South Florida Last Friday’s loss at UTSA wasn’t the best, but it’s behind us now. It would have been nice to clinch bowl eligibility with one week to spare, but our hopes are still alive.
To be honest, there’s no better moment to clinch our first bowl game appearance since 2018 than being at home, on senior night, against a new conference opponent. The Bulls will try to achieve this milestone against the Charlotte 49ers who are 3-8 this season.
The biggest thing we must do this Saturday against Charlotte is playing our game. We are favored in this game by a significant margin, but we cannot let that distract us from the fact that we have to go out and compete.
This week is the most meaningful game we have played in five years, and there has been an entire class of players that haven’t sniffed the opportunity of playing in a bowl game. I’m certain the situation will be acknowledged and the Bulls will play with as much heart, emotion, and motivation than ever.
Along with that, the key for Saturday’s contest is to not let the emotion of this game become detrimental. There is so much at stake here and we need the utmost discipline and control in order to take care of business.
Given that Coach Alex Golesh has bowl game experience and has been in a fair share of big games, I’m more than confident that the Bulls will be prepared for senior night this Saturday. We all want to see a win Saturday, but there’s also another achievement that could be broken this week-USF’s first 1,000 yard receiver.
Before the season, I predicted that Naiem Simmons (WR) had the potential to be the guy to break the spell, and although Simmons has been huge for Golesh’s offense, former walk-on Sean Atkins (WR) has been on a tear all season and sits at exactly 900 receiving yards going into this game.
Atkins will need a big performance, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before; he’s hit the century mark in two games earlier this season and needs just one more against Charlotte.
This accolade will be a bit of a challenge as the Bulls are facing a 49ers team that ranks 33rd in the nation against the pass, but the connection between Byrum Brown and Atkins has been special, and the Bulls have the 35th ranked passing offense in the country.
Defensively, we have taken a few steps back since the first quarter of the season, but Saturday’s game will be an easier task going against the 117th ranked offense in the FBS. This doesn’t mean we should overlook our opponent, but we must eliminate the big plays and try to cause as much havoc as we were in the beginning of the season.
I would like to see a more aggressive and clean game from the defense with more pressures and less missed assignments. As I mentioned, everyone is aware of what we’re playing for this week, and everyone on this staff will make sure we’re prepared to win. A couple weeks ago, we talked about these “Meaningful Games in November”, and now standing at 5-6, with one more game to go, that phrase is even more significant than it already was.
The USF world stands in excitement and nervousness, but more than anything, we all need to stand in the seats at Raymond James Stadium at 7:30 this Saturday.
This program has been through hell and back and having the opportunity to earn bowl eligibility in the first year of the Golesh era is special. In the words of Coach Golesh, we are “playing to keep playing”, so we need all of the Bulls fans, students, graduates, incoming freshmen, and everyone to be in attendance.
LET’S GO BOWLING!