The compliments have been cascading around and over USF since the Bulls blew the doors off Boise State 34-7.
They got votes in the national polls for the first time in many years. The Athletic, which runs a weekly ranking of all 136 teams in the country, bumped them up to No. 20 from No. 59 BB (before Boise).
But you know who is not paying attention to the flattery?
The Bulls, that’s who.
In the words of AAR, "This ain't the same old South Florida." 💚#ComeToTheBay | #StayInTheBay pic.twitter.com/RDIFHYWEop
— USF Football (@USFFootball) August 29, 2025
And that’s a good thing because they’re traveling to Gainesville on Saturday to play the Florida Gators. The Bulls understand that what happened last week needs to stay in the past.
“I think in a winning program, you truly, literally forget about it the next day, and you move on,” USF coach Alex Golesh said.
“I think anytime you've got an opponent like we've got here, man, if you're looking behind in any way, you're out of your mind.”
With that in mind, let’s look ahead.
USF (1-0) vs. Florida (1-0), 4:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 6 at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
How to watch: The SEC Network.
Who are the announcers: Play-by-Play: Dave Neal. Analyst: Fozzy Whittaker. Reporter: Morgan Uber,
How to listen: Q105 FM and Bulls Unlimited internet radio.
Series history: Florida leads 3-0.
What’s the weather? The high temperature forecast is 95 degrees with 54 percent humidity. Rain chances are slim.
What are the odds: FanDuel has Florida favored by 17.5 points.
Florida in brief: The Gators had what amounted to a glorified scrimmage last week, blanking FCS representative Long Island University 55-0.
“If you could sum it up, (Florida) is a team that's got a ton of momentum, a team that runs extremely well on both sides of the ball, it looks like culturally, right in sync offensively, certainly in sync defensively,” Bulls coach Alex Golesh said.
“Offensively, a veteran group returned four guys, the left tackle (Austin Barber) is another level special. And obviously all goes through the quarterback. DJ (Lagway) s is certainly a generational talent.”
USF in brief: Gator Nation might see the point spread and start looking ahead to next week’s game against LSU, but the football team is fully focused on the Bulls.
“Got a really good South Florida team coming in Saturday afternoon. A ton of respect for Coach Golesh, and you can see the program continue to improve each year since he’s been there,” Florida coach Billy Napier said.
“They present a number of challenges in all three parts of the game, offense, defense, and in the kicking game, and they had some really unique personnel starting with the quarterback (Byrum Brown).”
Any thought that Brown might have a lingering effect from the broken leg he suffered last season was quickly dispelled against Boise State. He had two rushing touchdowns, and a 40-yard romp for a third one was nullified by a penalty. He also threw for 210 yards with no interceptions.
“I think this will be our first true challenge here. South Florida’s got really good personnel. They’ve got great schemes,” Napier said. “I think they play extremely hard, and this will be a true challenge here.”