USF (5-5; 3-3 American) vs Tulsa (3-7; 1-5 American)
Saturday, Nov. 23 • 3:30 P.M. (ET) • Raymond James Stadium (65,000) • Tampa, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural, Bermuda
TV: ESPN+: Jason Ross Jr. (P-by-P) & Tyoka Jackson (analyst)
AUDIO: 102.5 HD2 The Strike & Bulls Unlimited (TuneIn)
SERIES: Tied, 3-3
IN TAMPA: Tulsa leads, 2-1, W, 32-31, in 2021
IN TULSA: USF leads, 2-1
LAST TIME: Tulsa won, 48-42, in 2022
STREAK: Tulsa, won last three, won last two by a total of 7 points
USF GAME NOTES
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Gentlemen, start your headlines.
Bowled Over!
It's that time of year. And it adds more spice to Saturday afternoon's game at Raymond James Stadium, when the USF Bulls (5-5, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (3-7, 1-5).
If the Bulls win, they are bowl-eligible for the second straight season, no small thing for a program that missed the postseason entirely in the previous four years.
Let's Go Bowling!
Don't expect head coach Alex Golesh to buy into the predictable storyline. Oh, he wants another postseason bid. No question about that. But it's just another mile marker in a long journey.
"We've never had a full goal of (getting to a) bowl game,'' Golesh said. "Maybe it's a cliche, but literally, just trying to be the best version of us is my expectation.
"Obviously, the purpose of the bowl game is continue practicing and to get another opportunity to play. There are so many advantages to it. You get another opportunity with your team to go somewhere else. You continue to build your culture. The mid-year high-school guys and the transfers, you can bring them in to go through practices with you. But we don't talk about 'bowl game' as an end goal. I'm not downplaying the importance of it, but we're digging a little deeper.''
Golesh said he measures progress with two variables.
* Effort: "If you don't go hard play to play, you're not going to play. And not only that, but you're just not going to be here.''
* Execution: "We ask, 'What can the young man handle? What can he execute in a week?' If we're saying, 'I'm coaching it, but I'm not seeing it on the field, then either we're coaching it wrong or the young man can't comprehend it.' So, we might need to pull back. The way we measure progress is the execution from week to week.''
On Senior Day, when 23 USF players will be honored in a pregame ceremony, here are the keys to USF executing properly against Tulsa and thus (OK, we'll say it out loud) earning a bowl bid:
Manage The Emotions
It's OK for the Bulls to play with emotion. It's not OK to play emotionally.
There's a difference.
Senior Day can be tricky. For some players, their football career is nearing an end. With the clock ticking — probably faster than they could have imagined — there might be a tendency to complicate things and do too much.
For USF luminaries such as wide receiver Sean Atkins, running back Kelley Joiner, and linebacker Jhalyn Shuler, there's a huge desire to play well in front of family and friends for the last go-round at Ray-Jay.
At this stage, players don't need to invent a new way to perform. The key? Just do what they do. Play with passion. Don't get caught up in the surroundings. Simplify.
Run To Set Up The Pass
Tulsa is ranked 133rd — last — in the Football Bowl Subdivision in passing yards allowed. So, shouldn't USF's offensive strategy seem obvious? Time for the Air Raid?
Not exactly.
USF's emerging offensive strength is a running game that ranks 33rd nationally by producing 187 yards per contest on the ground. When USF's triple-threat gets cranking — Joiner (616 yards, 6.8 yards per carry), Nay' Quan Wright (432, 5.1) and Ta'Ron Keith (239, 5.3) — the Bulls move the chains and control the game.
By controlling the tempo with an effective running game, the Bulls can then take strategic passing shots with quarterback Bryce Archie, whose accuracy was on the upswing at Charlotte (11-for-16, 126 yards). Archie has also shown a nice long-pass touch at times.
The Bulls have a chance to wear down the Golden Hurricane with the run, then wear them out with the pass.
Get After The QB
Don't look now, but the Bulls are becoming a force at sacking the quarterback. Pressure has been a long-term problem for USF, but it has turned the corner sharply in recent weeks. The Bulls now rank 18th nationally in sacks (28) after getting five at Charlotte. Two weeks before that, USF collected seven sacks (tying a program record) at Florida Atlantic.
Last month, Tulsa changed its starting quarterback to Cooper Legas (formerly of Utah State), who has 10 touchdown passes and just two interceptions in his three starts. But if USF applies effective pressure and gets Legas off his spot, the Bulls have a chance to thrive.
The sacks have been a shared experience — with 17 different Bulls contributing to the 28 sacks (11.5 to the defensive linemen, 11.5 to the linebackers and five to the defensive backs).
Start Fast
It's difficult to argue with USF's recent second-half production. The Bulls scored an eye-popping 45 points — including a program record 31 points in the third quarter alone — at Charlotte. At Florida Atlantic, the Bulls had a 37-point second half and scored on six consecutive possessions.
All that being said, it's still important for the Bulls to start fast and try to snuff out Tulsa's hopes. The mental hurdle was crossed last week at Charlotte when Keith rumbled in from the 16, ending USF's first-quarter scoreless streak (the Bulls hadn't scored a point in the first stanza since Sept. 21).
Now that one streak has ended, it's time to take care of another. USF opponents have scored first in eight straight games (the Bulls scored first at Alabama on Sept. 7). How about a touchdown drive on USF's first possession against Tulsa? Now that would be a fast start and an effective tone-setter.
–#GoBulls–
