South Florida (2-1; 0-0 American) vs South Carolina State (2-1; 0-0 MEAC)
Saturday, September 20 • Noon • Raymond James Stadium (65,000) • Tampa, Fla.
SURFACE: Natural, Bermuda Turf Grass
TV: ESPN+: Chuckie Kempf (P-by-P), Darius Walker (Analyst) & Maria Trivelpiece (Reporter)
RADIO: Q105 FM
SERIES: USF leads 1-0
IN TAMPA: USF leads 1-0
IN ORANGEBURG: N/A
LAST TIME: USF 55, SCSU 16, in Tampa, 9/14/2019
VS MEAC: 7-0, last two wins vs. Florida A&M (2021) & vs. Howard (2022)
VS FCS: 28-1 (since joining FBS in 2001)
VS RANKED: 13-40
LAST VS. RANKED: W, 18-16 at #13 Florida, 9/6/25
USF GAME NOTES
Herd Here First Pregame Show
The opponent doesn't matter.
For fans, that almost doesn't compute. But it's true.
The measure of USF's football progress will be on display Saturday afternoon when the Bulls (2-1) face South Carolina State (2-1), a respected member of the Football Championship Subdivision that won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference with a 9-3 campaign last season.
If it was South Carolina, all fans would snap to attention. But since it's South Carolina State, the mind might drift into complacency. After navigating the gauntlet of Boise State, Florida and Miami, what is there to prove against an FCS opponent?
It's everything.
It's a chance to show that USF has matured into a focused, driven program that marches to its own beat, not to the rhythm dictated by external forces.
It's the opportunity for an emphatic statement, a reminder that USF's early season momentum was just interrupted (not halted) by last week's humbling 49-12 defeat at No. 5-ranked Miami.
And everyone associated with USF football wants a good taste in their mouth headed into the bye week and preparations for the American Conference opener on Oct. 3 against the Charlotte 49ers.
Since becoming a full-fledged Football Bowl Subdivision program in 2001, USF is 28-1 against FCS opponents, so that business has been handled nicely. As far back as the spring, head coach Alex Golesh was praising South Carolina State, so don't expect the Bulls to be looking past anyone.
"We've got to play well to win,'' Golesh said. "South Carolina State has our full attention.''
What must the Bulls do to win and advance to a 3-1 start at the regular season's quarter-pole?
1. Run The Ball
USF's offensive success usually begins with a strong running game. So far, even with victories against Boise State and Florida, that has not occurred. Golesh said USF has intended to run — as usual — but unfavorable matchups in some situations forced a change in plans.
"We've gone into every game with an intent that it has to be somewhat balanced, but part of that has been running the quarterback (Byrum Brown) to get an extra hat because of the way we've been defended,'' Golesh said. "Part of that is purely the matchups. Like you'd be silly to say, 'Man, that's a bad matchup, but we're still going to take that matchup.' You're trying to play chess as much as you can, find the match up and expose that matchup. The better teams you play, the harder that matchup is to find.
"We felt like our advantage or our best chance to go win was run the ball at times, but you've seen us screen more. You've seen us attack vertically more. You've seen us in the intermediate game more. You've seen us pitch and catch early the last couple of weeks to get drives started. Ultimately, our identity offensively is to run the football, and we haven't truly been able to consistently do that because of the matchups more than anything else. I think as we go here, we've got to get our mojo back.''
Brown is USF's leading rusher with 111 yards, but he's only averaging 2.5-yards per carry after suffering seven sacks for a loss of 46. Alvon Isaac is next at 108 (7.7 average), but 49 of those yards came on one play. Meanwhile, Cartevious Norton (15 for 49, 3.3) and Sam Franklin (eight for 19, 2.4) haven't really gotten under way.
It should be noted that Boise State, Florida and Miami are excellent at defending the run, so the Bulls figure to get better running opportunities as the schedule unfolds.
Who will get the starring role?
"We've played a lot of backs, but I think we're getting to the point now where you're starting to see guys who are making the most of their opportunities and those guys are probably going to have to be in there a little bit more,'' offensive coordinator Joel Gordon said.
"It's a little bit about personnel. It's a little bit about getting the offensive line into a groove. When you miss opportunities, that could be a 30-yard gain and it turns into a 4-yard gain. We continue to be a work in progress, but we've got to get the running game back to where it needs to be. And we're hoping to take a step in that direction this week.''
2. Get Off The Field
Against Miami, USF's defense was on the field far too long. It allowed a plethora of long scoring drives — five of the Hurricanes' seven touchdown marches were 75 yards or greater — and you can't win like that.
For defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, there was no mystery to Miami's offensive success.
"It was our inability to win on first down,'' Orlando said. "I thought the 50-50 balls were 80-20 or 90-11 (favoring Miami). We could not make a play to get them into second-and-long. We never got off the marker of going from first-and-10 to second-and-10, where we could really start to do a lot of different stuff to get them into third-and-long.
"It was a constant moving of the football. We're not going to make excuses and we have the ultimate respect for their backs, but that thing was glaring to me. We knew it would be (difficult), but the first downs really hurt us. We kept preaching that we had get into somewhat manageable distances on third downs, but it just didn't happen.''
The Bulls did have two interceptions of Miami quarterback Carson Beck — who had his streak of 201 pass attempts without an interception halted — but they led to nothing for USF.
Miami averaged an alarming 9-yards per play on first down.
That can't continue. Orlando knows that — and so do his defenders.
"We've got to stone them on first down,'' linebacker Jhalyn Shuler said. "Ultimately, that's where it starts. You get them in third-and-short, third-and-medium and you're at the mercy of the offense. They can throw it, run it, do whatever they want. We just didn't play well on first-down situations. And the majority of the time when we did, we got off the field.''
3. Don't Go Changing
It's a long season.
I mean, a looooooong season.
Realistically, the Bulls have played the most challenging non-conference schedule in America and gotten to 2-1. Also realistically, the Bulls have the goods to make a run at the American Conference championship.
Adjustments, yes. Tweaking, for sure.
But big changes. Nope. Let's stay the course.
Mentally, USF already has shown some positives by mostly remaining businesslike and not overreacting to big wins against Boise State and Florida, while not hitting the panic button and maintaining perspective against Miami.
"As coaches and players, there's a lot of things we could have done different (against Miami),'' Golesh said. "Ultimately, if you're process-driven, you go right back to your process. There shouldn't be ups and downs in how you coach. It has to be consistent and the standard has got to be the standard in everything you do.
"I think if you change based on the win or loss, the guys will call you out really, really quickly. We have a veteran (coaching) staff and a bunch of pros who know what they're doing. I certainly can't change — and won't change — because they're looking at me in every imaginable way as the leader of the program. We're going to keep being really honest and really real.''
4. Start Fast
So far, the Bulls have stumbled out of the gate. They have scored just three first-quarter points — Nico Gramatica's 45-yard field goal at Miami — on six drives.
"Starting fast is important,'' center Cole Best said. "Getting out in front and taking command of the game is important. We've got to do a better job of that.''
A nice, crisp, penalty-free 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game would fuel USF's confidence. Starting fast against South Carolina State (or any opponent) crushes early hope and might lead to desperate measures if the game starts getting out of hand. And that's exactly what you want — putting an opponent down early and keeping it down.
–#GoBulls–
