USF (3-4; 2-2 American) at UConn (1-5; Independent)
Saturday, Oct. 21 • 3:30 P.M. • Pratt & Whitney Stadium (40,642) • East Hartford, Conn.
SURFACE: Natural Grass
TV: CBSSN: Chris Lewis (PxP), Robert Turbin (Analyst) & Keian Martin (Sideline)
AUDIO: 102.5 FM & HD 2/ TuneIn - Bulls Unlimited
SERIES: USF leads, 12-5
IN TAMPA: USF leads, 7-1
IN HARTFORD: USF leads, 5-4
LAST TIME: USF won 48-22 in Hartford in 2019
STREAK: USF has won 8 straight dating to 2012
ROAD GAMES: 54-84, 1-2 on the season
NON-CONFERENCE: 52-33, 1-2 on the season
USF GAME NOTES
The USF Bulls (3-4) are looking for a reset after back-to-back losses in which they gave up yards and points at a high clip when they face the Connecticut Huskies (1-5) in Saturday afternoon's non-conference road game.
"I think a lot of people ask, 'Man, wouldn't it be great to have a bye week?' '' head coach Alex Golesh said. "I think it's the other way. I think it would be great to go play a game with 80 dudes on a plane and go get after somebody else.
"So, I'm excited to reset and continue with the constant reminder that we're building a foundation for a program and every single thing matters.''
Asked about USFs two-week slide, Golesh said he underwent similar pockets of poor play during rebuilds at many of his previous stops — Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State and Tennessee.
"Every single place, it has been very, very similar,'' Golesh said. "It's a roller-coaster of success, failure, success, failure, success, failure … until you figure out exactly what gets you to be successful.
"Every one of those instances has been different in terms of the team makeup, the team leadership and all of those things. But the similar part is you walk in and there's something that ain't right. Every one of those jobs we walked into wasn't because the (previous) head coach left to go take a better job, right?
"All of those jobs, Day One, Day Two and Day Three, I was like, 'What the hell is going on? Similar to here, you're actually trying to get a grasp on what is actually going on. Then you put your big-boy pants on and you go to work. And you work and you fix every single issue like we've spent the last 10 months laying a foundation for what a successful program looks like, what a successful program acts like and what everybody's process should be.''
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Golesh said USF's tipping point will occur when it fully transitions to a player-led program instead of a coach-led foundation. Golesh said the USF's leadership group is "really fascinating.''
"It's made up of half of the guys who have been here and half of the guys who have not been here,'' Golesh said. "It's this fine line of guys who have had success, or at least seen success be had, and are still learning to lead. And this group of guys who have been here for a while, who have not had success and are truly frustrated by that.
"It's this really fascinating group of day-to-day battles of 'Do I want to get more of myself than I take from the whole?' As long as the coaches keep leading, we're going to cap off somewhere, wherever that cap is. The leadership (depends) on what the players demand … because we only get 20 hours (of direct coaching). Our leadership is a bunch of dudes who are about the right things, but they're still learning how to (lead).
"Right now, we're back and forth, which is why you see one week where we're playing really good football on all three sides. Then the last two weeks, it has been about as bad as you can imagine. It starts and ends with me reinforcing and demanding that the habits are right.' For our culture to grow, we need elite habits. Elite habits create an elite culture.''
Golesh said UConn, under veteran head coach Jim Mora Jr., is trending upward. The Huskies are coming off their only victory — a 38-31 decision at Rice (an AAC member) — and before that, they fell 34-33 against Utah State when a blocked extra-point attempt prevented overtime.
The Huskies, who transitioned to independent status in 2021 after sharing Big East Conference and AAC homes with USF since 2005, had a turnaround effort last season with a bowl appearance and victories in five of their last seven games.
Overall, it's USF's 18th meeting with UConn (the Bulls lead the series 12-5 with eight straight victories and a 5-4 mark in games at UConn).
For the Bulls to continue their streak against UConn, they must cut down on allowing explosive plays (15-plus yards). In Florida Atlantic's 56-14 victory, the Owls had 17 explosive plays against USF, including a 67-yard punt return.
Golesh said surrendering explosive plays is directly related to poor preparation and the work put in during the practice week.
"Every now and again, you'll schematically give one (explosive play) up,'' Golesh said. "Every now and again, one on one, you'll get beat. Those are not my frustrations. You get beat on a deep ball one on one. I'm cool. It happens.
"But when I've got a chance to go make a play and I don't. Or I'm in the right spot to go make a play and I don't quite pull the pin to actually go make it? That's Sunday through Friday. So, we're continuing to figure out how (we work) Sunday through Friday to make sure they have the ability to actually go pull the pin.''
Golesh also said he's "monumentally concerned'' about maintaining the confidence of his players following the two-game losing streak.
"You give them the 'why' for everything that is happening and look to create habits that don't allow it to happen,'' Golesh said. "But absolutely you are concerned … in every imaginable way. I'm concerned. Like … can't sleep concerned. But you instill confidence by going back to work.
"This is my fourth time coming into a Year One (of a rebuild). I knew what I was walking into, a situation where it's not a confident group, where there haven't been a ton of wins. Early on, we went from a team that hoped to win. By week four and five, we were a team that expected to win. Week six, we said, 'Man, we expect to win this (game at UAB),' but then lost track of how we got there.
"You absolutely are concerned about it. The only way I know is to go back to work and work harder. That's the only thing I've ever known. That's what we're doing. You hope at the end of the day you've installed enough confidence to be able to play at a high clip.''
–#GoBulls–
