USF (5-6; 3-4 American) vs CHARLOTTE (3-8; 2-5 American)
Saturday, Nov. 25 • 7:30 P.M. • Raymond James Stadium (65,000) • Tampa, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural Bermuda
TV: ESPNU: Drew Carter (P-by-P) & Dustin Fox (Analyst)
AUDIO: 102.5 FP & HD 2/ TuneIn - Bulls Unlimited
SERIES: First Meeting
IN TAMPA: NA
LAST TIME: NA
STREAK: NA
RAYMOND JAMES STADIUM RECORD: 99-60
USF IN 2023 VS FIRST TIME OPP's: 1-1
USF GAME NOTES
The stakes are obvious Saturday night when the USF Bulls (5-6, 3-4 American) face the Charlotte 49ers (3-8, 2-5 American) at Raymond James Stadium.
If the Bulls prevail, they will become bowl eligible in the initial season for head coach Alex Golesh, qualifying for the program's first postseason appearance since 2018, and post a program-record five-game turn-around that ranks among the very best in the nation this season.
Golesh and his players want a decided home-field advantage.
"My challenge to our fan base is we've got to get people in those stands,'' Golesh said Tuesday. "And I don't say it desperately. My job is to put a product out there that people want to watch. But we've got a bunch of recruits, a bunch of official visits here. We've got (15) seniors who have been through a bunch of crap here who are playing for something in November.
"I don't want to make it any bigger or any smaller than it is. But gosh darn it, it's Thanksgiving weekend. Ain't nobody working, so get your butt to RayJay Saturday night. If you're a student, a fan, a Tampa sports fan, get your butt here. … My challenge to our fan base, and I sent the tweet out on Sunday, we've got to get people in those stands.
As Senior Night approaches, a pair of Bulls seniors said a raucous USF crowd would be helpful and meaningful.
"We get energy from the fans,'' senior offensive tackle Donovan Jennings said. "We bring juice ourselves, but it always helps to see the people and the students out there.''
"It would mean a lot,'' senior nickel back Daquan Evans said. "Having a real good atmosphere for our (last) home game, it would be a great memory for us all.''
Evans, normally stoic, said he's getting emotional just thinking about the Senior Night scene. So is Jennings, who will be playing in his 54th game to tie the program record of Dwayne Boyles with a chance to sit atop that list by himself with a bowl-game appearance.
Jennings started as a true-freshman in USF's last bowl game — the 2018 Gasparilla Bowl. He said he didn't fully appreciate that moment because he anticipated having a bowl each season. Now he has the chance to bring it full circle while knowing he helped to set the foundation for a USF program hopeful of accomplishing much larger goals in the coming seasons.
For now, though, winning a sixth game and having a bowl appearance is the prime objective.
"You get anywhere from eight to 15 opportunities (practices) to work with these guys (during bowl preparations),'' Golesh said. "It's November and you're playing for something. At some point, we're going to be playing for a championship. We're clearly not there yet. But we're playing for something — and that's the ability to keep playing.
"You've got official visits on campus and recruits on campus and they're watching you practice. They actually get to see a product you're working on. And on top of that, we get to keep doing what we love, which is play ball and coach ball. During the holidays, if you coach football or play football, it sucks being home. So that's what's at hand here and we're not hiding from that at this point.''
Charlotte, in its 10th season of football and first under head coach Biff Poggi, has dropped three of its last four games. One of its defeats was notable. The 49ers had a 10-point fourth-quarter lead against Memphis before falling 44-38 in overtime.
"It's a big, big challenge for us,'' Golesh said. "Charlotte is really good athletically, especially on defense. At spurts, they have played really, really good defense. On offense, they have been beat up, but they keep swinging and keep fighting.''
But the Bulls should have far greater motivation.
"The (USF) guys who said, 'Man, I'm staying, I'm gonna ride with you, I'm gonna see what this is about' … and then we went through spring and did everything imaginable to push guys out of here and make it as hard as you can … it's those guys you (want to see) some reward for their work,'' Golesh said.
"The standard here is not to be 6-6. The standard here is not to (just) go to a bowl game. The standard here is to do something that has never been done here, which is win a championship. I said it the day I got hired. We're in a race against ourselves to do that as fast as we can. But for that group of seniors, I want them to feel that feeling of what it feels like to flip (reverse the program's fortunes).
"It's not going to be easy. This is really going to be us versus us. Can our process be so elite that we have every chance to win this game? We've been up and down, like a roller coaster. But now we're playing to keep playing. That's something meaningful for these guys and I feel like that's something we're going to really attack.''
–#GoBulls–
