This may not be the same ol' South Florida, but for Bulls fans, Saturday's 41-38 loss at Navy triggered feelings of utter despair that have been too familiar over the years.
In a nightmare afternoon of missed tackles by the Bulls and explosive plays by the Midshipmen, USF's hope of a spot in the College Football Playoff evaporated, along with the Bulls' hope for the first conference championship in program history.
With its second American Conference loss, the Bulls will almost certainly have to settle for their third straight bowl bid. The Bulls were gashed for 338 yards on the ground, which was exactly what they knew they couldn't allow to happen. Even a combined 463 yards rushing and passing by quarterback Byrum Brown, which generated four touchdowns, was not enough for the Bulls to overcome the defensive lapses.
— USF Football (@USFFootball) November 15, 2025
Asked about his emotions after the game by the USF radio crew, Bulls coach Alex Golesh said that continuing to build the program remains the top goal.
"Exactly what I said two and a half years ago when we came here, same thing I said this summer, and the same thing I said this week," Golesh said. "We're here to build a program that's sustainable and will stand the test of time, and that's what we're doing."
The game could not have started much worse for USF..
Navy showed why it is the top rushing team in the FBS when, five plays into its first drive, Alex Tecza ripped off a 76-yard touchdown run.
After the Bulls cut it to 7-3, Navy struck again as the first quarter was expiring. Quarterback Blake Horvath completed an 82-yard pass to Eli Heidenreich to set up a 4-yard TD by Brandon Chatman. That put USF into comeback mode, which isn't easy against a ball-control machine like Navy.
What went wrong?
Well, just about everything.
"The ability to be really detailed on defense and get a stop. The ability to be really detailed on offense; it took a long time to get going offensively," Golesh said.
"Just didn't execute well enough in the first half to get up this defense or this team, you want to get up and you want to be able to hold on to a lead, playing from behind the whole time, and then you start exchanging touchdowns."
USF's defense has been effective against the run for nearly all of the season, but in a must-win game, the Bulls were caught out of position at times and missed too many tackles. And after trailing 24-9 at halftime, the Bulls pulled to within 27-24 on Brown's 60-yard TD run, USF's defense faltered again.
Backup quarterback Braxton Woodson drove Navy 75 yards in eight plays to push the lead back to 10 points.
The Bulls didn't surrender, however. Running back Nykahi Davenport threw a 29-yard TD pass Jeremiah Koger, but a low snap on extra point caused Niko Gramatica's kick to miss the target., The Bulls trailed 34-30, but had a pulse if they could stop Navy.
But they couldn't.
Woodson ran 64 yards for another Navy touchdown as the sands of USF's championship hopes slipped through the hourglass.