Maybe you haven't followed college football very closely and you've just noticed the buzz surrounding the No. 18-ranked USF Bulls (2-0). Maybe you're new to town. Or maybe you just landed here from Mars.

We're here to help.

The national media has happily descended upon USF's football program because it's a fresh, interesting new story. And if the Bulls keep winning, that interest will only heighten.

Nobody wants to be left out, even if you've only just recently hopped aboard the USF bandwagon (welcome! Go Bulls!). So, here's a primer on USF football — the basics, the fun and the fascinating — that will bring you up to speed and provide enough conversational fodder to make you sound like a longtime Bulls' follower:

 

1. The Bulls just beat the Florida Gators. That's a big deal, right?

Yes, a VERY big deal. The Gators, with a university founded in 1853, have begun their 119th season of football. For the Bulls, with a university founded in 1956, it's only the 29th season. USF not only defeated the nation's No. 13-ranked team and one of the SEC's standard-bearers in an 18-16 thriller, it won at the Swamp. Florida's stadium is generally acknowledged as one of the loudest and most intimidating venues in all of college football. Playing before a den of nearly 90,000 fans, the Bulls never flinched. That's fairly remarkable.

 

2. So how good are the Bulls?

Based on the season's first two games, the Bulls are really, really good. They already have wins against a pair of nationally ranked teams (Boise State and Florida). We'll find out more, of course, when USF travels to the No. 5-ranked Miami Hurricanes (2-0) on Saturday. (For the record, USF has won at Miami before, claiming a 23-20 overtime victory in 2010).

It's a small sample size, but the Bulls look like an opportunistic team that plays hard and plays together. They have committed zero turnovers. The fun-to-watch offense plays at a blindingly fast pace. It seems like the best USF defense in at least a decade. The special teams are efficient and productive. So far, it has been a great recipe for success.

 

3. The head coach seems interesting. Who is he?

The head coach, beginning his third season at USF, is Alex Golesh. He's a lifelong grinder, a native of Russia whose parents immigrated to America in 1991, when he was 7 years old. He can still speak some Russian, by the way. Sometimes, the path to coaching glory is paved through name recognition, gold-lined streets and the fast track. Golesh had a more difficult road. He earned every job — and everything — he ever got.

In the beginning, he fetched coffee, ran errands and manned the copy machine. He worked like a maniac and barely slept, surviving on equal parts of passion and caffeine. He did the grunt work and the tasks nobody else wanted. He climbed his way up, first as an Ohio State student assistant, then graduate-assistant positions at Northern Illinois and Oklahoma State. He matriculated to staff spots at Toledo, Illinois, Iowa State and UCF before two record-setting seasons as Tennessee's offensive coordinator.

All of that brought Golesh to his first head-coaching job. Even though he inherited a 1-11 USF team and a program that had lost 33 of its last 37 games, he believed that the program was prepared to make the necessary commitment and investment for a long-term turnaround. So, he headed to Tampa in 2023, working through the spring while his family remained in Knoxville, so the two kids could finish school there.

Golesh and his staff produced immediate respectability with back-to-back 7-6 seasons and a pair of bowl victories – the first USF coach to win bowls in his first two years. Two games into this season, the Bulls have beaten two premier foes while earning the program's first national ranking in seven years. While it's being portrayed as an overnight success story, it has required much more work and planning than anyone can imagine. Either way, it's enormous progress in year three.

 

4. What is Alex Golesh's style?

Golesh plays an up-tempo offense. Lots of teams say they're up-tempo. The Bulls are at warp speed, making things very uncomfortable for opposing defenses. And speaking of defense, Golesh mostly leaves the defensive strategy for coordinator Todd Orlando, whom he trusted to take some early lumps while building an aggressive, athletic foundation that would last. The Bulls have ranked in the top 15 of tackles for loss and turnovers created each of the last two years.

