USF took some beatings last year, but even in the darkness of blowout losses to UAB and Florida Atlantic you felt like the Bulls were building something good. However, their alarmingly bad football game on Saturday at Tulane triggered a different vibe.
The Bulls looked lost and unprepared throughout the afternoon, and it went deeper than the 45-10 final score. It was supposed to be a battle between top contenders in the American Athletic Conference, but it quickly turned into a mismatch.
The loss of quarterback Byrum Brown, who left after a leg injury in the third quarter, put a shroud on what already was a dark day for the Bulls. There was no update on his condition Sunday, but no one will be surprised if backup QB Bryce Archie starts the Oct. 12 game against Memphis.
The only good news is that the Bulls have an open date before that game and more time to prepare. They'll need that.
The Green Wave was more of a tsunami, moving at will and often with little or no resistance from USF’s defense. They piled up 528 total yards, with an astonishing 24 more minutes in possession time.
Before the game, head coach Alex Golesh had emphasized the importance of an effective running game for his team. That was true, of course, but Tulane dominated that part of the game, holding USF to 26 yards on 25 carries. Then again, the Bulls fell behind so quickly and by so much, they had to rip up the game plan.
In the passing game, Brown never looked comfortable in the pocket when he was in there and the stats bore that out. He finished with a 21.9 quarterback rating.
You get the idea.
“I’ve got to own us looking the way we did, because it wasn’t good,” Golesh said.
Golesh is always quick to jump on the grenade when things go south, and that’s admirable. He won’t throw his players under the bus.
But the question begs how a team that hung with Alabama for 54 minutes and played effective defense could look so futile. Tulane is good, but it shouldn’t have been able to make the Bulls look this bad.
Was it coaching? Was it just a bad day against an excellent team playing at home?
Or is there enough tape on USF now that opponents have a book on how gash its defense and roadblock the Bulls’ offense?
So, where does USF go from here, especially if Brown is out for an extended time?
Golesh must modify the offensive approach because backup QB Bryce Archie has different skills. Defensive coordinator Todd Orlando must find answers about what happened to his unit -- if there are answers to be found.
The Bulls surrendered 330 passing yards and three touchdowns to freshman quarterback Darian Mensah. Tulane added 198 more on the ground and only had to punt twice.
If they can get this fixed, maybe we’ll remember Tulane as just one of those games.
If not, a season that began with so much promise could go south in a hurry.