By: Joey Johnston
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Through four games, the USF Bulls have played one of the nation’s most difficult schedules. That’s obvious when you examine top 10-ranked non-conference opponents such as Alabama and Miami, both of which appear to be legitimate national-championship contenders.
Now it’s time for USF to begin play in the American Athletic Conference.
And the schedule doesn’t get much easier.
Saturday afternoon, the Bulls (2-2) will face the Tulane Green Wave (2-2) at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans for a marquee matchup of two prime AAC programs.
Tulane has won 10 consecutive AAC regular-season games and is 25-7 in its last 32 games overall, including two appearances in the league’s title game and a Cotton Bowl victory against the USC Trojans.
“I feel like we’re battle-tested,” head coach Alex Golesh said during his Tuesday news conference. “But I think Tulane is battle-tested as well. They have played some really good teams so far.”
The Green Wave, under first-year head coach Jon Sumrall (formerly of Troy University), have been defeated by No. 17 Kansas State (34-27) and at No. 13 Oklahoma (34-19).
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When Golesh studies Tulane’s recent progress — from 2-10 in 2021 to a couple of seasons of AAC prosperity — he sees a plan that is worth emulating.
“We’re playing another really, really good team and it’s a team that has been where we were (2-10) and has been able to flip it around,” Golesh said. “That’s what you’re building toward, getting to that point where, man, that (AAC contention) is just the expectation, that is just the standard of what it is. So now we have to put together four quarters of football against a really, really good team.”
The Bulls put together only two quarters of effective football last Saturday at Raymond James Stadium, when they fell 50-15 against the Miami Hurricanes.
USF had a 15-14 late second-quarter lead — thrilling the crowd of 58,616 with a tricky 12-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Sean Atkins to quarterback Byrum Brown, plus three long field goals (58 and 51 yards by freshman Nico Gramatica, 45 yards by John Cannon) — before the Hurricanes imposed their will and finished the game with a run of 36 unanswered points.
“For a half of football, we went back and forth,” Golesh said. “We needed to finish the drives we had (with touchdowns). We ended up with 10 drives, which is as few as we’ve had since we’ve been here. We come out in the second half and we just couldn’t replicate any consistency in the drives.
“Offensively, we couldn’t run the ball as well as we need to, which leads to some third-and-longs. You’ve got to protect the quarterback and we could not. Defensively, it’s such a fragile fine line to get them in third downs and get off the field. They hit a big one at the end of the first half (76-yard touchdown from Cam Ward and Sam Brown) and it became a different ballgame in the second half. I think our lack of depth showed up at certain spots.”
Golesh said it’s time to “wipe it clean” and head to AAC play, but not before understanding the main lessons of the challenging non-conference games.
“We’ve been able to show examples of when we’re at our best, when we’re operating at a high level against some of the best teams in the country,” Golesh said. “At our worst, it doesn’t look good. When you’re trying to change a complete roster, culture, expectations and standards of what’s going on, you want to be ready for that moment. Obviously, we weren’t ready for that moment.”
Golesh said there are more example of USF’s best instead of its worst — and that’s one way to measure progress. He said, generally, there is proper execution on assignments and admirable effort. The Bulls have improved their physical conditioning.
“The depth is what we have to develop — and that comes through recruiting,” Golesh said. “It comes through young guys getting older quicker and through banked reps.
“We have upgraded our roster, but it still takes time. It’s reps in practice. It’s reps in a game. It’s being in the moment and that’s where you test depth and where we must continue to grow. I’m incredibly encouraged and I love who we are. We play really hard. We’re locked in during the week. And we hold each other accountable. We’re understanding what it takes to win. We’re getting closer.”
Saturday in New Orleans represents another test for USF.
“We’re learning what it takes from a preparation standpoint to go play a complete game,” Golesh said. “Now we have to go out and do it.”