Golesh's offense generally runs to set up the pass. Pound, pound, pound … then look for an explosive passing play. That's how he likes to attack. He's unapologetically fearless, going for fourth-down situations at unconventional times and constantly searching for a creative edge (such as a pass out of punt formation that produced a third-quarter touchdown and wrecked Boise State's hopes in the opener).

But Golesh's real magic is building authentic relationships and communicating with his players, who swear by his methods. He's brutally honest. He coaches hard, but loves even harder. Players usually refer to Golesh by his initials — A.G.

Whether Golesh is recruiting a high-school prospect (the Bulls' current recruiting class and each of the last two rank at the top of The American) or studying a potential addition from the transfer portal, he's extremely particular about selecting players with high character, an unquestioned work ethic and a love for playing football. He emphasizes "process'' over chasing an outcome (because the right process usually leads to the desired outcome).

His mantra — Be Who You Say You Are — has become USF's chosen lifestyle.

 

5. Who are the USF stars we need to know?

Let's start with the quarterback, Byrum Brown, one of the nation's top dual-threat leaders. In 2023, Brown was one of two quarterbacks to pass for 3,000-plus yards and rush for 800-plus yards. The other was LSU's Jayden Daniels, who won the Heisman Trophy and has become a sensational NFL player with the Washington Commanders.

Brown missed eight games due to injury last season, but he has returned with a flourish. He's a physical marvel at 6-foot-3 1/2, 232 pounds (about a 40-pound gain from the day he arrived at USF in 2022), has been clocked running at 22.5 mph on GPS tracking, and he's not afraid to lower his shoulder on running plays (although he says he's going to slide in the future to protect his body from unnecessary contact).

There's a potential star wide receiver in Keshaun Singleton (6-3, 212), who wears 14 1/2-size shoes and 3XXXL-size gloves, and his physically imposing style reminds some of former NFL player Calvin Johnson (Megatron). There's a veteran offensive line and a mostly new backfield, although holdover Gainesville, Fla. native Alvon Isaac has shown game-breaking potential.

Defensively, the obvious standouts are linebackers Jhalyn Shuler (6-3, 230) and Mac Harris (6-0, 235), the best of friends, great tacklers and the unit's true heartbeat. Free safety Tavin Ward (6-1, 197), the last line of defense, keeps everybody lined up properly and works in accord with the linebackers. There has been massive size-and-athleticism improvement along the defensive line, where the Bulls signed five players from the transfer portal. Orlando said he believes the Bulls went "5-for-5'' with those upgrade efforts.

And we can't overlook place-kicker Nico Gramatica, who had the 20-yard walk-off field goal to defeat the Gators and, as a sophomore, has already tied the Bulls' career record for 50-plus-yard field goals with four. That includes a 58-yarder last season against … Miami.

 

6. Gramatica? That name sounds awfully familiar

 It should.

Gramatica's father, Martin, was a Pro Bowl place-kicker and Super Bowl champion with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and before that a Lou Groza Award winner at Kansas State. His uncles, Bill and Santiago, were both USF place-kickers.

So, with Nico Gramatica, it's all in the family, a chance to carry on a distinguished kicking legacy.

 

7. Can USF actually reach the College Football Playoff?

Absolutely. It will take some work, but USF's victories against Boise State and Florida have definitely opened up the possibilities. Boise State earned a bid to the playoff last year and was projected as the preseason favorite to do so again this year.

Here's how it works:

Last season, the Football Bowl Subdivision programs instituted a 12-team playoff system for the first time. There are guaranteed bids for champions of the five highest-rated conferences (expected to be the SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and ACC, plus another) and seven at-large bids (which could include other conference champions). The four highest-ranked teams (regardless of conference championship status) receive first-round byes. The early round games are played on campus sites and the later rounds are staged at pre-determined bowl games. The championship game will be held at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium.

To have a realistic chance at the CFP, USF must win the American Conference championship. And if USF wins the American — with non-conference wins against Boise State and Florida before heading to Miami - the Bulls would have a tough-to-beat resume.

 

8. If USF was founded in 1956, why did football start in 1997?

Great question.

