Glancing ahead to USF's football trip to Alabama and an opponent that looks loaded

The schedule says USF's football season begins August 31 at home against Bethune-Cookman. While Alex Golesh won’t agree with this, nor should he, most people believe the season doesn’t really begin until Week 2 when the Bulls play at Alabama -- no disrespect intended for Bethune.

Let’s see: A trip to the heart of SEC country, in a stadium considered one of the most difficult for visiting teams, at night, and, did we mention, it’s Alabama? While, yes, the Bulls played Alabama to the wire last year in Tampa before losing 17-3, the challenge this season is obvious.

What could go wrong?

With that in mind, it was worth a trip to rolltidewire.com to see how the locals there feel about the coming season, even without Nick Saban.

The first thing you notice is this headline: Five reasons Alabama should be considered legitimate championship contenders.

The No. 1 reason is talent. Saban didn’t leave the cupboard bare, although there is apparently more space inside than before.

The Crimson Tide lost ten defensive backs to the transfer portal, including standout Caleb Downs. They added five through the portal.

Yet, as the Tuscaloosa News noted, despite the number of shuffling bodies, ‘Bama gained more starting experience after the dust settled.

As rolltidewire noted, “Bama still has dudes, and don’t anyone else tell you something different.”

Also, ‘Bama has perhaps the best kicker-punter combination in the country. Graham Nicholson won the Lou Groza Award last year, and punter James Burnip is one of the best at his craft.

The site also extols the virtues of the Tide’s interior defensive line and quarterback Jalen Milroe, who led Alabama past Georgia last season in the SEC title game.

And while they lost arguably the greatest coach in college football history when Saban retired, Alabama didn’t find Saban’s replacement on the discount aisle at Walmart. Kalen DeBoer has a career record of 104-12 and coached Washington to the national championship game a year ago.

Yes, going to Alabama will be a daunting task for USF. While the rebuilding program has been impressive so far, there is more work to do. While that unquestionably is true, we learned one thing about Golesh and his team after his first season here: The Bulls don’t back down