USF last year showed the ability to hang for a while with elite teams like Alabama and Miami, only to have the games turn into second-half blowouts.
The Alabama game was particularly maddening because USF trailed by only five points with about six minutes remaining in the game, only to see the home-standing Tide erupt for three long touchdowns to secure a 42-16 victory. Part of that was the Bulls lack of depth, but they also hadn't collectively learned how to win a game like that one.
We bring this up because the Bulls have another opportunity to beat a ranked team when they face 25th-ranked Boise State on Thursday night.
On paper, USF has a deeper, bigger, and more experienced team since the glory days of Quinton Flowers. But the Bulls need to do more than hang with the Broncos.
For this program to take the next step, they need to win a game like this. The moves they made since the end of last season, particularly in the Transfer Portal, were done with that in mind.
“We attacked the recruiting in December, and then again in late April. We were really, really guarded about making sure that if you were going to bring a guy in through the portal, that he was either going to have to come into a room where the culture was already really strong, or the guy was going to enhance the culture of that room,” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said.
Players like Connor McLaughlin and Mudia Reuben (both from Stanford), Josh Celiscar (Texas A&M), Gaston Moore and Chas Nimrod (both from Tennessee), and Devin Lee (Vanderbilt) came to USF from Power 4 conferences.
They bring a “been-there-done-that” vibe to their various position rooms. They become leaders by example to USF’s incoming freshmen.
“The guys that transferred here this past season, they've added so much in terms of culture that I think on both sides of the ball, we were super, super picky in terms of the type of person,” Golesh said.
“For the most part, they were guys we already knew, whether we had recruited him on the front end or played for one of our coaches somewhere else, or were coming from places where you knew truly what you were getting in terms of the character of the young man. We had to make sure, obviously, from a talent level, that they added what we needed. But I would tell you, they've enhanced the culture.”
Culture shows itself in the fourth quarter of games. Twice last season, Boise State rallied in the fourth quarter to win. Several others were one-score games entering the fourth, where Boise either lengthened the lead or held off its opponents.
“You watch the culture on film, guys that play extremely hard, guys that play extremely tough,” Golesh said. “I think the most telling thing, and we've talked about it as a team every opportunity we've had, is how they're able to go finish football games.”
That’s the kind of program Golesh wants for USF. This game will be a snapshot of how close he, his staff, and players are to achieving that.