#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 CW CHANNEL FINDER
HERD HERE FIRST - PREGAME SHOW (Audio)
MIAMI GARDENS — Can they do it again?
That's what College Football Nation wonders about the USF Bulls, the lovable squad that has captured everyone's imagination. One national outlet even referred to the Bulls as "America's Team.''
From California to Maine, curiosity-seeking fans will have the same two questions as Saturday dawns:
* Can USF do it again, becoming the first Football Bowl Subdivision team since 1987 (and just the fifth ever) to open as season with three consecutive wins against top 25-ranked opponents?
* Oh, and where exactly is the CW located on my cable-TV menu?
(We can help: CW Channel Finder - In Tampa/ST. Petersburg: WTTA - CH 38)
(Free on the free The CW App as well as on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV and Chromecast; also available on YouTube TV and Hulu+ Live TV)
When the No. 18-ranked Bulls (2-0) face the No. 5 Miami Hurricanes (2-0) on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium, USF will seek to build upon upset victories against Boise State and Florida, a shocking two-week span that opened the floodgates of national media attention.
What a week it has been.
Head coach Alex Golesh completely understood the benefits of such a platform and set an unofficial North American record for interviews – conducting more than 15 with national outlets, including appearing on Thursday evening's ESPN SportsCenter program and a planned live check in with the panel on FOX Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday. He's a terrific storyteller normally, but he absolutely brought his A-game to the masses and helped to spread USF's compelling message.
Linebacker Mac Harris, on a SiriusXM ESPN radio interview with former Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher and former Seminoles quarterback E.J. Manuel, thanked them both for being his football role models. Harris was so passionate and earnest about his craft, an emotional Fisher told him that exemplary attitude was inspiration enough for his return to coaching. "You're what this game is all about,'' Fisher told Harris.
Quarterback Byrum Brown, who appeared on ESPN College Football Live, was named the Heisman Trophy frontrunner by Robert Griffin III (who has an actual vote as the 2011 Heisman winner). "That's really cool,'' Brown said. "My dad sent me that because he knows I'm not on Twitter, for real. My dad is a big Redskins fan — actually the Commanders now — so it's cool. And back in Pop Warner, I used to wear No. 10 because of RG3.''
Look for a nice package feature on the Bulls on Saturday's ESPN College GameDay and check out features on Sports Illustrated, USA Today, ESPN, CBS Sports, Yahoo, The Athletic, On3 Sports and more.
Enough of the sidelights.
It's on to USF-Miami.
By the way, it was the 1987 Miami Hurricanes who were the last team to open with wins against three straight top 25-ranked foes (No. 20 Florida, No. 10 Arkansas, No. 4 Florida State). That was "The U'' in full bloom, an eventual national championship squad that included the likes of Michael Irvin, Bennie Blades, Melvin Bratton, Russell Maryland, Cortez Kennedy and Coach Jimmy Johnson. The other teams to do it: 1985 Michigan, 1960 Iowa and 1950 Oklahoma.
That's the kind of company USF is keeping.
Here are the keys to the Bulls doing it once again:
1. Get Over Yourself
The national attention has been fun. But the Bulls must have the proper perspective. It emerged quickly. It can disappear just as rapidly. Former Alabama coach Nick Saban always referred to it as "rat poison.'' If you swallow the pats on the back and the suggestions of, hey, you're really special, that mentality can be fatal.
Mature teams handle attention in a businesslike manner and don't let it interfere with their preparation.
By all accounts, Golesh has prepped his players well. Almost to a man, they spoke of relying solely on their "inner circle,'' their teammates and coaches, the ones who speak the truth. Golesh even invoked the familiar words of Amir Abdur-Rahim, the late men's basketball coach: "Put your headphones on.''
"We control our daily process, our daily habits and our mindset,'' Golesh said. "You're watching a bunch of really confident, tough, hard-nosed dudes playing the game the right way. I think right now with social media … everybody feels the need to tell their story and get it out there. But I told our guys that when you do something truly special, you allow other people to tell your story. And that's how you know it's special.''
