Something different is happening with USF football, and that's very, very good

If you follow USF football, by now you know the vibe at the Bulls encampment is like nothing we've seen since the Quinton Flowers glory days nearly a decade ago.

It's air of confidence that seems more matter-of-fact than cocky. I mean, every team is undefeated at this time of the year and the Bulls are no different there. Where they are different, though, is that players and coaches alike carry themselves with a quiet swagger that says, "We've got this."

That, of course, is a reflection of head coach Alex Golesh, and it boils over in everything he talks about -- even if it's another team at USF. For instance, on the day before the USF women's soccer team was to open their season against top-ranked and defending national champion Florida State, Golesh noted, "Florida State gets to play the Bulls here tomorrow night."

We'll see how that goes, but in the meantime the team Golesh coaches is about to wrap up summer practice and head into "game mode" to prepare for the season opener August 31 against Bethune-Cookman.

His take on what comes next for his team was interesting, as he first noted he was "proud of where we are to this point, but we've got a long way to go."

Well, everybody says that.

But then he touched venturing into the unknown.

"I think that's the challenge to a team and a program that has never -- at least our guys, our players -- have never had to deal with expectations, and the expectations coming fromn within our walls," he said. “The standards have been raised, the standards have been attacked like crazy, where it's like every single little thing is getting coached at a high level."

I get what he's saying. We know too well the story of how low USF was when Golesh took over, so it's a little eyebrow-raising to think that a 7-6 season could ignite such high hopes for the faithful followers. After all, the Bulls didn't beat a Division I team that had a winning record last year -- actually haven't done that since 2019.

Yet, by just looking around the training complex and listening to Golesh and his players, you'd think they're ready to contend for a national championship. The grizzled sports writer in me says c'mon now! But it doesn't matter what I believe, it's what the Bulls bull-eve, and belief is the foundation upon which success is built.

The talent Golesh and his staff has assembled on Fowler Avenue is far beyond what anyone would have reasonably expected when he arrived in late 2022 with a single-minded focus to get this thing right. He makes elite recruits tell him no, and not all of them do.

And after the Bulls whomped Syracuse 45-0 in the Boca Raton Bowl, Golesh didn't go for the "we played well against a great opponent" line.

His quote that night: "We just went and whooped that ass, didn't we?"

Every coach says he wants camaraderie and competition, but not everyone achieves that -- especially in the transfer portal era. But, after hanging around a little bit and seeing and hearing what's happening here, it's something different.

Different, in this case, looks very, very good.