Joey Johnston
Athletics Senior Writer
USF (1-0; 0-0 American) at #4 Alabama (1-0; 0-0 SEC)
Saturday, Sept. 7 • 7:00 P.M. • Bryant-Denny Stadium (100,077) • Tuscaloosa, Ala.
SURFACE: Natural Grass
TV: ESPN: Joe Tessitore (P-by-P), Jesse Palmer (analyst) & Katie George (sideline)
AUDIO: 102.5 FM, 102.5-HD2 The Strike; TuneIn (Bulls Unlimited);
SERIES: Alabama leads, 2-0
IN TAMPA: Alabama leads, 1-0
IN TUSCALOOSA: First meeting
LAST TIME: Alabama won, 17-3, in Tampa in 2023
VS SEC TEAMS: 2-8
VS RANKED: 11-38, lost last 16 Last: L, 17-3 to #10 Alabama, ’23 Road: 4-17, Last: L, 28-24, #24 Cincinnati, ’22
USF GAME NOTES
At Tuesday morning’s practice, USF head coach Alex Golesh played a special mix-tape — “Dixieland Delight,” that familiar Alabama standard, and ear-splitting crowd noise — on full blast.
Spend my dollar
Parked in a holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight
Over and over again.
Hold her uptight, make a little lovin’
A little turtle dovin’ on a Mason-Dixon night
The players had enough. “It’s so annoying,” one of them protested. Golesh shrugged. “Gotta deal with it,” he said.
When the USF Bulls (1-0) arrive Saturday night at Bryant-Denny Stadium, they’ll have plenty to deal with as they line up across from the No. 4-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide (1-0). But with an expected crowd in excess of 100,000 — the largest gathering ever to witness a USF football game — there’s also a cavalcade of SEC-centric pageantry and an unmatched environment.
All week, Golesh and his staff have blasted noise onto the practice field, providing an audio simulation of what to expect Saturday night. But the real thing? There’s nothing quite like it.
“The crowd noise is going to be a factor,” Golesh said. “You prepare to the point where you make it a non-factor for players on the field and their communication. You’ve got to do a really good job as a team making it literally about the football game and solely that.
“Fortunately, I’ve been there (Alabama) before (as a Tennessee assistant). We have a handful of players who have been there and understand what it is. The good thing is you can minimize crowd noise by winning a football game.”
Bulls defensive back De’Shawn Rucker, a former Tennessee player who started his first college game at Alabama in 2022, has been interrogated all week long by teammates about the Crimson Tide experience.
“They want to know about the field and the stadium, and I tell them it’s a big difference (from customary road games),” Rucker said. “It’s noisy, but you can’t let it get to you. Honestly, if you prepare and practice the right way, you just go out there and execute. You just can’t be distracted. I feel like we’ll be in a good shape.”
Bulls running back Nay’Quan Wright, a former Florida Gator who is preparing for his fourth meeting against Alabama, said he’s eagerly anticipating the big-time atmosphere and the challenge of a No. 4-ranked opponent.
“I see a defensive unit that plays hard, chases the ball, plays physical, those type of things,” Wright said. “I enjoy playing in those type of games. You’ve got to keep your preparation the same, keep your process the same, if not perfect.”
The Bulls played Alabama toe-to-toe, eventually falling 17-3 in a defensive-minded game, last season at Raymond James Stadium. As part of the two-for-one scheduling agreement, the Bulls will visit Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Saturday night and again in 2026.
Golesh said he loves USF’s aggressive non-conference scheduling — the Bulls also face the Miami Hurricanes on Sept. 21 at Ray-Jay — and believes the match-up with Alabama will provide a valuable measuring stick.
“Alabama has been the standard for, I don’t know, 15, 16, 17 years,” Golesh said. “It’s the standard of what elite recruiting looks like, what elite facilities look like, what an elite fan base looks like, what elite funding looks like … and then there’s just the way those guys play.
“Obviously, there has been a coaching change (from Nick Saban — who gets the field named in his honor on Saturday night — to Kalen DeBoer), but Alabama continues to be the class of college football, the elite of the elite. It’s another test for us. Alabama, at its best, is as good as anybody in the country. I truly believe that, if we’re at our best, we could play with anybody in the country. So, you hope on Saturday night that it’s two teams at their best and then you see where we are.”
USF is coming off a season-opening 48-3 win against Bethune-Cookman, when Golesh was pleased with the performance on offense, defense and special teams. Meanwhile, in DeBoer’s Crimson Tide debut, Alabama routed Western Kentucky 63-0.
“It’s a cool, cool opportunity for our program,” Golesh said. “The dudes who are going to be on the plane (for USF’s Friday afternoon charter flight) are going to be ready to go.
“I think it’s like any Saturday. We play at Ray-Jay and every time I walk in there, I’m like, ‘Man, how cool is this?’ I see all those names on the ring (of honor) like Derrick Brooks and Warren Sapp and all the dudes that played in the stadium. Now you’re on the road. You soak it in for a second, then you go, man. I don’t know if anybody’s eyes are going to be big. I sure hope not.”
If the eyes are focused on football — and the ears can block out the noise — the Bulls intend to ignore those familiar lyrics and write a different tune.
Fits my life, oh, so right
My Dixieland delight