With the new USF football season just 92 days away, let’s take a look at the Bulls' schedule in the American Athletic Conference.
We all know about the three-headed monster awaiting USF at the start of the season. Boise State, followed by road games at Florida and Miami, will be a supreme test.
However, the real challenge is to finally break through and win a conference championship for the first time in program history.
This will be Alex Golesh’s deepest team since he arrived on campus in late 2023. The Bulls should be able to compete with any team in the AAC. However, the biggest leap for any team is to go from competing to winning. The Bulls will face that challenge this season.
So, let’s highlight three conference games that will make or break the Bulls’ chances for that elusive conference crown.
At North Texas on October 10.
The Bulls should be 1-0 in the AAC after opening with a home game against Charlotte. Then things get a little tougher.
The Mean Green finished third in the nation last year with an average of 489 yards per game, but defense was a problem. The team ranked 129th in total defense.
After a 5-1 start, they dropped five straight and surrendered an average of 39.8 points per game.
They slipped by Temple to become bowl-eligible, but lost that game to Texas State 30-28.
The team is attempting to rebuild that unit through the transfer portal, so we’ll have to wait and see how it turns out.
However, if the Bulls want to be taken seriously as a championship contender, they have to win this game.
At Memphis on October 28.
Weird things seem to happen when USF plays Memphis., so stay tuned. Two years ago the Tigers prevailed 59-50 -- this was football, not basketball --and last year's game was moved to Orlando after Hurricane Milton swept across Tampa Bay.
Memphis won 21-3.
The Tigers must replace several key players from last year’s 10-win team, which also beat West Virginia 42-37 in the Frisco Bowl.
The biggest news is that Seth Henigan is gone, meaning Memphis will have a new quarterback for the first time since 2021.
However, early projections show Memphis having another double-digit win season, so this game potentially looms as a chance for the Bulls to make a statement in the AAC.
If the Bulls win at North Texas and handle Charlotte and Florida Atlantic at home, they’ll come into this game 3-0 in the conference. If they improve to 4-0, the statement will have been made.
At Navy on November 15. The Midshipmen ran all over the Bulls last year in Tampa, and I mean that literally.
They ran 59 times for 321 net yards and three touchdowns in a 28-7 win that wasn’t as close as the score indicated.
Running back Eli Heidenreich had a 60-yard TD run just 2:23 into the game. He is back, along with quarterback Blake Horvath, who was one of the best QBs in the conference.
Golesh and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando have focused on improving the Bulls' defensive front. This game could well be the acid test to show how far they’ve come in that area.
One plus: They’ll have a couple of extra days to prepare since their previous game against UTSA was on a Thursday night.