And that leads to a tale that has made the institution of USF football into a story almost like no other.

USF's first president, John Allen, was not a strong supporter of athletics. The men's soccer program was the school's first team in 1965 and men's basketball didn't come along until 1970.

There were intermittent campaigns to begin USF football over the years, but they all fizzled. It was thought that USF missed its opportunity and the expenses were too great.

Former USF athletic director Paul Griffin thought differently. He believed football was "absolutely necessary,'' not only for athletics, but for progress throughout the entire university. In 1991, the first football feasibility committee meeting was held. With a thoughtful, methodical plan — and a $5-million endowment mandated by the State Board of Regents — USF football was approved in 1995.

Here's where it gets crazy.

There were no football facilities. The New York Yankees had positioned their Class A affiliate, the Tampa Yankees, at USF's Red McEwen Field for two seasons while Legends Field was constructed. Beyond the left-field fence, the Yankees placed a trailer, resembling a mobile home, for their operations staff.

USF football took over that trailer (which had a hole in the floor), then eventually purchased three more. That "football complex'' was dubbed the "Ponderosa.'' USF coaches dug trenches and laid pipes, so they could eventually take showers in the third trailer. The first staff meeting was held under a palm tree. Position meetings were conducted in whatever classroom was available.

From those humble beginnings — which included a full 1996 slate of practices with no games — the Bulls debuted with an 80-3 thumping of Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 6, 1997.

Griffin said USF football would grow as quickly as the Tampa Bay area community would allow. The Bulls sprouted like crazy, earning a spot in Conference USA for 2003, shifting to the Big East from 2005-12, then becoming charter members of The American in 2013.

Along the way, the Bulls have produced 12 bowl-game appearances (eight victories), 30 NFL draft picks, 15 All-Americans and a No. 2 national ranking in 2007. USF football has won at Florida, Florida State, Miami, Notre Dame, Auburn, Pittsburgh, Louisville, West Virginia and North Carolina, while defeating Clemson and South Carolina in bowl games.

 

9. What is Lee Roy Selmon's connection to USF football?

Selmon, an All-American defensive lineman at the University of Oklahoma, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1976 NFL Draft, going to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Selmon was a six-time Pro Bowler for the Bucs, earning 1979 NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors.

Upon retirement, after establishing himself as one of Tampa Bay's top civic leaders and role models, Selmon began a banking career. Griffin lured him to USF in 1993, where he became an instrumental part of fundraising and administrative efforts that helped to launch USF football. Selmon later served as USF's athletic director and he helped achieve an invitation to the Big East. He served as a key figure in USF athletics until his shocking death at age 56 in 2011.

The Selmon Athletics Center, opened in 2004, was renamed in his honor early in 2012. The Selmon Mentoring Institute, a program designed to help student-athletes with career and life skills, has continued as part of his dream. And this season, USF football decided to bring back No. 63 (Selmon's NFL number) and award it annually to the defensive lineman that best exemplifies Selmon's standards of integrity, leadership, athletic achievement, academic excellence and service to others. This season's honoree was Josh Celiscar.

 

10. So, what's the future for USF football?

It's bright, especially considering this season's upward trajectory.

The institution as a whole has been on the move, achieving the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) status in 2023, joining the University of Florida as the only other state institution with that designation. USF is also the nation's No. 45-ranked public university, according to the highly credible U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings.

USF football is on the move, too.

After the 2022 opening of the Indoor Performance Facility, USF is set to open an 35,000-seat on-campus stadium and operations center in 2027. In all, it's an approximate $375-million investment in football.

That's an awful lot to wrap your head around, isn't it?

So now that you're a USF football expert, let's think like a coach. Let's narrow the focus.

Only one thing matters — Saturday, No. 18 USF at No. 5 Miami.

For the first time in program history, the Bulls have an opportunity to defeat nationally ranked opponents over three consecutive weeks.

But that's nothing new. From the moment it shifted from concept to reality, USF football has been about history in the making. Here's another chance.

 

–#GoBulls–