When USF head football coach Alex Golesh entered the Bulls' locker room after their 54-26 win last week over Charlotte, he could see right away that something was different.
"Every win that I've been a part of since we've been here, go in the locker room, music, everybody's jumping around, everybody's excited. Wins are hard in college football. This time when I walked in the locker room, and it was a site of disappointment, a site of let down," he said.
"And I thought for us, it was a pivotal moment in our program where you win by four touchdowns, do some phenomenal things at home, and it's a group that knew that we didn't play to our potential for four quarters, 60 minutes from start to finish."
After racing to a 23-0 lead in the first quarter, the Bulls seemed to shift into cruise control. Quarterback Byrum Brown got a headline for throwing four touchdown passes and running for another, but he also threw two interceptions and lost a fumble.
The Bulls also committed seven penalties for 60 yards, including an unacceptable unsportsmanlike conduct foul on Jacob Merrifield after a Brown touchdown pass to Evan Dangler midway through the fourth quarter.
That's the kind of undisciplined play that drives Golesh up a wall, even in a 26-point win -- or maybe especially in a 26-point win. It's an alarm bill to correct the small things before they become big things that could cost the Bulls dearly as the season winds on.
"We've had moments throughout the season where we have, and that was not one. Consistency is what we're looking for. And we went right back to work, and I think the guys understood where we were, understood what it's going to take, flipped the page, and went right to North Texas," he said.
"So, there was a lot to coach off of both in execution, the mental toughness it takes to go finish an opponent earlier in the game. There were two penalties that I was absolutely livid about, that our guys got coached on and understand that it's way, way, way, way below the standard, because they changed the way the game is played."
USF will need to avoid mistakes like those on Friday at unbeaten North Texas if the Bulls are to secure their second American Conference win. The atmosphere at DATCU Stadium is expected to be frenzied as the Mean Green seek to build on their 5-0 record. That's the best start for North Texas since 1959.
Put another way, neither Mean Green head coach EricMorris nor any of his players were alive when that happened. It's also worth noting that conference road games haven't been overly kind to the Bulls under Golesh. They are just 2-5 in those games -- 2-6 if you count last year's game with Memphis that was sent to Orlando because of Hurricane Milton.
Of course, those are just numbers. This USF team is leaps and bounds better than the previous two squads under Golesh.
Handling the atmosphere shouldn't be a problem for USF, and it's worth remembering how the Bulls' poise paid off in their victory over Florida. At a crucial moment in that game, with USF trailing by a point with 2:24 to play.
That's when Florida's Brendan Bett spat on USF offensive lineman Cole Skinner, who maintained his cool and didn't retaliate. It earned Bett a 15-yard penalty and an ejection, and it set the Bulls up for a game-winning field goal. That's the type of focus the Bulls will need against North Texas as opposed to what they showed at times against Charlotte.
"I think the part that I'm really, really confident in is one we've been battle-tested pretty good on the road at this point. We've played in tough environments. We've executed in tough environments. We've had to learn from a bunch of mistakes in tough environments," Golesh said.
"But I think if our group can continue to be player-driven like it is, our group can continue to stick together, and play for each other with a high, high level of confidence. I'm really, really excited to go into Friday night and see where we are, because I think it'll be an exciting next step for us."