It can be argued by most college football pundits that USF had the hardest three game stretch in the country heading into the 2025 season, and after pulling off wins against ranked Boise State and Florida, Miami was the final obstacle in the opening gauntlet. With a Week 3 matchup against the 5th ranked team in the country, the Bulls showed that they aren’t quite up to par yet in going up against one of the best college football teams in the nation. Let’s dive into the South Florida showdown highlighting each side of the ball and what needs to improve heading into the rest of the Bulls 2025 campaign.
Can the offense find success on the ground game moving forward?
The heading isn’t the entire story on why the offense only found itself with 12 points in the game. There were several drives where the Bulls offense had opportunities that were snuffed out due to a myriad of reasons (including pass plays where Byrum and his receivers weren’t on the same page), but I want to highlight an area of the offense that needs to see a significant amount of improvement heading into Week 4 and the rest of the season.
There is no question that the Bulls have faced some SOLID defenses the last three weeks, which has stalled their efforts on the ground, but 40 total rushing yards (1.5 yards per carry) against the Canes is no recipe for success no matter how successful the Bulls passing attack can look. At this point in time, the Bulls have leaned on Alvon Issac, Sam Franklin, and Cartevious Norton to replace the three departures that USF had at the position in 2024, but outside of Byrum Brown doing BB things on the ground, where else can the Bulls find success? The eyes in the press box tell me that it’s a mixture of multiple things resulting in the lack of success in the run game and with nine games left in the season, it would be unfair to judge this area as a whole after only three games. However, if there is an area of the offense that I’m most concerned about, it’s the running game without question.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Bulls passing attack on Saturday either, but I walked out of Hard Rock Stadium more confident in this group of receivers than I have been in quite some time after three weeks of play. True freshman receiver Christian Neptune saw seven catches on the day for 32 yards and a touchdown. Let me remind you that Neptune didn’t join the Bulls program until June. Neptune has a bright future ahead of him and I’m excited to see how Golesh continues to utilize the young star in the making. TE Wyatt Sullivan had five catches for 55 yards, showing a glimpse of what this offense could look like when the tight end position is more involved in the passing game. WR Chas Nimrod had four catches for 128 yards, who proved once again to be hard to guard as the Brown to Nimrod connection downfield continues to be a trend through three weeks of the 2025 season.
Defense needs to find its way once again
It’s hard to look at Saturday’s effort and find any silver linings in giving up 49 points and 576 total yards of offense. Even as a “mostly” optimistic individual, it’s hard to paint the optimistic picture and not just call it like it is. You won’t win many football games if your defense performs the way that it did Saturday and I think the USF defense knows that as they move on to South Carolina State.
However, there is something to be said for where the defense struggled and how improving in that area can made a huge difference for the Bulls defense moving forward. If you watched the game, you would notice that USF had a hard time generating pressure on Miami QB Carson Beck throughout the game. When they were able to disrupt the pocket, you saw Beck (like any other college QB) look more uncomfortable in attempting to hang in the pocket and deliver an accurate pass down the field. On intermediate passing plays (anywhere between 5-14 yards), Beck was a perfect 8 for 8 versus Brown’s 5 for 12 in comparison. Now those numbers don’t tell the whole story as you can argue that Brown might’ve had a clean pocket and just missed on those throws (whereas Beck did hit those passes), but there were one too many instances where Beck lived comfortably in the pocket thus allowing him to hit on 82% of his passes for 340 passing yards. This Bulls defense has shown that it can be really good, but it has to generate pressure, especially against a formidable team like Miami.
Mac Harris had 8 total tackles, 1 sack, 1 TFL, and 1 QB hit on Saturday and proved once again that he is a force to be reckoned with no matter who you put him up against. Jarvis Lee and James Chenault each had an interception in the game and let me just say that these were EXCELLENT plays by both. The Bulls got after Beck on each play, but credit to both Lee and Chenault for providing “no fly-zone” coverage each time. There was simply nowhere for the Miami receiver to make a play and if Miami fans argue otherwise, just turn on the tape. You know what they say, film never lies!
Special Teams… Special Players
This group continues to impress… Nico Gramatica was 2 for 2 on field goals against the Canes with his longest coming from 45 yards. Chase Leon averaged 48.2 yards per punt with two being over 50+ yards and two being fielded inside of the 20. Special Teams can be the difference maker, and this group has shown up each week thus far in the 2025 season.