by Carter Brantley
While most folks were concerned about whether or not Alex Golesh would even still be on the sidelines for Saturday night’s contest between the USF Bulls and Rice Owls, the Bulls successfully set aside any distractions and dominated the Owls 52-3 Saturday night at Raymond James Stadium.
The offense got off to a scorching start, scoring a touchdown on each of its first 4 possessions.
Keshaun Singleton hauled in a pair of touchdowns in the first half, nearly cracking 90 yards receiving over that period of time.
Byrum Brown managed almost 200 yards of passing in the first half of what could’ve been his final game as a Bull, throwing for a trio of touchdowns during that time frame, with one going to Stanford transfer Mudia Reuben for 60 yards.
Freshman receiver Jeremiah Koger hauled in Brown’s 4th touchdown to begin the 2nd half to extend USF’s lead to 35-3 with around 10 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.
Brown has one year of eligibility left and there are rumors abound about where the talented, dual-threat QB will go after this 2025 season.
Will he go to the NFL and test his luck, potentially being a day-3 pick and trying to work his way into an NFL team’s quarterback room?
Or will he cash in on his immense value at the college level, either following Alex Golesh wherever he goes, or trying to get a nice NIL deal at a quarterback-needy, big-time school (of which there are plenty)?
There are a lot more questions than answers about a lot of USF’s future, as they continue to prep for their new on-campus stadium to be opened in 2027.
New coaches have varied from the solid, usual suspects of big-time program coordinators to smaller school head coaches all the way to the idea of Jon Gruden coming out of retirement to try his hand at the college level or Deion Sanders returning to Florida to coach the Bulls.
The replacement for Brown could be an internal option, such as Locklan Hewlett or Marcelis Tate, or they could look to the transfer portal to fill the role, depending on who is coaching and their preference.
USF’s conference championship appearance hopes were dashed by UNT and Tulane, who both took advantage of mismatches versus lower-level American teams despite their own coaching uncertainty.
Mean Green head coach Eric Morris took a position at Oklahoma State earlier in the week despite his current team’s position as a potential CFP team with a victory in the championship game.
The Green Wave’s head coach Jon Sumrall also has rumors circling around him going to the University of Florida to be the Gators’ next head coach following their mid-season firing of Billy Napier.
For USF, despite the bummer of an ending to this season following the Navy loss that ultimately ended their chances at a CFP appearance, it was a nice way to at least salvage a potentially double-digit win season if the Bulls can pull out a victory in whatever bowl game they end up in.
It’s certainly not the building-block, cinematic finish they were looking for after such promising victories over Boise State and UF, but it’s also another important step away from the dog-days of 1-win seasons.
So for now, it’s a wait-and-see time of year for many reasons, including both when and where the Bulls will play in their bowl game, and more importantly, who will be their head coach for the 2026 season and beyond.
