USF football players starting to show up on preseason all-conference lists

Dec 21, 2023; Boca Raton, FL, USA;  South Florida Bulls wide receiver Sean Atkins (38) catches a pass for a touchdown against the Syracuse Orange in the third quarter during the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl at FAU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2023; Boca Raton, FL, USA; South Florida Bulls wide receiver Sean Atkins (38) catches a pass for a touchdown against the Syracuse Orange in the third quarter during the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl at FAU Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports / Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
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It’s the season when pundits and analysts look into their crystal balls and make lists of how they believe football teams will finish and what players will stand out the most.

So it was with the College Football Network, which released its preseason list of the top 25 players in the American Athletic Conference.

Three USF Bulls made the cut – quarterback Byrum Brown, linebacker Jhalyn Shuler, and receiver Sean Atkins.

There is no dispute with that, although I might have added running back Nay’Quan Wright.

What got me, though, is that both Navy and Tulane had five players on the list. OK, Tulane is considered a legit title threat in the AAC, but Navy?

I mean, thank you for your service, all you fine Midshipmen scholar-athletes. But even after placing those five players in the top 25, CFN still only predicts 5.5 wins for Navy.

It calls for 7.5 wins for USF.

We'll get more topics like this next week when the AAC holds its football media day in Fort Worth.

Anyway, as we look back at last season, we can see it through two lenses.

First, the Bulls were picked to finish 13th out of 14 teams in the AAC preseason poll in 2023. Instead, USF tied for fifth place with a 4-4 conference record. Through that lens, buoyed by a recruiting class judged best in the conference, there is legitimate reason for optimism about what is to come.

However, the other side of that is how the Bulls accomplished those wins in 2023.

They didn’t beat a team with a winning record. They trailed UConn, which was 1-7 at the time, 21-10 with about 12 minutes left before rallying for a 24-21 win. Two fourth-quarter fumbles by the Huskies loomed large. If USF lost that game, the Bulls would have finished 5-7, which would have meant no bowl game and no 45-0 win over Syracuse.

Given that, is it a good idea to pump the brakes a little on the optimism about this season?

Maybe. But do you know what I think?

We just sat through an era where USF played the role of UConn, losing victories that seemed winnable but somehow ended up out of reach. USF was the team that coughed up leads with fumbles and other mistakes.

Given that, no USF fan will complain about style points when the other team is guilty of the errors.

The Bulls won the games they were supposed to win in 2023 (preseason predictions aside). This year’s team has the potential to do more than that, and with their first two conference games against Tulane and Memphis, they will have the opportunity to prove it.

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