An open date for a college football team is normally a time to rest and let the injured players heal, but for USF coach Alex Golesh, this will also be a time of soul-searching.
His post-game comments and demeanor after Saturday’s 45-10 loss at Tulane showed he didn’t wait to get home to start that process.
Here are some snippets of what he said as he addressed the media:
“Really, really poor game by us in every imaginable way.”
“I’ve got to own us looking the way we did because it wasn’t good.”
“We couldn’t stop them. Really, really disappointing in every way.”
“We’ve got to evaluate a bunch of things.”
“We’ve got to go back, we’ve got to get healthy, we’ve got to figure out exactly what the heck it is. That’s on me to figure out, and I will.”
The Bulls don’t play again until October 11, when preseason American Athletic Conference favorite Memphis comes to town. It’s a Friday night game on ESPN, and although it’s a little early for Halloween references, Saturday’s game at Tulane was a true horror show for the Bulls.
If they can regroup and beat Memphis – there are no more moral victories for USF – we can write Tulane off as an anomaly that can happen sometimes. That’s getting ahead of things, though.
There is a lot for Golesh to figure out about his team before we can even think about Memphis. Priority No. 1 is to find out if quarterback Byrum Brown can play. There has been no update on his status since he was knocked out of the Tulane game in the third quarter with a leg injury.
Speculation is that the injury looked serious enough to cost Brown some time. That would elevate Bryce Archie to the starting role and sophomore Israel Carter to the backup.
“Bryce is more than ready. He has waited for this opportunity for a long time when his number is called,” Golesh said. “We talk all the time that you’re a play away.
“I have full confidence in Bryce. I have full confidence in Izzy.”
The Bulls didn’t look like a confident team against Tulane, though. Golesh appeared shellshocked in his postgame comments after Saturday’s thrashing, and he seemed to point the finger directly at himself.
“That felt like UAB a year ago where we weren’t ready to play, and that’s on me,” a downcast Golesh said.
To refresh a bad memory, USF was 2-0 in conference play and on the road against UAB for what looked like a win. Instead, the Bulls gave up multiple explosive plays and eventually lost 56-35.
There were definitely some obvious similarities between that game and the one at Tulane, even though the Green Wave is a much better team than that UAB bunch.
USF thought it was much improved, too. And the Bulls were significantly better than a year ago for much of the first four games. They battled Alabama to the final six minutes on the road and led Miami for most of the first half.
Since then, though, things have fallen apart. Over the last six quarters, USF has been outscored 73-10. Injuries have played a role, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. And the story now is that USF can’t let what happened at Tulane fester beyond this off week.
The possible loss of Brown complicates that. There’s a lot to figure out.
“The expectation in our locker room is that we’ve taken a step. We’ve gotten our process closer to right. We continue to go to work and do things the right way. We’re still learning what it takes to win,” Golesh said.
“Now you have to learn how to respond to this because there’s a ton of ball left to play. Really good cultures can respond and bounce back. We’ve got to continue to build ours.”