#18 South Florida (2-0; 0-0 American) at #5 Miami (2-0; 0-0 ACC)
Saturday, September 13 • 4:30 P.M. • Hard Rock Stadium (63,326) • Miami Gardens, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural, Bermuda Turf Grass
TV: CW Network: Thom Brennaman (P-by-P), Will Blackmon (Analyst) & Wes Bryant (Reporter)
SERIES: Miami leads 6-1
IN TAMPA: Miami leads 4-0
IN MIAMI: Miami leads 2-1
LAST TIME: UM 50, USF 15, in Tampa, 9/21/2024
VS ACC: 9-14, last two wins vs. Georgia Tech (2018) & vs. Syracuse (2023) - Boca Raton Bowl
VS RANKED: 13-40
LAST VS. RANKED: W, 18-16 at #13 Florida, 9/6/25
HIGHEST RANKED ROAD WIN: W, at #7 West Virginia, 11/25/06
SOUTH FLORIDA GAME NOTES
The USF Bulls were a composed and focused football team last weekend in a monumental 18-16 upset victory against the No. 13-ranked Florida Gators at the Swamp.
Similar qualities will be needed Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium when the No. 18-ranked Bulls (2-0) challenge the No. 5 Miami Hurricanes (2-0) to complete a trio of nationally ranked opponents for USF.
"It will be another week of us being able to handle the travel, being able to handle the crowd noise and being able to handle the environment,'' head coach Alex Golesh said. "It was certainly good to get that one under our belt last Saturday (in Gainesville) and to be able to say, 'Man, we handled that well. But here's where we could've handled it better and to be able to teach off of that.'
"I think any time you have a win — and the magnitude is really irrelevant — but it gives you the opportunity to coach even harder. Our guys feel really good and you want them to feel confident. But it's easier to pinpoint the ticky-tack small things and opportunities to get better.''
Golesh said improvement will be led by USF's player leadership, which has proven to be a key element in the early season.
"Our kids are really, really easy to coach,'' Golesh said. "We've got 33 seniors, a bunch of older guys who have played a bunch of football. And I knew all along that if those guys could be our best leaders — on top of being our best players — we'd had a chance to do some really cool things.
"Through fall camp, through the first two weeks, those guys are our best players and our best leaders. You've seen some young guys emerge, but they've got elite examples of what it looks like (from the older leaders). That's ultimately how you build a winning program. You do that over and over and over, class after class. So, I'm proud of where we are. I'm proud of those older guys for doing a really, really good job of not just taking care of themselves and continuing to grow in their process, but also teaching, guiding and bringing along the young guys.''
Senior center Cole Best said leadership and composure has been a big point of emphasis all season.
"We talk every week about how you never know which play (decides a game) and how it's always one you can't get back,'' Best said. "You hear a lot of these veteran leaders, myself included, when we get into these situations where it gets chippy with the D-line … if they want to talk, let them talk. Let them do what they want. It doesn't matter. It's about us.
"That's a huge credit to the culture we've built here and the culture that has been brought on every day by our older guys and our leadership.''
That culture was on full display during USF's final drive against the Gators. Florida defensive lineman Brendan Bett spit in the face of USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner, who did not retaliate, simply raising his arms in protest as the officials watched. The Gators drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (and Bett was ejected), a moment that jump-started the drive that ended with Nico Gramatica's walk-off 20-yard field goal.
"I give Cole Skinner a lot of credit personally,'' Best said. "I even told him right after the play, 'Man, that just saved us, you being smart.' He's very in control of his emotions and I never had any doubt that he (wouldn't) retaliate. Getting spit on in the face, that's probably the most disrespectful thing you could do to another person. So, it speaks to his character, our culture and how we carry ourselves.''
Golesh said USF players are constantly shown film from other games on things not to do — such as dropping a ball in celebration before crossing into the end zone — and there was an example of a costly spitting incident in the opening NFL game that was noted.
Skinner was a living example of doing the right thing.
"Those things have been hammered about as hard as you possibly can,'' Golesh said. "Fall camp, spring or any time a situation comes up … it ain't all sunshine and rainbows out there (practice field) either. But every time a situation comes up, we coach the heck out of what composure looks like.
"We talk about winning in the margins. Well, winning in the margins is not killing yourself, not costing yourself with self-inflicted wounds. Penalties, post-whistle, are the No. 1 sign of a non-composed football team. Be composed. It's really hard to do. Give Cole a lot of credit.''
Composure is only part of the package necessary for the Bulls to have success against the Hurricanes.
"I see a group of guys who play hard and are really disciplined,'' Best said. "They're actually one of the least complex teams we play in terms of blitzes and exotic stuff, which is different from Florida. They trust their guys to get the job done without having to junk up the box and do all the crazy stuff. But they play really hard and they are really disciplined.''
"It's one of the best receiving corps we'll go up against this year,'' cornerback De'Shawn Rucker said. "The two running backs, they run hard. They have a quarterback (Carson Beck) who is really experienced and he was in the SEC (Georgia) for a long time. I think it's going to be a great matchup and it's something we've been looking for.''
Beck, who was 24-3 as a starter at Georgia, already has made a huge impact with the Hurricanes. He's 42-for-54 with 472 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions (he has gone 185 consecutive attempts without an interception, dating back to Georgia).
In last week's 45-3 win against Bethune-Cookman University, Beck completed 15 straight passes, breaking the program record (14 straight by Vinny Testaverde, the 1986 Heisman Trophy winner).
"That quarterback (Beck), these first two games, he's really, really good,'' Beck said. "That kid's a winner. And that doesn't happen by accident. He's big. He's tall. He has a twitchy release, a really impressive deep ball.
"They're big at running back. Their offensive and defensive lines are truly on another level. The linebackers, the secondary … all elite. Really good on special teams. They are impressive to watch.''
The key for USF?
"Keeping pouring into our process,'' Golesh said. "You go right back to your daily habits and your daily process. If you went into that (Florida) game and felt like you were clear-minded and focused, you felt really good physically, you were in a good place mentally. Don't change. Rinse and repeat that same process.
"You've got to be all the way bought in from the way you're eating, the way you're sleeping to how much time you're sitting there staring at your phone to your interactions. You've got to have the right process. Our job as coaches is to be real and help you get that process to an elite clip.''
–#GoBulls–