2. May The Best QB Win
The Hurricanes have quarterback Carson Beck, the former Georgia signal-caller, who was 24-3 as a starter with the Bulldogs, is 42-for-54 (77.8-percent) so far with 472 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions (and an ongoing streak of 185 consecutive attempts without an interception).
"He has poise and he's a winner,'' Bulls defensive coordinator Todd Orlando said. "That's what pro quarterbacks look like in terms of athletic ability — a big arm, in control of what they're doing and so many weapons around them. That's what I see on tape.''
But the Bulls have a great quarterback themselves in Brown, who is 39-for-60 (65-percent) for 473 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions (and an ongoing streak of 240 consecutive attempts without an interception). He also leads the Bulls running for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
If there were any questions about Byrum Brown, they have been quickly answered.
"Is he playing really, really well? Yes. Is he one of the best college football players that I've been around? Yes. Is he mentally and physically tough? Yes. He's operating at a really, really good clip,'' Golesh said.
"I don't think he (Brown) ever gets fazed,'' Hurricanes head coach Mario Cristobal said. "He's a winner. He's tough, he's physical and he's smart.''
Beck and Brown do not match up against each other. So far, they have both been superb. But if one quarterback takes their game to an even higher lever, that could be a key difference-maker.
3. Stop The Run
Beck will be enough of a problem for USF's defense. The Bulls can't afford for the Hurricanes to get under way with the running game or else those problems will be magnified.
The Hurricanes feature holdover runner Mark Fletcher Jr. (152 yards, 5.8-yard average, two touchdowns) and North Dakota State transfer CharMar Brown (104 yards, 4.7-yard average, two touchdowns), who is the only active underclassman to have 1,100 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns last season. Brown won the Jerry Rice Award last season as the top freshman player in the Football Championship Subdivision.
They are both big backs — Fletcher at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, Brown at 5-11, 220. And they will operate behind the massive offensive line of left tackle Markel Bell (6-8, 345), left guard Matthew McCoy (6-6, 325), center James Brockermeyer (6-3, 295), right guard Anez Cooper (6-4, 345) and right tackle Francis Mauigoa (6-6, 335). It's one of the largest collection of humans ever faced by a USF defense.
"They are just huge,'' Orlando said. "They're well-coached. They're disciplined. They're tough. They're gritty. And they're skillful, too. They were all four-star or five-star recruits coming out of high school and they have been developed the right way.''
It will be a challenge. But the Gators also had a large offensive line and USF's defense held up pretty well.
"Every team in the country wants to establish a good running game and Miami is no different,'' Harris said. "They're big — really big. But our defensive priority is pretty obvious. We've got to stop the run. It all springs from that.''
"Stop the run, be good on third down,'' linebacker Jhalyn Shuler said. "If it sounds like we're echoing each other, it's because it's that obvious and that important.''
4. Protect The Edges
USF's offensive line was tremendous against the Gators, allowing just one sack of Brown, a total of three tackles for a loss while incurring just a pair of pre-snap penalties in the Swamp's deafening den.
Against Miami, the challenge increases exponentially.
The Hurricanes feature two of the nation's most disruptive edge rushers in Reuben Bain Jr. (6-3, 270) and Akheem Mesidor (6-3, 265). Through two weeks, Bain was graded as the No. 1 defensive lineman at the Power-Four conference level by Pro Football Focus. "Hurricane Bain'' was the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2023. Mesidor, who played his first two seasons at West Virginia, has 24.5 career sacks to rank second among active players in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
"You have to know where those guys are at all times,'' offensive coordinator Joel Gordon said.
With Zane Herring (6-5, 315) moving from the interior to left tackle and Stanford transfer Connor McLaughlin (6-7, 304) settling in at right tackle, USF's offensive line has made a smooth transition at those two key positions.
"I think we're going to bring tremendous energy and confidence into this game,'' center Cole Best said. "We've got to keep our composure, which I think we've done a really good job of, and start fast. We've known we're capable of this for a long time, but now we get to show it on a national stage. There are no shortcuts to our preparation. It's truly putting your best foot forward every single day and doing even more than you thought you could.''
–#GoBulls–
