The South Florida Bulls (4-0, 1-0) return home from Ohio still undefeated after grinding out a 14-6 win over Bowling Green on homecoming weekend.
This week, the Temple Owls (1-3, 0-1) arrive in Tampa looking to snap a two-game skid, with their last two losses coming by a combined five points. Despite falling to Army last week, Temple showed plenty of offensive firepower, piling up 459 total yards.
5 Keys to Victory: USF vs. Temple
1. Bottle Up Samuel Brown
Temple’s offense operates mainly through running back Samuel Brown, and he showed exactly why against Army. Brown dashed for 96 yards on 10 carries and a 78-yard touchdown reception, finishing the contest with 174 total yards.
The USF defense cannot allow Brown to consistently get to the second level nor turn quick passes into explosive game changing plays. The Bulls must swarm like last week, make one-on-one tackles in space and force the Owls to find production elsewhere.
2. Don’t give up explosive deep balls
Temple has shown they can be dangerous moving the ball vertically.
Quarterback Ajani Sheppard threw touchdown passes of 78 and 67-yards last week against Army, finishing with the American conference clash with 242 passing yards and two touchdowns.
Here’s the thing, Temple didn’t need long, time sucking drives to turn possessions into points. The Owls struck quickly, which has been problematic for the Bulls’ who have given up 200 passing yards a game in 2026.
The USF secondary must be disciplined in back-end coverage. A single busted assignment could decide who leaves Raymond James Stadium victorious. This will be huge for the Bulls.
3. Get Michael Van Buren cookin’
USF escaped Bowling Green despite producing just 214 total yards of offense, including an anemic 52 passing yards. Michael Van Buren finished 7 of 13 for 52 yards… which is clearly the Bulls’ least productive passing performance of the 2026 season.
This cannot become the new normal if the Bulls expect to be competitive in the final eight regular season games.
Back home in Tampa, this is a prime opportunity to get Van Buren and the offense back in rhythm with quick completions, play-action and a few well timed shots downfield. Tim Beck needs to get back in the lab and dial up the version of this offense Bulls fans saw in the second half against Delaware State, not the stalled, out of sync attack that struggled against an 0-3 MAC team a week ago.
Also, I’d be remiss not to mention the Bulls’ dominant running back, DJ Crowther. Beck needs to keep feeding the ground game, which has carried USF through some tough, tightly contested matchups.
4. Dominate third down on both sides of the ball
Temple’s offense has shown it can be explosive, but Army dominated on third down last week, holding the Owls to just 3 of 9 on conversion attempts. Keeping Temple behind the chains and getting off the field on third down will be critical for the Bulls.
USF also needs to improve its own third down efficiency after converting just 3 of 11 opportunities against Bowling Green. If the Bulls can replicate Army’s defensive success while sustaining drives offensively, USF can control the pace of the game.
This matchup could ultimately hinge on which team dominates third down and controls the clock.
5. Force Temple to earn every yard
As previously mentioned, Temple has shown it can be explosive offensively. The Owls scored 48 points against Toledo and piled up 459 yards against Army, including 217 on the ground.
But Temple is still a 1-3 football team and has yet to consistently turn that offensive production into wins.
USF cannot help them.
No short fields. No unnecessary penalties. No turnovers. No missed field goals. No blown assignments.
The Bulls are undefeated because they’ve proven they can win in a variety of ways. Against Temple, discipline, patience and clean football will matter more than chasing highlight reel plays.
The Bulls must bottle up Samuel Brown, limit explosive passing plays, get Van Buren rolling, win on third down and play 60 minutes of clean football.
Temple is definitely dangerous enough offensively to exploit USF if they play loose defensively, but this is also a chance for the Bulls to regain some offensive rhythm after struggling against Bowling Green. A win would move USF to 2-0 in conference play and keep first year head coach Brian Hartline undefeated.
The game kicks off October 3rd at 7:30 p.m. ET at Raymond James Stadium on ESPNU.
As always, Go Bulls!