and nothing has been proven yet.  The team has that mindset, and it might not be a bad idea for all of us to have it as well.
 
So here we go with a few notes on the beginning of the 21^st season of USF Football:
 

• If it seemed like a short summer, it was.  This Aug. 26 game day is by far the earliest in Bulls history.  USF has played six August games, but none before Aug. 29, a 51-10 home win over Florida Atlantic in 2002.
• This game of course marks the debut of Charlie Strong, the fourth head coach in Bulls history.  His predecessors went a combined 2-1 in their first USF games.
• This will mark the first California appearance for the Bulls since the opening game of the 1999 season, when they visited San Diego State.  The Bulls played their first 1-A opponent that day, and Marquel Blackwell made his USF debut. 
• Quinton Flowers enters the year with 5,219 passing yards (fourth all-time at USF), and 46 touchdown passes (also fourth). His 2,594 rushing yards place him third all-time, and his 30 rushing touchdowns are just two behind Marlon Mack for the all-time USF record.
• D'Ernest Johnson begins the year eighth all-time in all-purpose yards with 2,945. The breakdown: 1,000 rushing, 951 kick return, 756 receiving, 238 punt return.
• This marks the first time the Bulls have opened a season on the road since Sept. 3, 2011, when USF beat Notre Dame in South Bend. It's only the sixth time the Bulls have opened away from home.

 
Television coverage will be on CBS Sports Network beginning at 7:30 p.m. (EST).  On the radio, we'll begin at 5:30 p.m. with the pre-game on AM-820 in Tampa, with affiliates FM-99.9 in Brooksville, AM-1070 in Port Charlotte/Ft. Myers, and 106.9-FM in Sarasota.  We're on GoUSFBulls.com as well.  As always, Mark Robinson and Jim Lighthall will join me, and we'll also say hello to three new voices; Darek Sharp, Rock Riley, and Joey Johnston.
 
There has never been an offseason quite like this one for the USF Football program; filled with preseason rankings and grand predictions. While all that has been going on, the players and coaches have quietly been going full speed for months to get ready. 
 
And now we begin.
 
 GO BULLS!